Manly Beach Day ..

Gill's Blog: Manly is called Manly because, back in the day, Captain Arthur Phillips of the Royal Navy thought the native people to be full of confidence and appeared to be 'manly' .. No wonder many folk outside of the UK found us to be arrogant ! Anyhow.. today we walked along the beachfront from the Manly Surf School to Shelly Beach, past the kids from the surf schools, a plethora of very beautiful fit walkers and beach volleyball pitches. The girls were on scooters and Jackson, Katharine and I walked behind. The sun came out this morning and it was a really pleasant walk. At Shelly Beach the girls played and dug in the sand before we walked back, stopping for coffee and hot chocolates.

We saw other beaches today. From Sydney up the coast towards Newcastle, where I used to work, there is a pattern of beach, followed by beach followed by beach. We went to see Curl Curl beach and Freshwater. The beaches are spectacular and the water is fierce, The surfers were out in force again today. I love to watch the rollers coming in. I could watch them for hours.

Another discovery today was Sushi for Katie .. she tried it and enjoyed it. She was also thrilled today to discover a small lizardy thing ... she liked it, but it wasn't the highlight of my day !

There was more aboriginal painting this afternoon out on the deck and the kids are now all snuggled up watching a movie. Kates and I are still a little jet lagged, but Katie is doing really well considering how far we come. Tomorrow, Katie is off to the Sydney Easter Show (at the old Olympic Park) and I am climbing the Habour Bridge ! (and then off to Material Obsession - a Patchworking Venue in North Sydney .. what a treat... and an adventure.. I am taking the bus !).