Life's a Beach in Manly

Julie and I are truly settled in Manly. They say "once you're in Manly, you never leave"... that's not to say people don't ever move from Manly, that's to say people never go anywhere other than Manly for their leisure pursuits; no Sydney, no Bondi, no anywhere. But is that true? Mostly, yes!

We live in the brown brick building on the third floor

Julie and I were talking about the places we've lived and with one exception, our home in Lake Oswego, we have always lived on the water. Well, we don't actually live directly on the water here but we have the harbour to the left, 1 block, and the ocean to the right, 2 blocks. We take our coffee on a park bench most mornings, stroll the beach at night, we even enjoy our dinners (occasionally) in true Aussie fashion, picnicking in the park. We love it.

Our apartment is far better than the apartment we had in Balmain East. The only thing I miss about that place is the balcony with the glorious views of Manly harbour and the Harbour Bridge. Other than that...not much to miss about that place. Here, we have a much larger (even open) lounge (living room) and a better kitchen; still small, but more modern and a bit larger. We even have a microwave now! The bedrooms are also larger with much more storage. Even though we only have one bathroom, it's plenty for the two of us. My favourite part of the bathroom is the toilet seat. You know how kitchen drawers and cupboards are sometimes self-closing? Well, drop the toilet seat and it slowly goes down for you... no clanging noises... just slow and easy. It's such a good idea and remarkably, I like it sufficiently to blog about it? The kitchen has no sit-in dining so we take our meals in the lounge or the dining room. The dining room seats six with a nice service, though, we mostly use it as a place to work.

I'm thinking about starting a food blog about restaurants in Manly. We eat out often enough to try many of the places, and, there seems to be a bit of a shortage of good information on Manly restaurants. Julie works with someone that does a food blog in Sydney and she receives free meals from restaurants anxious for a review -- might be a good way to get some free grub while (hopefully) meeting/connecting with people in the area. Right now, I'm just considering this.

This past weekend we ate at a great restaurant called "Out of Africa". Truly extraordinary food. I'd say it's #2 in our Aussie experience behind only "Sake". Really good though, 2 minutes from our home.

I'll log off for now. I need to get out with my camera and take some photos to share with simple captions. You, my blog stalker, will get a much better sense of our life in Manly. Cheers.

Manly Men (and Women)

A lot of water under the bridge since my last blog post. No point in trying to bring all events current — let’s just jump in starting this week!

Julie and I have moved from Balmain East to Manly Beach. Both are suburbs of Sydney though Manly is much father out escaping the urban feel altogether. We’re not going to miss Balmain East. It’s a great community for people to raise their kids and meet up with their circle of friends; neither of which exist in our Aussie world. Keeping it positive, Manly is great! GREAT. GREAT!!!

First, our apartment is twice as large. We now have a clothes dryer, a stove with four full-size burners, a fireplace, hardwood floors, 10 foot ceilings, a microwave, lots of storage... all things we did not have before. The location really could’t be much better. Out the front door to the right, 1 block, and you’re on the harbour beach next to the ferry wharf. Go left, two blocks, and you’re standing on Manly Beach. (Morning coffee is awesome there and we’ve done it every day rain or shine.) Around the corner is a fully stocked grocery store and the famous Manly “Corso”. Conservatively, there are 30 restaurants within a 5 minute walk of our apartment. 60 within 10. Coffee shops, pubs, cafes, chemists, clothing stores, micro-breweries... you name it. To top it off, it’s all level so walking is easy for anyone with bad knees. It’s really great! This is the Australia we wanted to move to...

Julie continues to rehab since her tumble down a flight of stairs. She’s slowly getting better, her bruises are starting to disappear and the torn ligaments in her foot are healing with the help of good physio. Her commute is about 15 minutes longer than it was before but the ferry has wifi so she can work for the 30 minute ferry ride without interruption. The occasional dolphin or whale is a nice bonus on the ride.

I (Jeff) have volunteered as a warden here in Manly. My mission will be to keep tabs on the endangered Fairy Penguin population protecting them from people and pets while tracking their mating and feeding habits. It’s a good way to meet new people while helping the community and the penguins. Looking forward to that...

Penguin Warden Program Link

This weekend is a pro surfing competition on Manly Beach. I’ll take my camera along and get some photos of the community and the surfers… should be fun.