Last Exit To Manly

Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales

I decided that I'd take it a little easy on my last day in Sydney. With so much left on my list of things to do and no chance of doing them all, I decided that most would need to wait for a future visit to the city and so it was down to Circular Quay once more to take the ferry across to Manly.

When I arrived at the dockside you could hardly miss the visitor that had arrived. The Pacific Princess towered over the quayside and anything in the water. The large Manly ferries that had dwarfed the smaller old-schooler and catamaran ferries on earlier visits now looked like tenders to the large ocean going cruiser. She was an unexpected and wonderful addition to the day's sights. As the ferry departed, my attention was once more taken up by the Opera House and bridge. Shooting from the water, the passing ferry offered many new angles and the shutter never stopped as I passed by the iconic structure.

I settled into the half hour cruise across the harbour. The cruise ship wasn't the only visitor to have arrived since my last visit. As we passed Garden Island, home of the Australian Navy's Fleet Base East, the traffic inside Woolloomooloo Bay had increased to include an aircraft carrier and support vessels. This was turning out to be a very interesting last day in Sydney.

The weather too was a little more interesting. Ever since I left Melbourne I had been hard pushed to find any clouds. They arrived with a vengeance in Sydney this morning. A few little ones to begin with, but soon to be followed by some sun-busting beauties. Not a drop of rain was shed though, and I found the short periods away from the direct sunlight quite pleasant. I'm sure Sydneysiders were reaching for another layer though! The sun was back out when the ferry docked at Manly wharf. After picking up a local map at the information centre, I wandered through the precinct and out onto Manly Beach. The beach faces out onto the Tasman Sea and, in spite of the chilly conditions, was fairly well populated with sun worshipers. All tourists no doubt! Not really my thing, I took a look at the map and had a look at the many coastal walks on offer. Now, which to do on my relaxing last day? Oh yeah, let's do the longest. 10km from Manly to the Spit Bridge. In for a penny, in for a pound!

To be fair, the map said it was a gentle to medium grade. The walk followed the coast from Manly Cove to North Harbour and then up to the headlands of the Sydney Harbour National Park and Grotto Point Reserve before descending to the waterside of Middle Harbour and the shores of Sandy and Fisher Bays and onto the bridge. It as a fair walk with some beautiful views across the harbour to North Head and Port Jackson. I took a wrong turn at one point and ended up on the alternative dog route that take you through the suburbs of Balgowlah Heights. Some very nice houses there. It also brought up a point of etiquette. Walking up the streets, there were no pavements. Road simply met turfed garden. Does one walk on the road or the grass? I did a little of both. Nobody shouted at me. By the time I arrived at the bridge, the wind had picked up as predicted by the weather reports in the morning and the crossing to get to the bus stop for the journey back to Manly was a matter of holding onto the hat and pushing through! Then came my next problem. Tickets. Again! All the buses and stops have messages on them about needing to have a ticket before boarding. Not seeing anywhere remotely like being able to sell me one and after speaking with the only other person at the stop (who didn't know either - everyone uses travel cards here) I just had to ask when the bus arrived. "Of course we sell tickets, mate. Nowhere around here to buy one." I didn't ask about the sign on the bus stop. I just gratefully took myself with my paper ticket and parked my bum on a seat to rest my weary feet. The next ferry was due to leave five minutes after I arrived back in Manly and so I hopped on and headed back across the harbour. I had places to go and people to see tonight.

Back at the hotel there was time for a quick shower and a change of clothes before heading back out. Before I left home I had tried to work in a performance at the Opera House into my schedule, but it just never looked on. However, a few days before I flew out, the Expanding Horizons tickets went on sale and I grabbed the opportunity. This concert and dance event is a joint initiative between the schools of NSW and their counterparts in China that has run since 2007. It is apparently the culmination of a year's activities including cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries. It is in fact THE biggest school concert you'll ever attend, with 1300 children from Australia and 800 from China taking part!

For those of you who have been to live concerts before, you know the buzz when you walk into an auditorium when the chorus is already seated. Imagine that, but instead made up with a few hundred excited, chattering children. OMG! The noise was incredible.. and high pitched. As parents and families piled in, the chattering mass began to move too. A flailing body of waving arms and shouts of glee as people known only to each other connected across the void. To be honest, as I sat there waiting for the concert to begin, I felt like a bit of an intruder. It was a sell-out and the audience was composed (probably in its entirety) by families along to see their child perform. I had probably denied some auntie or granny the opportunity to see their kin. Obviously, the way I had to look at it was that I saved some uncle of granddad the trip! As I settled down to the 3 hour extravaganza, I was taken back to my own school days and those summer plays, musicals and concerts that we all took part in, and chuckled...

It was, on the whole a fun night, with many talented kids performing. The first act was taken up with musical pieces ranging from simple percussion pieces to traditional Chinese folk music to the grandeur of the William Tell Overture. It was a wonderful mix. The second act was taken over by the dancers and choirs of the two countries and again, a delightful mix of traditional and contemporary styles. The highlight of the evening for me was the amazing dancing talents of the Shanghai Youth Centre Hand in Hand Art Corps who performed a couple of truly sublime dances in the second half of the night. I really enjoyed the evening which actually passed by a lot quicker than I thought it might. It's a great idea that will hopefully be kept going for a long time to come.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the three stooges though. Three children had been selected to compare the evening. One would read a passage in English then another would read the same in Chinese. Nobody though had obviously explained to them that there was plenty of room for them all to stand at the podium in one place and have the two mikes pick up what they were saying. This led to no small measure of hilarity as each child aimed to stand directly over one of the two mikes when their parts arrived, forcing the third, silent member of the trio to shuffle around or back out of the way. They persisted with this comedy routine between a few numbers until some bright spark backstage decided just to send two out at a time and rotate the combination. Poor lambs...

As I walked back to the hotel I suddenly realised I hadn't eaten since lunchtime. At 11:00 I didn't think there would be many places left open and that was when I discovered Pie Face. They make pies... with faces... and they taste divine. A steak and peppercorn pie for main and mini cherry pie for dessert combined with a nice cuppa certainly filled a hole.