 |
| The esplanade, a walkway along the shore in Circular Quay. |
Traveling from Manly Beach to Sydney couldn’t be easier. The Manly Fast Ferry offers five location stops; Circular Quay; Darling Harbour; North Sydney; Pyrmont Bay: and weekend sightseeing ferry between Manly, Watsons Bay, and Rose Bay. For details for the Manly Fast Ferry, please click here.
 |
| While in Sydney a few days ago, Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas was in port. We’d sailed on this ship April 16, 2016, from Sydney to Singapore. |
The slower ferry route taking about 30 minutes is the Manly Ferry, in operation since 1855, from the wharf in Manly to Circular Quay, the popular wharf. There are shops, a newsstand, and electronic machines from which to purchase more money for the Opal card used for Sydney transportation.
In addition, there’s an array of restaurants and fast food shops at the Wharf. Bob showed us a “drool-worthy” candy kiosk where candy lovers can find many of their favorites if they so chose.
 |
| Entertainment at the Wharf in Circular Quay in Sydney. |
Circular Quay is a harbor in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Sydney central business district on Sydney Cove, between Bennelong Point and The Rocks. It is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. For information on this ferry, please click here.
 |
| Ferries ready to be boarded. |
For our purposes, the slower Manly Ferry will serve our needs. Tomorrow night, when we’ll attend the opera at the Sydney Opera House, we’ll use the slower ferry for the round trip as we did when meeting friends Linda and Ken in the Rocks area of Sydney a few days ago.
The ride is easy and pleasant with breathtaking scenery with many popular points of interest greeting us along the way. Getting on and off the ferry is seamless especially with its frequent departures every 30 minutes. There are multiple decks, both outdoor and indoor seating, and restrooms on board.
 |
| Between the launch area to a view of the cruise ship. |
Considered one of the top ten sights to see in Sydney at many tourist sites, the ferries themselves are a popular attraction. Plus, it makes no sense to pay the high taxi fares when it’s much more economical and faster to use the ferry.
 |
| Sales area for Captain Cook Cruises, a tourist company. |
We paid AU 100, US $77 for the round trip taxi fare from Manly to Sydney whereby it’s only AU 28, US $21.50 for the round trip ferry for both of us. It’s a no-brainer when we can easily visit the beautiful city as often as we’d like during our remaining time (yet unknown due to immigration) in Fairlight/Manly.
 |
| Tom on the Manly Ferry which was clean and well organized. |
Taking the ferry requires a ride on a bus to return to the holiday rental but the Hop, Skip, Jump bus is free and arrives at the stop outside the Manly Wharf every half hour or less, stopping within a few blocks of where we’re living.
 |
| The cruise ship, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a small ferry boat. |
Typically in our world travels, we haven’t used a lot of public transportation when we’ve lived in more remote areas of the world where public transport schedules were erratic and stop too distant from our location at the time. Instead, we’ve either had a rental car or used a taxi. Neither of these options was necessary for this area.
 |
| From almost any point in the area, it’s easy to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ken asked if we were going to do the bridge walk. Maybe not. |
The weather has been rainy, windy, and cloudy since our arrival on Monday. We’ve only been able to wash clothes once with the high humidity. It took three days for the clothing to dry indoors on the rack. As a result of inclement weather, we haven’t had much of an opportunity to walk the neighborhood, although we’ve been out and about on several occasions.
 |
| Soon, we’ll visit The Museum of Contemporary Art located near the wharf. |
Yesterday late afternoon, our kindly landlord Bob took us to a local mall with dozens of shops and restaurants, Stockland Balgowlah, where we rounded out our grocery shopping at Cole’s Market, visited a pharmacy, and stopped at the local health food store.
 |
| We had to walk to find the pub where we were meeting Linda and Ken. |
We’re hoping the weather will improve by tomorrow’s ferry ride to Circular Quay especially considering the long walk to the Opera House from the Wharf but it doesn’t look hopeful. Rain or shine, we’ll be on our way for what surely will be a fabulous performance at the world-famous venue.
Have a fabulous day!
Photo from one year ago today, March 17, 2016:
 |
| Two bottles of New Zealand wine we’d purchased and savored in New Zealand. We seldom purchase wine for “home” use but have done so twice in the past year. No wine for me recently with this medical issue, yet to be fully resolved. For more details, please click here. |