Manly Beach isn't so manly

Saturdays were made for sleeping in and that’s exactly what we did! Even had a relaxing, slow paced morning which inspired me to make omelets for Lauren and I. Since we had to buy eggs for the first time in Sydney to make our anniversary cake there were a few left over just begging to be made into omelets. With the added onion and green peppers they were simply delicious and a nice break from our usual cornflakes and toast! We even enjoyed them out on the balcony which was something we hadn’t done in a while. Our plans for the day were to go to Manly beach with our American friend, Molly. She had been told that there was a surf competition going on in addition to it apparently being the only beach where you can see the sunset. Our plan was to be out the door and on our way to the beach no later than 1 PM and we were pretty close to that time frame. We actually had to catch two buses just to make it all the way there, but it was worth it since we actually crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time since we’ve arrived in Sydney. It truly was a beautiful view and a very surreal feeling. That made Lauren and I want to do the Bridge climb even more, but we were glad today wasn’t the day since it was another scorcher. After a combined hour bus ride we arrived at Manly beach and were immediately confronted with lots of shops. We didn’t even make it to the beach first but rather got sucked into all the little shops that had lots of souvenirs. That didn’t last long because we definitely wanted to see what the famous Manly beach was all about and hopefully see some surfers. I think we were a little late for the competition though since there weren’t many professional surfers around, just a lot of little children learning how to surf. We tried to find a sunny spot on the beach front but with all the palm trees blocking the sun it was actually a hard task. 

Not to mention the ocean winds were making it even colder than what it should be while at the beach so we couldn’t stay long by the water. We were able to share a few stories about our adventures during Spring Break and that was the whole point of getting together since we hadn’t seen each other since we’d been back! She had gone to the Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef so we were both excited to hear about that. The shops were calling our names again and we just wandered around for the rest of the afternoon. We even found some markets set up in the middle of the walkways that were selling really nice bracelets. Lauren and I were finally able to find a good replacement for our bowling alley bracelets. We had wanted something from Australia and never gets better than kangaroo leather I must say! Mama you'll never guess what we found - people selling your scarf creations for $30 a piece. Who knew they could be worth so much!

We ended up walking all the way to the bay on the other side where a lot of sailboats were banked in the water which made for a great picture.

We think this would be a good location to watch the sunset but we weren’t going to stay that late this time. In fact we were considering going to the Harbour to watch the Saturday night fireworks. That was the belated plan for our anniversary since I know that Lauren loves fireworks. However, with the hour long bus ride back time got away from us and we decided to postpone it since we didn’t want to rush down to the Harbour and risk missing the show. This meant that we could really take our time making dinner and that proved to be a better option since cheeseburgers were on the menu and they were truly the best I’ve ever made. Not to brag, but I am definitely perfecting my cheeseburgers! After a lot of walking through the day at the beach we were more than happy to enjoy some relax time for the night.