Day Two of “Two Nights”

Our second day in this fabulous city was awesome. During the late evening hours a blustery storm passed over NSW pelting it with heavy rain. Since our room is not air conditioned, we were gently taken to slumberland to the sounds of rain and thunder outside our open window – what a great experience.

The morning broke with brilliant sunshine and clear skies. A good start to our day of discover.

One correction to my previous blog; according to Barbara’s reckoning, we had travelled for 29 hours!

Upon the recommendation of the hotel staff we decided to take the commercial ferry to Manly which would take us the farthest from Sydney and closest to “The Heads” – the entrance to the vast Sydney harbor. It turned out to be our best and least expensive option for the day.

After a more than adequate breakfast at “The Push”, which is a pub located at street level in the hotel, we strolled along the waterfront, to Circular Quay, past the massive cruise ship Norwegian Jewel, arriving at wharf 3 with our ferry passes in hand (which were purchased using Apple Pay) and boarded the MV Collaroy for our 30 minute crossing to Manly.

One item of interest I meant to mention in my previous post was our magic ride aboard Delta flight 41 transported us from the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere to the Summer Solstice “down under” where the population is beginning to celebrate the Christmas season in shorts and tank tops, instead of gloves and winter coats. In some instances it appears a little crass as we noted at our restaurant last evening they had placed the “obligatory” tree in a corner behind a table.

Manly, sometimes referred to as Manly Beach, is obviously the place to go to party at the beach. After we disembarked the ferry we strolled past a Tesla Automobile salesman with two of the latest models on display, crossed the main road and made our way along an open mall that led to a beautiful beach. At one point we did have to duck under cover out of a freshening but brief rain shower. We both managed to find something to purchase in one of the “every thing must go -final days” shops. Very good prices.

The “cruise” over and return was just enough of an open sea ride to ready us for our next 56 days on the MS Maasdam.

For dinner we trusted the hotel staff in their recommendation to eat at the “Burgers and Ribs” eatery just a short walk away. Since the evening rain had returned, we decided to accept the staffs offer of an umbrella – which was a smart move as we were pelted by a gulley washer downpour all the way to the eatery.

As we downed our food the weather cleared for our walk back to the room, however, just as we stepped inside the foyer it started to hail stones like I have never seen before. It sounded like glass breaking when they hit the pavement – awesome and terrifying as well.

In a few hours our Sydney visit will sadly come to an end and I would like to close with the welcome news that our son Jonathan, has just past the final phase of field training as a Law Enforcement Ranger with the National Park Services, and now proudly bears the title of Officer Cummings – we are so very proud of you son. Congratulations!!

Next: Sailing, Sailing over the bounding main.