We woke up 8:30AM this morning and prepared to spend the day walking at Manly island. We walked towards Circular Quay via Macquarie Street and we passed by these landmarks: The Mint, Sydney Hospital, Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

When we reached circular quay an hour later, we bought one way tickets to Manly Wharf as we planned on taking bus back to city from Spit Junction. The ferry ride is more or less 45 minutes and costs around 7.20 AUD. It is just thrilling and energizing to be at the harbour, as we glanced at Opera House, Harbour bridge, and the island as you approach Manly Wharf on a glorious cool day.

And we also encounter different types of ships as we drew closer to Manly Wharf. When we reached the Manly Wharf, we visited the information centre to get some maps and information. The lady advised us to buy bus tickets from Spit Junction to city at convenience store. And now we are ready to visit the Manly Beach first.

The beach was named by Capt. Arthur Phillip for the indigenous people living there. He wrote about them, "Their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place". The Corso, a pedestrian plaza and one of Manly's main streets for shopping and dining plies between Manly Wharf and Manly Beach. I strongly suggest you to stroll here before you reach the beach paradise. Do you know that Manly beach is best known for being the surfers' paradise? Well, we envy the people who are swimming and surfing and the waves are great. Unfortunately, we came here on winter and we don't have the guts to swim on cold waters. Instead, I took this chance to walk barefooted on the fine sand, it is relaxing!!! My partner missed half of his life for being a killjoy..hehe ;)

Within walking distance of Manly Beach along the oceanway is Fairy Bower and  Shelley Beach. There are shops, restaurants, night clubs, and dive bars in town. An aged man approached us and shared us trivia on dragon lizard that could be spotted in Manly, actually this man is doing this friendly act while waiting for his date. We also asked him some dining tips and requested him to take our photo.

As we are walking towards the dining region that he suggested, we decided just to choose any resto near the Manly Wharf because my feet are giving up and it was out of our way. So we had Fisherman's basket and Seafood Basket at Seafood Sensations.

Then we went on and visit our last 5-in-1 combo pass attraction which is Manly Sea Life Sanctuary. It is actually a small sanctuary which aims to give awareness on what they are doing to help the endangered marine life. We enjoyed the lady giving us info on the different sharks species and other sea creatures.

Time check is 2:00PM, we shall now start our hike. Based on internet research, "The Manly to Spit Bridge Walk" is one of the most beautiful walks in Sydney, it is around 10 km. The hike is categorized as "Medium difficulty" and lasts around 3 to 4 hours. It will take you past magnificent harbour beaches, luxury homes, through windswept heath, rainforest and woodland. There are a number of aboriginal sites along the way as well. Unfortunately, it didn't meet our expectation and even harmed my knees, but I'm partly to blame because my footwear is inappropriate for hiking :( So make sure you are well prepared with food, water, protective clothing and good walking shoes. For more info on the track, visit here.

The walkway is really just a series of paths connecting all of the little bays and beaches along Manly to the northern coastline within the harbour. We took it as tiring instead of leisurely walk and covered the distance in 4 hours are more. The walk alternates the sandy beaches with walks through the bush and the occasional view point looking out over the beautiful blue water of the harbour.  

And here we are when the sun had already set and have yet to look for the bus stop. Buses to the city will have the destination "Wynyard" displayed and a number between 169 and 190. The bus stop for these buses is about 200 metres over the bridge. And finally we catched a bus from The Spit Bridge to the city.

The last stop for the bus is Wynyard station, and we need to walk to home. :( Here is the photo of St. Mary's Cathedral at night. Good night and see ya tomorrow...