Manly Beach

The Corso - Manly Beach

Manly Ocean Foods Accolades

Many Ocean Foods Fish and Chips

Manly is about seven miles or so from Sydney.  The ferries are pretty frequent with beautiful views in each direction.  I really could have spent a day just riding the ferries.

There is about a three or four block walk to the beach from the ferry stop.  You walk right through the center of the shopping and dining promenade.  The shops are pretty much your classic souvenir shops, but there were a few clothing stores, drugstores, etc... At the ferry landing, there are a few other shops including a grocery store, Aldi, and some small cafes.

The day we spent in Manly there was a warning about the rough seas, so, there weren't many people in the water except for some surfers who were determined to catch the big wave.  After watching them for about an hour or so, that big wave never came.  In fact, it was kind of funny to watch because they were all clustered together, so, it was interesting to see which ones would go for the waves that did emerge.  The beach itself is stunning.  It was very clean and the esplanade was full of activity.  There were so many families walking even during the week and lots of dogs getting their daily exercise.  The quality of life for those in Manly is probably great!

Aside from walking along the beach, we tried one of the fish and chip places on the promenade or "The Corso."  Manly Ocean Foods highly touted its accolades on its sign.  That should have been a warning for us.  However, it wasn't.  We saw quite a few locals ordering food from here too, so, we thought it would be a good choice.  We were highly disappointed.  For being right on the ocean, we are pretty sure the fish we got was not fresh, but frozen.  It had an extremely fishy taste.  My husband's squid rings were tough.  The best part were the chips.  The prices were good, but the food not so much.

While I did some shopping, my husband visited Oceanworld.  He spent about an hour exploring this small aquarium and he was pretty impressed with some of the exhibits.  Apparently, he thought some of the exhibits were better than those in the Sydney Aquarium.

Overall, Manly is most definitely worth a visit.  It is a quick roundtrip from Circular Quay.  I'm sure it is much different in summer when the beach is packed with people, but hearing the sound of the waves and smelling the sea air is something I enjoy year round.