Sept 9th-10th: Sydney

Thursday the 9th in Sydney

I slept in a bit and then decided to take the ferry to Manly, which was recommended to me by several people. So I walked back up to Circular Quay and caught the ferry. It's about a thirty minute ride with a nice view of the Opera House and the city. It was kind of cold and windy but I still braved it sitting outside to make the most.

Manly seems like a cool little place. It kind of has a village-y beach town feel. I walked over to the lovely beach. Sadly it was another cloudy and rainy Australian beach day for me. Still nice- clear water and white sand, once again. I walked around to Shelly Beach, and on my way back from that walk a man saw my sweatshirt and said, “Hey! You went to Bryn Mawr? That's a good school!”

Turns out he's from Pittsburgh and travels around doing a language exchange and lessons for free. It's always exciting when someone actually knows Bryn Mawr.

Friday 10th Sydney

On Friday I decided to go see the famous Bondi Beach. I went with an Australian guy I met at the hostel and we headed out on an adventure to find the proper bus to the beach. Eventually we made it and it was smaller than I expected but quite nice. And the sun finally came out! I think it might have been a bit cold for a swim, although there were the ever-present surfers. We just lied on the beach and watched the clouds fly by. It was surprisingly peaceful. Apparently it gets quite crowded in the summer.

Then we went for a hike over the rocks by the cliff and got some gorgeous views of the beach and the water. Australian beaches are really amazingly beautiful. At least on par with some of the Bali beaches I visited.