Today started off with a new breakfast. We went to the first floor for an all you can eat breakfast. There was quite a selection of fruits and other things. I had some bacon, it tasted more hammey, like Canadian bacon. I also got to taste vegemite, disgusting it tastes like salt, lots of slimy salt. I also got a croissant for Ina. I figured I should toast it for her. I totally ignored what was written on the wall behind it, turned around to get some jelly and turned back to find it on fire. A staff person informed me that the wall said no rolls of croissants in the toaster (the conveyor type). The wall actually said “Arrggh, I am allergic to rolls and croissants” exactly what I would write when there is a large possibility of a fire to endanger hundreds of people. It was made worse when another staff member came up to me to inform me again that they don’t belong in the toaster and to not do it again, because really that is what I wanted to do.
As usual we took a train to Circular Quay and then hopped on a ferry. This time we headed for Manly Wharf. After a quick two minute walk down a pedestrian mall, The Corso, with food shops and surf boutiques we were at the beach. There happened to be a bare foot beach race going on as well as five or six volleyball courts with what seemed like tournament play.
As we strolled up the beach we saw a surfing competition, tandems. Most impressive was what appeared to be a husband and wife combination where the wife got onto the husbands shoulders and then stood up as they rode the wave all the way in. There was also a large selection of very expensive ($1000-$3500) surfboards for sale.
We killed a little time by sitting on the beach, the sand was quite cold, before my surf lesson. I went to the Manly Surf school, and really I did not see any other places with lessons; www.manlysurfschool.com. After some instruction on the beach it was time to hit the surf.
Some things I learned; surfing is not as easy it it always looks, surfing is an upper body work out, knowing how to do a push up, weighting your front foot makes you go faster and the back foot slower and having loose hamstrings makes everything easier. In my lesson I was joined by two guys who had recently moved to Australia from Holland, the Hague more specifically. They figured they lived there so they should learn. They had taken a lesson the previous day. One worked in hospitality and took a summer course from Cornell in Denmark or Copenhagen.
Once in the water the instructor would hold the back of our boards until the right wave came. Then we would paddle and he would push to get us on the wave. It took me 6 or 7 tries before I could actually stand up. I also developed a bad habit of setting my front foot but then resting on my back leg. Eventually I was able to stand up for a few waves. After some confusion involving dragging the boards back to the school the instructor realized he had ended the lesson half an hour early. The two Dutch guys did not want to go back out so I got a private lesson. As I was able to stand up about 70% of the time the instructor took me further out to ride the waves longer. I had one really great steep wave that I rode for quite a while, Ina had disappeared down the beach so there is no evidence. It is pretty unique feeling to surf and hopefully I will get to do it again somewhere else. Before I forget I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a rain coat when I got to the beach and the water was probably around 55*, but a wet suit keeps you nice and warm.
For lunch Ina got fish and chips and , as we have continued to learn, she had to pay for one small packet of ketchup, $0.40. If you come to Sydney I would highly recommend bring some ketchup with you, everything comes with fries and everywhere charges for ketchup. I had a slice of pizza and a “Kebab” which was actually a pita, I am a sucker for huge skewers of rotating meat.
Next we went on a walk from Manly to The Spit on the Manly Scenic Walkway. It is a 10km hike along the bays and into a national park. There were tons of great views. We also saw abandoned fishing huts, aboriginal rocks carvings, a Pelican just hanging out by two fishermen, and lots of really nice boats. We also timed the walk so that the sun set just before we finished. Fortunately we found a bus stop and got to cross the Harbor Bridge.
On the walk there was a very interesting public toilet. The door was a motor driven sliding door. The toilet only flushed when you washed you hands. The sink also had a soap dispenser and a hand-dryer. If you stayed inside for over ten minuets an alarm sounded and the door would open. It also cleaned itself every so often.
I also saw what I thought was a beer add but turned out to be a water ad.
After getting all the salt out of my hair we went into china town for dinner. It really isn’t worth writing about. We were both very tired and went to bed early as usual. My plan was to get up at 4am and head to the bar next door. The socceroos played at 4:30. Of course I did not want to get up. I tried to find the game at 5:15 but no luck. The socceroos lost 4-0 and a grey cloud is cast over Australia for the Queen’s birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment