Sunday, February 12, 2012

Our trip to Manly Beach

Here are a few shots of our visit to Manly ...  The Ocean Beach Tea Rooms, built in 1898 was the most gorgeous soft colour and loved how all the buildings were so old.

Saturday afternoon arrived and we caught up with some old friends in the form of Bruce and Leonie and their two delightful children.  At their suggestion we caught the ferry to Manly - a seaside suburb of Sydney on the vast 'North Shore'.  It proved to be a delightful seaside suburb - perched in a peninsula about 1/2 an hour from downtown Sydneys Circular Quay from where many of the ferries depart.  Nothing new in catching  ferries for us - but interesting all the same and very civilized.




On landing we wandered through Manly - which retains many of architectural features of the 1930s and 40s. It is low rose architecture with a mall dividing the shops with the famous (in Sydney anyway) Manly Beach at the eastern end.  A beautiful coral sand beach with many Sydney folk trying to 'cop a few rays' in the unpredictable weather. 

We were lucky on our brief visit as the skies had opened just before we arrived washing out Sydney's Australia Day celebrations and started soon after we left and seem to have been going ever since, slowly washing the east coast of the country into the Pacific Ocean




Bruce and Leonie led us by way of a paved seaside track to a reclusive cove where they confessed to having had a pre-marital romantic tryst, on Valentines night, in years bygone.  At the termination of the track was a cute little beach known as 'Shelley Beach'.

Cabbage Tree Bay was named after the Cabbage Tree Palm and Shelley Beach is the only west-facing beach on Australia's east coast and is filled with unique marine life such as the Eastern Blue Groper, the Weedy Sea dragon, Gloomy Octopus and Little Penguin.

Sitting and looking mysterious along the way were some of the local 'Water Dragons' - cute little creatures - perhaps up to 30 cm (1 foot ) long and sitting motionless until you approached too close at which point their little pink mouths would open and the creature looking as fierce as it could muster, would emit an audible low warning hiss. 



Not for patting and protected by statute but cute to look at and they seemed quite common along the walkway.

Cabbage Tree Bay is an ideal spot for scuba diving and snorkeling because of its clear and shallow waters. Shelley Beach is a haven for sun seekers and is a popular sheltered beach, for families and children.

The path that Bruce and Leonie led us down is a nature reserve walk with a number of sculptures recessed into the rock walls of the walkway


We eventually found ourselves after about 20 minutes at Shelley Beach itself and we walked to a little restaurant known as 'Le Kiosk" located right on the beach where we enjoyed a pleasant lunch, watched it rain on the beach goers and listened to Bruce and Leonie relive their youth.


Our old friends the water dragons were in evidence scrounging for scraps at the base of the diners tables.   

Perhaps an auspicious sign for the new year to be treated to the sight of real (albeit diminutive) live dragons chowing down during the 'Year of the dragon celebrations' 

A walk back, another ferry ride and fond farewells after a fine adventure.


Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend
Hugs
Carolyn








37 comments:

  1. What a lovely post and you all must have had a beautiful day.
    Hugs
    kay

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  2. Oh, what a wonderful place!!! Thank you so much, Carolyn, for taking us along!

    I suspect that your friend were not the only ones who have had a romantic tryst in the cove *)

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

    xoxo

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  3. Dearest Carolyn,

    What a treat for meeting up with friends and blending it with some history and lunch at a fine place. Great way for preserving those 19th century buildings. Great Valentine story too.
    Love to you and have a great Sunday,

    Mariette

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  4. It's years since I've been to Manly but your post has brought it all back to me thankyou Carolyn!!!

    What a lovely day you had with your friends.

    We should be having our Summer Street Party right now, unfortunately it was cancelled at midday as the weather didn't look good!!

    Have a good week
    Shane x

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  5. This sounds like a wonderful trip, Carolyn! The architecture is fabulous. I have a thing for little saurians and those water dragons are really cute.
    Have a lovely evening!
    Hugs,
    Julia

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  6. Hi Carolyn!
    It does sounds like you have had a wonderfull thime whith your friends,llove the old buildings.
    Hug Anna

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  7. Such a nice place, also the small dragon was cute.
    Enjoy your sunday
    Hugs
    AnnaMaria

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  8. Que passeio agradável!
    Boa semana!
    Beijinhos.
    Brasil

    (⁀‵⁀,)
    ¸`⋎´
    ¸.•°`♥

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  9. Manly Beach is a great place to visit, I see.
    Have a lovely Sunday afternoon and a grand start to the new week, sweet Carolyn.
    Love always xxxx My days have been so very busy lately xxxx

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  10. What a lovely trip - with great memories for all of you!

