Cruise to Manly Island

After the bridge climb we stopped for lunch at the Australian Hotel which had been recommended by Mick, our climbing guide. The hotel bar features over a hundred Australian beers which are actually NOT brewed by the XXXX brewery (more on that in a later blog). We sampled a few beers and ordered a couple of pizzas; one kangaroo and one saltwater crocodile.

In the afternoon we took a ferry ride to Manly Island. The ferries are much cheaper than a chartered cruise and the sights are still the same. This is the view of the ferry terminal as we were leaving.


Nice head on view of the opera house as seen from the water.


The weather turned rather dark and stormy as we headed toward more open water. Still, a nice shot of the bridge and opera house together.


The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed…


After we arrived we took a short stroll to the other side of the island. There were many tourist souvenir shops, so I was hoping to find a t-shirt that simply said “Manly”. Unfortunately none were to be found anywhere. Seems to me the locals would be playing up the Manly name in humorous ways as a marketing approach, but they don’t. In the picture below we see an ideal guide for all things manly.


Swimming at the beaches on this island may not be a good idea. Note one of many drainage pipes emptying onto the beach.


As no surprise to anyone, we managed to stumble upon a brewery on the island called the 4 Pines. The beer was average and rather pricey even for the Sydney area. However, they did have an informative diagram of the brewing process which includes the origin of that Aussie favorite, Vegemite. (We often had it for breakfast during the trip and brought home a jar as well.)


We cruised back to the mainland and attended the second show at the Opera House that evening.