Spit to Manly Hike and Doyle's on the Beach

On Tuesday, Rachel talked me into catching the bus (not the part she had to talk me into) over to the Spit Bridge, the starting point of our 9K hike (the part she had to talk me into). For those of you who are not up on the units of the Systeme Internationale, that is about 6 1/2 miles. Let this demonstrate my love for my wife, as I would not do this for anybody else. You will notice that I am conspicuously missing from any of the posted pictures. That is because I was completely wet with sweat, about the time we got off of the bus.

The hike meandered around the harbor. Perhaps "meander" is not quite the correct word, as we climbed up and down many, many, many stairs throughout the day. Some of it was along beaches, some through subtropical rainforest, and some through neighborhoods. It was really a beautiful hike.

Along the walk, we were able to take in several views of Sydney.

We also got to see some cool wildlife. This is a picture of a water dragon that Rachel walked right next to before she saw it. They are not poisonous, but they are fairly good-sized lizards. Click on the picture to blow it up to get a better look at it.

As we walked further towards Manly, we were able to see views of both the North and South Heads of Sydney Harbor. This is a good view of the North Head. Rachel calls this her "artsy" picture, because if you click on it, you will see that the camera is focused on the grass in the front of the picture.

This is a picture of Rachel in front of the North Head.

About 7K into the walk, Manly came into view. It is a trendy suburb of Sydney where a lot of college-aged Europeans live while traveling. The harbor is on one side of the burb (this picture was taken from the harbor). On the other side of Manly, is Manly Beach and the Pacific Ocean. The title picture for this entry is of Manly Beach.

During our walk, we encountered a couple of Aussie retired university professors. They are preparing for a pilgrimage hike of several hundred kilometers in Spain. Michael, the gentleman pictured here in Manly with Rachel, was extremely nice to us. He had visited Philadelphia in the past year, and was excited to meet some people who lived there. He said a couple had taken really good care of him at the Mummers Parade the year before and he wanted to take care of us to pay it forward. He gave us a tour of the town and recommended a cafe to us for lunch.

Following our hike, Rachel and I took the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay to Tim and Liz's, where we cleaned up for dinner. Tim booked us at Doyle's on the Beach, which is a famous seafood restaurant in Watson's Bay, a Sydney suburb.

We had a great dinner. We were served by a waiter who spends half of the year in Sydney and half of the year in the U.S. It would be really nice to live in Sydney, Australia during American winter. What a life!

REFLECTIONS - Aussieisms


An "Aussieism" is something that is quirky and not quite right. It is close, but not quite there. An excellent example of an "Aussieism" is Hungry Jack. As you can see, it is like Burger King in all ways, yet it is not quite Burger King. The menu is the same, the worker uniforms are the same, but the logo is not quite the same.

Some of my favorite Aussieisms include "How you going?" instead of "How are you doing?", to which one responds, "I'm going well." Instead of "Knock on wood", Aussies say, "Touch wood." "Yabbies" are crawdads (crawfish for you non-southerners out there). My favorite Aussieism is "Chook". This is a picture of a "Chook Crossing".

This is a picture of a "chook". A "chook" is simply what we Americans would refer to as a chicken. And of course the Aussies have an expression for "running around like a chicken with its head cut off." It is "running around like a headless chook."

My favorite Aussieism of all are all of the signs that adorn the roads outside of the cities. Instead of "manure" for fertilizer, Aussies sell "poo". I have always wanted to dedicate a Reflection to talking about poo, but I never thought I would have a legitimate chance... but... I do now. Aussie farmers sell cow poo, horse poo, pig poo, even alpaca poo, and yes, of course, Chook poo. I think that covers all of the poos we saw.