Manly Sunday

This was our last day in Manly (this visit anyway). It was an easy day - a short walk early this morning and a coffee at Sonoma on the wharf, and then a longer walk later in the morning, along the beach, past North Steyne, Queenscliff, and up over the hill to ........... 

Freshwater Beach - which looked very crowded today on this hot muggy Sunday, the last Sunday in January.

We had lunch at the Harbord Hotel in Freshwater. I was curious about this place as it was a development project for the new owner of Manly's Q Station. As it turned out I think the hotel's offerings are a long way behind the better known and much bigger Merivale brand! I hope the plans for the Q Station redevelopment are much more ambitious.

It took us a while to cool down and recover after our long hilly walks in the middle of the day, but we ventured out again late this afternoon for a wander along the harbour beaches very close to our villa in Fairlight Street. 

We couldn't resist having a paddle at our local Fairlight Beach.

The tidal pool at Fairlight looked very inviting.

I caught the (distant) Manly Ferry in the shot below, sailing across the open bit of the harbour between North and South Heads.

On the walk back we were amused by the "dog park" waiting patiently for their owners at nearby Delwood Beach

We've been ending off each day with a beer in our little outdoor terrace, enjoying the cool breezes and the bird life around us. We've loved our stay here in Manly - can't wait for the next one!

Manly Saturday

We walked part of the Manly - Spit Bridge walk this morning. That's a 19klm walk (return) normally which was a bit much for us today, so we took a few short cuts through Balgowlah, ending up at Clontarf Beach near Sandy Bay (not too far from the Spit) - a round trip of about 8.5 kms - more than enough for us today.

Our first harbour stop was Castle Rock Beach. We were rewarded with a glorious leafy descent on to the beach after navigating the very steep and long hill that is Woodland Street, through the suburb of Balgowlah.

Although Castle Rock Beach is tiny, the water is pristine and its forested entry lends it a very exotic (Amalfi Coast?) quality. 

I guess this might be Castle Rock in the middle of the pic below? ...... but that is defintely the iconic Balmoral Bathers Pavillion on the opposite side of the harbour, in the distance.

We walked along the Manly-Spit walking path between Castle Rock Beach and Clontarf Beach. It was spectacular of course but required care and good stair climbing stamina in places.

The Clontarf Beach Reserve was crowded this morning, popular with families with its clean, safe tidal pool and lots of shady trees (and plenty of car parking). We enjoyed our coffee from Bosk Clontarf here and a rest in the shade  for a while.

It was about a 4klm walk back to Fairlight Street from here. We walked back through streets of harbourside mansions until we got as far as Sydney Road, the main road into the Manly Peninsula with its heavier traffic and more pedestrian architecture. We did envy the views these residents enjoy from their fabulous houses along Gordon Street in beautiful Balgowlah (another steep climb for us). 

That was a rather inspiring and exerting way to start the day (and it took us 3 and a half hours too) so we took a low key approach to lunch today, only walking as far as Manly's Four Pines Brewery on the East Esplanade for a cooling ale and more grilled barramundi (its my fave dish at the moment!). Love Manly!!!

A day in Manly

We set off walking early yesterday morning - around Manly's beautiful harbourside beaches (Delwood and Fairlight) and on to the North Harbour Walk skirting Jilling Cove in the beautiful suburb of Balgowlah. The views were breathtaking the WHOLE way - and apart from glimpsing the quiet opulence of the houses fronting this part of the harbour it felt like we really were in a wild place a lot of the time.

We walked as far as the Marina in North Harbour (about 3klm one way), with lots of photo op stops and wow oh wow moments along the way ..........

We saw lots of stunning architecture too  - I especially appreciated this art deco detailing on one of the mansions we happened to pass by......

We eventually made our way back to the Manly Wharf for a reviving coffee at Sonoma and noted how much the Aquarium and Pavillion had changed overnight in the glare of daylight ....

It was lovely to finish off with a coffee and one of our fave Sonoma "morning buns".

We had a lunch date at noon, at the gloriously situated "The Pantry Manly" fronting the beach on North Steyne Road.

We were meeting up with the lovely Áine, a very special young woman (my friend Tania's daughter) about to start work with one of the big 4 consultancy firms, after years of school and study. We found lots to talk about: our lovely lunch, unpicking Les Sculptures Refusées, the joys of the Northern beaches, politics, the last two years and our shared love of Grace Tame. We've vowed to make our catch ups a more regular thing.

We enjoyed another late afternoon walk around to beautiful Fairlight Beach ......

As well as being stunningly beautiful this part of the harbour is great for people and dog watching - and harp playing!!

I thought our little studio villa in Fairlight Street looked very pretty in the late afternoon light.

Back to Manly

We're ending off the month with a four night stay in Manly, taking the chance to get back to fabulous Sydney after so many months away, in relative safety now we're vaxxed and boostered and with access to accommodation that's very Covid safe.

