Sunday - and to the beach we go!

After the past fews days in the City we thought it was about time to visit some of Sydney's famous beaches!

We headed down to Circular Quay and jumped on the ferry to Manly, we had been told that the journey alone was well worth it and we were in no way disappointed!  As we came out of the harbour and round past the many coves and bays it was a stunning and beautiful sight. 

Once off the ferry we walked down to the beach and took in the hundreds of other people who had flocked there on this fine sunny day.  A quick breather and we were off on our walk (the famous Manly to Spit walk was our aim today), 10kms along the rugged coastline heading back towards the City.

As we started off the path zig zagged around the coves and bays, past Fairlight beach and across to Forty Basket beach (apparently named as they had once caught 40 baskets of fish there!).  We stopped in this spot for lunch, listening to the loud kookaburras.

After our quick re-fuelling stop we started on and made our way into Sydney Harbour National Park, the track suddenly got steeper, sandier and rockier; we saw goannas fighting (and Ben managed to catch them on camera!), and admired (from a distance) the huge spiders in the bottle brush trees.

At Dobroyd head we stopped to admire the stunning views across the harbour and out to sea, and saw the 1930s sea shanties at the base of Crater Cove - which were only accessible by boat.

A short distance on along the trail we stopped to look over the Aboriginal rock carvings, and then took the short walk off the trail to Grotto point Lighthouse.

As we rounded the headland and had the end in sight the views were spectacular; Castle Point beach and then Clontarf beach were alive with hundreds of families all out enjoying the last hours of sunshine on this fine Sunday afternoon.  As we made our way up and down the cliff paths we were passed by the icecream man...on his boat!

The final stretch took us through bushland, and we saw our 5th goanna - sat sunning itself on a sandstone rock.  As we arrived at the end of our 10km walk we sat at the roadside waiting for our bus back to the centre of Sydney.

The bus arrived at 4pm and the short journey took us through the Northern suburbs and over the Harbour Bridge.  We then caught another bus from Circular Quay...destination Bondi!

Considering it was now 5pm on a Sunday late afternoon the crowds were still thick down at Bondi, the beach was awash with surfers, beach bums, families and travellers.  The bars were packed, and music beat from each of them drawing more people in from the beach.  We settled for an ice cream and walked along the boardwalk as the sun set. 

After the sun had disappeared for the day we caught the bus back to Circular Quay with the masses.  As we had a one day travel card we wanted to make the most of it...so we jumped on another ferry, this time doing a loop of the harbour stops!  We past the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Luna Park and made our way around to Darling Harbour - the views were amazing.

Once back at Circular Quay we headed back to the hostel and made dinner, after which we went next door to the Australian Hotel for a nightcap...Fat Yak Ale and Amber Ale - yum!!