Tired, hot and sore feet
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2006
1
141
230
Trip End
Jun 18, 2007
Sydney,
Australia
Sunday, January 7, 2007
So by the time I'd finished on 'tinet, eaten, phoned home and got to bed it was gone 2am I think. I was so shattered but it's so warm in our room and so noisy that I didn't get much sleep at all, if it wasn't noises or the heat waking me up it was the springs in the mattress digging into my ribs or legs or arms, cutting of the circulation. I finally cooled off enough and found a comfy spot to drift off to sleep (or was so shattered I passed out) when Lee woke me up to tell me we were meeting people to do the Spit to Manly walk... We'd arranged this yesterday but my head really didn't want to get out of bed. It wasn't really beach or walking weather to be honest, it's been horribly muggy all day, when the temp outside is no different to inside and you just can't cool down.
But I dragged myself out of bed, showered and we headed off for the pleasant walk to Circular Quay where the ferry goes from. Circular Quay is lovely at the weekends, there's hustle and bustle of weekend visitors having coffee in street cafes, entertainers lining the ferry walkway trying to entertain the troops. We saw a great bloke playing the steel drums till he was upstaged by two blokes who set up right near him and started playing dijereedoos over the top of some beats and animal sounds. We caught the 2pm ferry to Manly and if you can't afford to do a swanky harbour cruise then for $5.80 this is a great way to get to see the harbour, the bridge and the opera house. Plus you end up in Manly, which is no great shame.
The ferry terminal in manly ends right by the visitor info centre, which is where we got some info on the Manly-Spit walk. A 10 walk around the coast and through the national park.
We walked through the shopping centre to the other side of Manly where the beach was. Lee has just bought some new surfers and was keen to try them out. But the weather wasn't great, it looked like it was going to rain any minute, it felt like it needed too. But that didn't stop the hundreds of surfers in the water waiting for the big waves.
We decided to grab some brunch in a cafe just off the shopping mall. We'd spotted a $10 all day breakfast sign and have been having cornflakes all week so decided to treat ourselves. The brekkie was alright but better than that was sitting in the cafe eating it just as it started to absolutely chuck it down. We had prime, dry, seats so just watched everyone dashing in all directions. Our friends had already started the walk from Spit to Manly and they were about 15 minutes away still so after the rain had stopped we decided to start the walk, missing the other completey because we were about 2km away from Manly when they texted to tell us what cafe they were in.
The walk was lovely at the beginning, we saw lots of beachs and lovely coastal views looking back to Manly where the ferry arrives. We didn't know how far we were going to walk so just kept walking until we reached the National Park. Where we decided that we'd just have a little walk into it to see what it was like. It's quite weird to have a national park so close to a city so we decided we couldn't come this far without seeing it. Only trouble was that by the time we'd walked in to see it, we were already about 5km into the walk, it was getting quite late, but we thought we'd just complete it instead of walking back the same way 5km. The clouds had cleared and the sun had come below them anyway so the weather was shaping up a little better but boy did I feel drained. Imagine not feeling great anyway, hot, shattered and then walking 5km in the humid heat with the sun beating down on you. Poor old Lee had carried his beach bag with a huge bottle of water in it all the way and my Tevas were properly rubbing for the first time ever, i think it was the sweat and the sand.
The walk through the National Park was lovely but it did get a bit boring. It's not a straight path by any means we were clambering up and down the rocky paths, clinging to the rails up and down the wooden stairs and generally trying to get it over with as quick as possible. There are points along the way where you can join or leave the walk but we thought we'd better do it, I think if we had done it earlier in the day we would have appreciated it more.
However, we did see some funky lizard type things, Eastern Water Dragons they were called and lots of spiders. None of which I'm hoping were dangerous. Infact I stopped Lee from walking straight into one that was dangling down from a tree. Along the walk we did get to see some rather old and cool aboriginal rock carvings, which they're trying to protect from errosion. I was quite chuffed to see these because only this morning I was reading the Lonely Planet and the history of Australia. What big bullies the Europeans are eh? Lee and I had a discussion about the rights and wrongs of what happened but we didn't come to much of a conclusion about who was right and who was wrong. It don't make it any better though!
As you walk up into the park, it takes you to some stunning viewpoints from which you can not only see back to Manly, but also over to the other side of Sydney and also back to the CBD with the Harbour Bridge poking out the top. To be honest, I think the walk was worth it for these views. Lee really wanted to get in the water but the beaches we passed at the beginning weren't really safe for swimming in due to water pollution from storm drains nearby and by the time we got to some decent beaches it was getting on for 7pm and we didn't know how far we had to go.
With the sun setting though the scenery was stunning, different thigns were highlighted different colours and the shadows cast just made the water and the surrounds look great. We finally came out of the National Park at Castle Rock, which was a tiny beach with a huge climb down to get to it. It was surprisingly busy with locals, with a little old lady in full make up and a spotted swim cozzie asking if we were lost on our way to the Spit. I reassured her that we were just stopping to look at the beach when Lee asked if the water was safe for swimming. She commented that they worried about sharks but she'd been swimming here for 40 years and hadn't been eaten yet! :)
We carried on past Castle Rock to another little beach along the way, much quieter than the other one and I think Lee really wanted to swim here but time was getting on and I didn't know how long it would take to get to the end so we decided not to stop, which, as it always turns out in these things was probably a bit silly because as we carried on a little further we turned the corner and saw the Spit bridge in full view, the last leg of the joruney and only about 1km to go. We wandered along the beach towards the reserve that would link us to Sandy Bay Rd and the last part of the walk and then sun was so low it really made the water so reflective. The boats looked like they were moored on glass.
Onwards for a short while more, around Sandy Bay itself and down through some sub-tropical rainforest and then we were dumped, without warning, at the end of the walk, right infront of the Spit Bridge and right by the waters edge where some people were fishing. We followed the sign for the bus stop and after clambering up one last flights of stairs we realised why most people do the walk the otherway, because you arrive at the freeway, literally right by the road with cars speeding by. Not very scenic at all! I was a bit disappointed by this, after being treated to the views of Sydney from the park , the funny rock formations, the rainforest and the bush. To be confronted wth 4 lanes of car madness was just not needed.
Anyway, we were on the wrong side of the freeway for our bus so we had to do a complete and utter madness death dash across the freeway to try and get to the other side without the coppers seeing us and booking us for being really stooopid. You can pretty much guess that as I'm writing this now we made it and didn't even have to wait long for the bus either!
As the bus drove back towards the CBD our bus actually took us across the Harbour Bridge, which delighted me no end. We were also treated to a lovely rainbow on one side and a beautiful sunset on the other side. So all in all I think it was well worth it, although I wish I had worn better footware.
At least today has been cheap. We got a daytripper ticket, which gives you unlimited use of trains, ferrys and buses for the whole day -definiteily worth investing in one if you're going to be travelling about seeing sights for the day. And we made it to a really baf\d Irish backpacker pub for their $5 meal deal. Luckily we were upstairs and couldn't really hear the Drag Queen Karaoke (oh yes!).
It's still unbelievably warm here, which is why we're in the internet cafe, because it's air-conned! I'm not looking forward to getting back to our hot, stuffy little room I can tell you. Still, only one more night to go - wooo hooo!
