Sydney: Day 3

Today we were late risers due to the festivities of the night before. So, once we were up we decided to head to the Sydney Fish Market for lunch. It looked to be not too far from the map and it was overcast, so we headed over on foot. We didn't count for the humidity and by the time we got there we were a bit warm. Anyways, once we arrived we entered the market that was swarming with people. Since it was Sunday, the trading side was closed, but unless you have special permission a tourist can't enter there anyways. The market not only housed a number of seafood retailers and restaurants, but a bakery, a cheese shop and a wine store as well. Due to the numbers and the types of seafood, it is said that this is the most diverse fish market after Tokyo. We perused the different vendors and came up with a game plan: I would get the fish fillet grilled and some chips (french fries) and Matt would get the sashimi and oysters (famous Sydney Harbour Rock Oysters). Whomever was done first would get the wine! Thirty minutes later we had a picnic on the water. Everything tasted delicious...if we were living in Sydney we would be eating here every weekend!

With full and happy bellies, we headed to our destination for the day: Manly Beach. To get to Manly you have to take a ferry which is also a great way to see Sydney Harbour. The ferry terminal was across town, so we passed through Darling Harbour on our way there. Sydney's Chinese New Year celebration was still going on and today's featured event was the dragon boat races in the harbour. We took the pedestrian bridge over the water, which turned out to be an excellent viewpoint for the races, so we stopped to watch for a while.

We arrived at the ferry terminal in time to catch the next ferry to Manly, we purchased our tickets and found seats in the stern. The ferry ride took about 30 minutes passing by the Opera House, Fort Denison and a number of beaches and islands along the way. Once we arrived in Manly we strolled down towards the beach. There were a bunch of stores along the way and I proceeded to do a little shopping. The waves were looking good to Matt, so he rented a surf board. He caught one really good wave, but this was not witnessed. I opted to do some reading under the cover of some trees, as it had started to rain.

Ironically enough, the rain stopped just after Matt returned his surf board. We were both a bit chilled, so we found a coffee shop where we lingered waiting for the next ferry home over tea and hot cocoa.