The things you can you do when you are bored !

Sunday 7th February 2010

Can't believe it's 4 years since Mum died, where has the time gone, equally, can't believe it's 53 years tomorrow (or today, as it is 7 mins past midnight) since I made my appearance on this earth.

After yesterdays depressing weather, today couldn't possibly be worse. We had 87mms of rain in Manly yesterday (3.5") and locals are saying that this is unheard of in the summer. The temperature is hot and sticky, very humid but the rain just won't go away. The best place to be when it is like this is in the sea as the water temperature is 22C.

I saw the clouds through the bedroom window and decided that I wasn't going to hurry to get up as there wasn't much point. It got to just after 9am and Kath told me she had been watching hundreds of people swimming in the sea. It turned out to be the Cole Classic, the worlds largest registration swim and this morning 3328 took part despiter the rough conditions. There is a report in this mornings Sydney Morning Herald about the occasion. In the meantime, the council had dug a huge trench on the beach to let the rainwater from a river run into the sea from the surrounding hills.

Chris was going to have his hair cut and asked if we wanted to go to the Warringah Shopping Mall with him whilst he was scalped. I hurried breakfast and agthered a few things together for the day and off we went. We bought a baseball type hat and a polo-shirt with the Manly Sea Eagles logo's attached. I thought Ian Helsing would like the cap as he wears baseball hats quite a lot to cover his lack of hair, poor lad.

We asked Chris to drop us off near to the Manly Wharf and although we had no definite plans, they probably involved going in to Sydney on the ferry.

We walked around the wharf beachfront area but it started to rain AGAIN and so we sheltered under a tree and made plans. Too late for the zoo and no point in going if it's going to rain a lot so we caught the next ferry to Sydney. It's quite funny now that we have got over the excitement of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge coming in to view on the final leg of the crossing. We now just sit there and take it in whilst first time passengers jump up and take out their cameras to video or photograph the moment. We just sit there like seasoned travellers having done it hundreds (!!!!!!!!) of times before.

When we arrived at Circular Quay, we went straight to Wharf 4 and managed to get on the quick jet boat to Watson's Bay which stopped at Garden Island, Darling Point, Double Bay and Rose Bay before landing us at our destination. The weather was fine, overcast still but no rain as we made our way through the gardens opposite the ferry terminal and up the hill to the road. I will have muscles in my spit after this holiday with the amount of pushing on the Red Cross wheelchair and it's cumbersome load that shouts instructions to be from under the calm of an umberella whilst I get soaked to the skin either through the rain or the effects of the heat.

Watson's Bay is famous for a few things such as Doyle's Fish Restaurant which was established in 1845 and is situated by the ferry point whilst The Gap is up through the park and across the road, up a few steps and then there is a sheer cliff face into the Tasman Sea. The waves come crashing in over the rocks and smash against the cliffs below with great ferocity. The resulting swell is pure white and aqua-marine coloured before the next wave smashes over the top of the previous one. Watson's Bay is on a finger of land facing north that ends a little further up at South Head. Across the water is North Head and the space in between is where the ocean floods into the Sydney Harbour Estuary causing the currents that tosses the Manly Ferry about from time to time, when heading to Sydney or Manly. If you can imagine that on the eastern side of the finger is the ocean or Tasman Sea, not quite sure which, with its huge rollers crashing into the cliffs whilst on the other side a few hundred metres away is the calm and tranquility of the Sydney Harbour..... awesome place.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we went to North Head but we couldn't see a great deal due to the weather but this is where Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban (whoever he may be) held their wedding reception in 2006 (who cares).

I took a few photo's before the heavens opened yet again. We sheltered in a bus shelter nearby and when it had al;most stopped, I went to take more pics. What was really weird was that whilst I was looking at a memorial to a sailing ship that was lost a few hundred metres from the point I was standing at, in 1845, with the loss of all 123 crew except one. As I looked out to sea in the haze of the misty rain, a three masted sailing ship appeared from the gloom. I actaully closed my eyes and thought that when I opened them again, it would have gone. What would I tell Kath.... I have just seen an old ship out at sea that appeared from the mist and next time I looked, it had gone. She would think I had lost my marbles but when I opened my eyes again, it was still there. I took a photo of it and I couldn't see the ship in the photo !! This is not happening, I thought, how can you read about an old ship that was lost at sea and then it comes out the mist at you. It got closer as it made it's way through the Heads and turned down the harbour for Sydney at which point I realised it was one of those replica ships that people can go out for day trips on. I'll tell you what, the hair on neck was standing on end when I first saw it. We spotted it later in the day in Sydney Harbour and realised at that point that it was a tourist boat.

We ate at Doyle's before catching the catamaran back to Sydney. That was a great trip as it was non-stop, speeding through the harbour and overtaking everything else in sight, even the police patrol boat couldn't keep up with us.

Back in Sydney, we dodged the occasional downpours as we walked through The Rocks and under the Harbour Bridge. We wanted to go for a drink into Sydney's oldest pub, the Fortune of War. Nothing really good about it, the toilets were smelly and disgusting but an entertainer called Lance Link was setting up his equipment in the corner. We ended up staying until the 10.10pm ferry as he was brilliant. He got all the people up and dancing and it was a great show.

We just caught the ferry back to Manly and about a third of the way across in the 30 minute crossing, we were joined by about 20 seagulls that flew along side us, just out of touching distance. It was so strange to feel the wind blowing by as we looked over the side of the ferry and also see the speed we were travelling as we looked down into the water yet, about 3 - 4 metres to the side were this flock of seagulls, just matching our speed. They are nasty creatures thoiugh as even when flying majestically alongside a boat, they squark and attack one another at regular intervals.

Once back in Manly we went to late night 'pie shop' that is frequented by local revellers....... absolutely disgusting and mine went in the nearest waste bin despite costing me $4.50. We had a final drink at the Ocean Bar before flagging down a taxi and making our way home at around 11.30pm.

Quite an eventful day and really enjoyable despite the weather yet again. We have decided that whatever it wants to throw at us tomorrow we are goin gt to Sydney Zoo. The forecast is for more rain and unsettled until Wednesday when the next 3 days will be glorious bsunshine but of cours e we will have gone to Singapre by then, no doubt to record rainfall or some thing equally horrific.

Happy Birthday to me.... goodnight and thanks for looking in.

Dad, if you are reading this, hope you are OK. Vicki and Lucy are keeping us informed but it's not easy phoning home as none of our mobiles work. Will call you from a payphone at some stage.

A & K