An Opal Card opens up the world of transportation to Sydney visitors. Get one for free, and load it with some cash. When you “tap on” on a ferry, train, or bus, the fare is debited, but at a discounted price over any other way of paying. On Sundays, the maximum you pay all day long tops off at $2.70 Australian dollars….not quite $2.00 US! We rode the ferry for 30 minutes each way to Manly Beach, one of Sydney’s most popular. You can see why…with its white sand and wide beach, it reminded us of Waikiki.
We have been asked about what kind of camera we use to get such vivid colors in our photos, and whether we have a tripod, etc., for setting up shots. NOT! We laughed at that thought. We see something, we snap, and move on, all with a Pixel 3 phone. Reportedly, it has the best camera out there, due to the software more than the hardware. We are very happy with the results, and apparently our readers are, too.
After the first two photos of Manly Beach (which was named by Captain Arthur Philip after the “manly” indigenous people he encountered there) is a photo of a sailboat, the Varuna. It is only noteworthy because everyone on the ferry waved to the people on the boat, who were dancing and having a great time….when the woman with the red hair lifted her bikini top and flashed us! THAT brought a roar from the ferry! Very fun. After that photo is one of Manly Beach’s Corso….a pedestrian shopping path that connects the ferry wharf with the beach. It was filled with stores, ice cream shops, restaurants, and buskers…street performers. We were impressed with the three sisters playing Christmas carols on strings. As you can see from their buskers license, their names are Violette, Juliette, and Josephine Roumanoff, and their license is good until February 15 of what should be 2019, not 2018. Even city licensing departments make mistakes!
The last three photos include a very happy Hare Krishna group…they came down the street dancing, singing, clapping, and playing drums and tambourines. It is rather infectious…people all around were smiling. Then there are our two funny signs of the day, one on a pub, the other the name of a restaurant. It was a very fun day, as the sun was finally out all day long, and it is supposed to be sunny for the next week!
