Manly - Sydney

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Travel blog part two;

15/06/10

Travelling to Manly Sydney;

The flight to Sydney seemed a lot long that the original flight to HK, I didn’t sleep as well though the eye mask remained. I watched the new Alice in Wonderland (story line hello, where are you!!) they should have just remade the original.

I spoke with a Chinese lady that was sat next to me and an English girl that was sat opposite. Sarah, the English girl was backpacking Asian and Sydney, she had really big beautiful....cough eye’s.

Getting through customs was a lot easier than I had first thought; I was a little worried that wouldn’t let me in because I was 31 on an 18-30 visa. Fortunately they did let me in because the visa entry is valid for a year. I got a taxi to Manly chatted to the driver about footie, England and Turkey (the nationality of the driver) I got a bit of a guided tour with the cab ride. People here seem very keen on helping other people out, everyone smiles and says hello.

I arrived in Manly a little jet lagged with a few hours to kill before Steve could meet me from his lunch break, so I sat had a coffee and some breakie. After I finished my food I headed to the Manly Wharf, an area where with cafes, bar’s and the main ferry docks take you into central Sydney. There is free Wi-Fi everywhere which really came in handy, I emailed Steve though after an hour or so, all of my tech was died, so I sat there watching the world go by. I noticed how many people were in active and sportswear; I think this place is going to be healthily for me...in fact I’m planning to get a personal trainer to get my body running at peak performance. I haven’t smoked either in fact I think I want to stop smoking!

Steve picked me up around 12:30am so I’d been sitting at the wharf for a couple of hours, I seen many people watch was building an impression on me. I picked some flowers up for Steve’s misses, they have been so good to me I owe them big time.

Steve took me back his place; he is such a top bloke, he really tried to make me feel at home and comfortable. That evening I met Karen (Steve’s Wife) and Mia (his daughter). Steve and I headed out to pick up a pizza and a quick beer, we had a quick look around Manly, and the place is beautiful. That evening we watched a bit of footy but we were both tired as we were still suffering from jetlag, so we headed off to bed.

16/06/10

The next day I woke up feeling refreshed I jumped in the shower and headed out, I had loads to do today...sort out my Tax Number and get a phone. I through on a t-shirt and shorts and headed to the Wharf to catch a ferry to the mainland...taking some photo’s of Manly along the way. I got slightly lost on the way (always the best way to get to know I place I think!) I ended up at Shelly beach, I lovely little spot lots of runners and walkers. I grabbed a chicken and avocado wrap (it was lovely, hence me mentioning it😊) from a beach hut then walked back, got my bearings and headed to the wharf.

On the ferry I got talking an old boy called Ted, he was 84yrs old and he pointed out some of the historical spots along the harbour. Ted was such a nice old bloke he offered to show me around Sydney, which I gladly accepted. We went down an area of Sydney called The Rock’s this is the oldest part of Sydney where the buildings looked like something out of a Western. He showed me down some back alleyways, places that most tourist would never think to look down. There were layouts of old builds with iron furniture to show people there purpose. We also went into an old church where Glenn McGrath was married and the oldest pub in Sydney. After we finished the tour we said our goodbyes. I headed to the Tax office, I found it quite easily considering I only had the Street name, I got there and just had to fill out and online form duh!

After I left the Tax office I was ready for a bite to eat, I grabbed a bagel from a deli and headed down the main commercial street to find a mobile phone shop. Sydney is such an amazing city, just the feel of it and the people. As you walk around the body language is far more casual than London, people walk slower and more relaxed, they look at you and smile. It has the big beautiful buildings, some historical looking ones too, it is very clean and the pollution seems lower.

After a quick look around I headed back to the ferry, ready for a night out. I got back to the wharf a little late, so I called Steve from a pay phone (my pay as you go sim wasn’t working in my phone). We arranged to meet in a bar that we walked past the previous evening; I asked if I’d be ok going out in a hoodie and shorts...silly question some people were wearing smart casual, though a lot were wearing casual a very laidback place.
I arrived in the bar before Steve so I ordered a beer, chatted with the barman for a bit until a chap called Mark asked if I was Andy. This was Steve’s mate that we were due to meet, at this point Steve rocks up. I moved over to sit with Steve, Mark, and Fran (Marks Wife) not really knowing what to expect of the night vaguely hearing something about the England rugby team.

We headed off to a restaurant called Rump and Rib, as we walked into the entire England Rugby squad was sat to our right hand side!! We were sitted at our reserved table in just about the best position possible. I took a few sneaky shots with the flash off; they didn’t turn out that great! Steve brought his England 2003 World cup Champs shirt with him. You’re probably thinking all of this was a bit fluky, well truth be told, Mark’s mum is bezzy mates with Lewis Moody’s mum. He obviously knew that the England team were in town and they always stop in Manly (a lot of ex-pats). So he found out where they were eating and booked the table, this was my first proper night in Sydney totally crazy!! Back to the story...as we sat there Jonny Wilkinson walked pasted heading to the toilet, before he knew it Steve and Fran pounced on him for autographs and photos. I could see Joe Worsley, George Chuter, Dan Cole, Nick Easter, James Haskell, Martin Johnson, Tom Palmer and Mike Tindall with his back to us. These guys were fricking huge!! By now my adrenalin well and truly flowing, I couldn’t believe it. I saw Joe stand-up and head towards the door, so I passed my camera to Steve and ran over...I said hey Joe (Hendrix fans may get that) would it be ok to have a photo buddy, a true gentleman he was happy to. Later I seen the picture looks like he’s going to punch me, cheeky git I would have had him 😊 next was Mike Tindall, I’m pretty sure he was heading to the bathroom even so he was happy to have a picture taken. Steve had already collared Graham Rowntree to sign his England 2003 shirt, not realising at the time that he had been dropped from the England squad a week before the 2003 World Cup!! He is still a leg end!! We were finishing up our meals which consisted of half of a pig and half of a chicken lovely, and the squad was starting to slowing filter out of the restaurant. We saw Martin Johnson in the eating area, I wanted to go over though Steve was being British and didn’t want to disturb him...so I gave him the, this is the only opportunity we’ll ever get speech and we headed over. As we walked round I saw Rob Andrews (England number kicker during my school boy years and a personal hero ). I said hi Rob would it be ok to have our picture taken with you and Martin, calling with by their first name like we’re best buddies 😊, and the rest is history.

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