First stop on Thursday after the drive from Canberra and checking in to our Fairlight Street villa was lunch on the balcony of the Ivanhoe Hotel, overlooking the Corso at Manly Beach. Yes, that was a huge beer Rob set me up with - but we'd finished driving for the day. 

Manly Beach looked beautiful on this perfect Summer afternoon and not too crowded either.

.... and a perfect afternoon for a double scoop of the excellent icecream from Anita Gelato, which we both awarded a 10/10.

Late afternoon is beautiful around the harbour and I was keen to see the sunset to round off the day. From our villa in Fairlight Street its only a few minutes walk to stunning views like this on the coastal "Fairlight Walk".

Walking back towards the Manly Wharf we were struck by the beautiful light illuminating the old Manly Pavilion (currently under restoration) .......

Lit up the way it is, the old St Patrick's Seminary up on Darley Road is a pretty distinctive Manly landmark from this angle..........

.... and while the old Manly Aquarium looks quite a bit past it in the glare of daylight it looked simply beautiful this night.

A birthday in Bowral

Last year's celebration of Rob's 70th birthday in Bowral went so well we decided to repeat the fun this year - but this time celebrating Joshy's birthday (it's always 2 weeks after Rob's on the 24th January!).

We took Ella with us to Bowral on Saturday morning, forming the advance party (Abi stayed back for her regular Saturday horse riding lesson). We arrived just in time for lunch at Cafe Rocca on Bong Bong Street.

Ella used her extra time in Bowral in the early afternoon to do some research at her fave Dirty Jane's on Banyette Street. Dirty Jane's has the most wonderful collection of vintage treasures and both the girls LOVE it as a shopping destination. They've been saving their money for a bit of a spend up here this weekend.

The rest of the crew arrived a bit after 3.00pm, ready to party. Saturday night we'd set aside for a "fancy" dinner at our hotel - at the French inspired Bistro Sociale. We started with drinks at the bar before moving into the restaurant proper. We'd loved our meal here last year and knew we were in for a great night.

The wine flowed and the food was as beautifully prepared and of the same high quality as ever. We felt extra grateful for this knowing how tough hospitality is doing it at the moment with staff shortages and supply disruptions.

The girls gave their meal the Ella and Abi seal of approval.

My grand-daughters have many talents. Ella was renowned as a very young child for being able to balance a spoon (vertically) on her tiny nose (just like Elaine did in THAT episode of Sienfeld). On Saturday night at dinner, she discovered she could play piercing soundscapes on the rims of the hotel glassware. None of us could do it - no matter how hard we tried. She played symphonies with them!

After our fabulous meal we settled into the beautiful lounge area outside Room 12 for birthday cake and a glass of Tasmanian (Arras) champagne. Even here Ella was still preoccupied with her new found glass whispering skill!

But it was a skill that remained elusive to the rest of us.....

Abi had made Joshy's birthday cake lavishing it with all her favourite toppings (crushed Orreos, buttercream icing and candy snakes!) - it was a lovely surprise for him.

I don't know if it was the sugar hit or just the high of enjoying such a happy night, but the girls went into performance mode then - wild crazy stuff inspired by that final dance scene in Dirty Dancing.

We laughed and laughed and laughed and filmed a lot of it.

And the girls even videotaped us being silly too - who knows what's goin on TikTok now!

... such a happy, wonderful night!

We even managed to front up to breakfast this morning. This beautiful old hotel does everything with such class - I admired their breakfast set up!

We've made a vow to try to make this Bowral weekend an annual event in future.... I'd be happy if we could always get Room 30 with the bay window (and Family Room 12 is just perfect for J & J and the girls).

Harrison Redford was even seen leaving the beautiful, historic Berida Hotel this morning.

.. along with this pair of dancing demons .....

After breakfast (and check out) we walked from the Berida Hotel in David Street ... along Moss Vale Road, past the beautiful Bowral Lions Park.

Until we hit Bong Bong Street and the site of Dirty Jane's Emporium.

We enjoyed our few hours there while the girls (and Jody and me) searched for, and found, vintage treasures and Josh and Rob did some extensive walking around this classy picturesque town until it was time to head back to Canberra. Thank you Joshy for giving us this excuse for another happy weekend in Bowral! 

The week before our Bowral trip we enjoyed catching up with our dear friend David - back in Canberra after 7 months away (thanks to the lure of Nth Queensland and COVID delays). We've enjoyed showing him all the changes around our neck of the wood since he left in May-June last year. He was very intrigued with the fabulous new sculpture of Andrew Inglis Clark outside the new government offices at the top of "our" Constitution Avenue. (Andrew I C was an Australian founding father and co-author of the Australian Constitution.) David was suitably impressed I think.