Holiday: Return to Oz – Day 9 (of 18): Sydney with Manly Pursuits

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WEDNESDAY the 27th.

6.30am: Morning All! 👍

In spite of the very comfy bed, it wasn’t the best night’s sleep we’d had since we arrived. In my case, I blame the late-night cheese-pie and that crowing cock that began its operatic aria at 3.30am! Definitely a case of Nessun Dorma

The mathematicians amongst you will have spotted that it’s Day 9, so we’re exactly halfway through our latest holiday adventure. So far we’ve driven just over 700km in the hire-car – and spent almost 12 hours behind the wheel!

8.20am: But all good things, as they say, must end – and today, we returned the hire-car, leaving Longford after breakfast, driving the short distance to Launceston Airport.

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Like Airports used to be..?

8.45am: The Airport was a typical ‘local’ affair – very small compared to most UK equivalents. What a refreshing change! 😲

Next stop is Sydney (we’re on the 10.25 from Virgin arriving there at midday).

We’re then heading for our next accommodation – Adina Serviced Apartments in Martin Place (remember that street name!).

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12.20pm: The eagle-eyed of you will have noticed the location of the Apartment – ‘Martin Place’. In the heat of Sydney’s 23°C and us lugging two suitcases and bag each from the Metro station (err also, in Martin Place) wasn’t the best time to realise our fundamental error…

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…the Apartment is actually in Hoskin Place. Still, we wanted to try out a ride in a Sydney Cab anyway – even if it was for only around half-a-mile! 🤔

Our short journey over, we were soon checking in and on our way to room 403. First impressions were very good (unlike the Apartment’s address!)

A bed as wide as it is long!
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A really impressive, well equipped kitchen
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..and a generous Lounge too!

OK, the address was misleading, but we forgave them, as they upgraded our accommodation, without prompting, for nowt! 👍

3.05pm: Then, after a quick freshen-up, we took the short walk to Circular Quay to pick up the Ferry for Manly Quay, and ultimately, Manly Beach. We arrived with just 10 minutes to wait for the next Ferry at Wharf 3. You can now use your Opal Cards here, so it’s even easier!

4.00pm: Thirty-minutes later we’d arrived. And thanks to a Local who got chatting with Ann, we were given a short-list of places to eat (we were starving by now, having not eaten since breakfast!).

We headed down the main strip – The Corso – full of different sorts of shops, but more importantly…

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The Ivanhoe Hotel. Its redeeming feature? The closest eatery on our recently acquired ‘short-list’!

Given the time of day, it was a restricted menu, but the Burgers looked wholesome enough… and of course, a cocktail each to wash it all down would be perfect!

It didn’t disappoint, and we were soon both full of renewed energy. Next stop? the famous Manly Beach… (apparently, it’s now Australia’s fave Beach pushing the better known ‘Bondi Beach‘ into 6th place).

Very nice indeed! But only we could turn our back on it, in favour of a bit of ‘retail therapy’! (In truth, we did need to get some essentials in for the Apartment if we weren’t going to starve over the next few days!

Our food retailer of choice was Australia’s answer to Tesco…

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5.25pm: Just A$32.78 later, we were all stocked-up for our stay in Sydney and we headed back to the Ferry Terminal…
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…and our journey back into central Sydney.

(By-the-way, those in need of even more retail therapy will be pleased to note that Aldi has a store right inside the Terminal!)

6.30pm: With our food and drink unpacked, the only challenge left was to master the washing-machine in the apartment- we haven’t seen one like this since The Antiques Roadshow (in 1976!) 😉

Tomorrow, we plan to have a look at the two other well-known Beaches – Bondi and Coogee.

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Nighty-night!
😴😴

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