    Have a lovely week ahead,

    Hugs

    XOXO Lola & Nora:)

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  11. How beautiful and lovely is all that you share.
    Love you
    Jeanne

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  12. Wowwww what a nice place to be !!...wonderful....have a nice sunday.....love Ria...xxx..

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  13. YIKES those little dragons are cute, but any larger and they would pose quite a threat!!!!!!! But what a lovely holiday for you all dearest Carolyn, and I so wish I could make a tour of the world to see all of these fabulous places. I never even thought of going "down under" until blogging and meeting wonderful friends like you who show us the most wondrous works of the earth. THANK YOU FOR VISITING and may you and your husband enjoy a LOVELY VALENTINES WEEK! Anita

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  14. Beautiful pictures!would love to go there one day!
    hugs
    Dorota

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  15. Ciao cara!!!

    Che bello questo post.

    Pensa che qui in Italia c'è tanta neve.

    Dove abito io, ce n'è moltissima.

    Belle le foto...calde! ;o)

    Baci di cuore! Kisssssssss...NI

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  16. Oh, I envy your life and your trips Carolyn. It seems so much fun :p I wish I could get a weekend getaway from this routine days :( Lol.

    Anyway have a beautiful day!

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  17. So glad you were able to enjoy visiting with old friends...the nature walk must have been lovely...your description makes me feel like I was on it!
    Love the old architecture...in this day of contemporary design, it is nice to have a few buildings of old still standing.
    I will have to show my grandson the pictures of the "dragons". He will love them!

    Hope you have a wonderful week!
    Hugs, Nancy xo

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  18. Your trip sounds lovely Carolyn. I wouldn't mind going there right now. It's cold and white in Holland!!

    Happy new week,

    Madelief x

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  19. Sounds like a wonderful outing! I've heard a lot about Manly Beach, but have never been. Oooh, the buildings are fantastic!

    No doubt, the dragons were auspicious. Still, I think I'd rather have little birds pecking at crumbs under my table. :)

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  20. Dear Carolyn,
    you spend a wonderful day with your friends in this wonderful place. I loved seing those buildings- so beautiful- and the small dragons seems real sweet--as long they are not bigger , hehe..
    Hugs to you,
    Dorthe

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  21. You have got me excited as I am heading there to Manly & Bondi for a quick holiday in March.
    x
    Melissah

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  22. Oh Carolyn, what a beautiful place.. Looks as if you really enjoyed yourself.. Wishing you a wonderful Valentine week.. Thank you for visiting... I am so happy Grandpa rabbit gave you a smile. Your kind words are so appreciated.
    Blessings, Penny

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  23. Dear Carolyn,
    what a wonderful place! Thank you for showing us those lovely pictures!

    Have a happy week my friend,
    sending love and hugs,
    Claudia

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  24. How wonderful to see your lovely comment this morning! I haven't been the best at visiting my favorite blogs lately since opening up my new shop. I am finding it impossible to do much of anything but work.
    I love all of your wonderful pictures! What a wonderful place (although I could do without the scaly, little creature! LOL). Such beautiful scenery and I adore historic architecture of any kind. Thank you for sharing such beautiful memories...
    So wonderful to hear from you, Carolyn.
    Huge hugs to you, my friend xoxo

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  25. What a lovely post, Carolyn. I felt as though I was right there with you.
    Have a wonderful week!

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  26. Oh I was there once...it is lovely! Looks like you had a lovely time .....enjoy sweet one...and hugs for a happy Valentines day. xoxoxo

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  27. Such a nice place, I'm sure you had a beautiful time over there. Thank you for the sweet comment! xoxo Joice

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  28. Oh Carolyn,
    There are definitely many beautiful places to visit in Austraila. Sounds like you had a lovely time. May be one day I will be lucky enough to be able to take a trip "down under" :-) Wishing you a wonderful new week my sweet friend.

    Hugs and Kisses,
    ♥Ana

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  29. Seems such a lovely place to spend summer with friends!!!
    Those buildings are so pretty!
    xxx
    S
    http://s-fashion-avenue.blogspot.com

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  30. So beautiful place!! I`m sure that you had great time there!:)

    My dear friend, thank you for your warmy blogfriendship!!
    ♥ Happy Valentine`s Day!! ♥

    Many hugs, Marge

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  31. Looks like you had a lovely day. Those water dragons are so cute! And I love the name 'gloomy octopus'!

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  32. Looks like such a quaint little town! I'd love to spend a weekend there. Reminds me of some old beach towns here. Just lovely! xoxo

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  33. Love your post. Thanks for sharing such a great place and story. happy Valentines.

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Thank you so much for visiting Draffin Bears.
It always makes me happy to read your comments
and I look forward to visiting you.


Carolyn xx