Little Feet Round the World: Manly Beach is 'The Place'

Manly is a suburb in Northern Sydney, located approximately 17km north east of Sydney CBD. Once Captain Arthur Phillip said "Their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place". They in this context refers to Guringai people who inhabited the area that time.

Manly is a popular tourist destination for its beaches, foods and drinks. The mode of transport for reaching Manly is by ferry from Circular Quay. It will cost AUD 7.18 (~SGD 8) one way per person to go to Manly, but again one can always save the transport cost by going to Manly on Sundays. It will only cost AUD 2.5 for everything due to the Sunday cap.

Manly Wharf

The wharf itself has supermarket, food kiosks and restaurants. Besides the wharf, there is a small stretch of beach facing the Manly Cove that leads to Manly Sea Life Sanctuary at the end. Besides Manly Sea Life Sanctuary, there stands Manly Art Gallery & Museum. However, it was closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.

The beach and Manly Sea Life Sanctuary

The beach and Manly Wharf

Manly Art Gallery & Museum

The so-called centre of Manly is the Corso, which can be reached by crossing the road in front of Manly Wharf. The Manly Corso is a pedestrian street mall with various shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs and street entertainments. It has served as a connection between Manly Wharf and Manly Beach since 1854. Manly Beach is famous for the Norfork Island pine trees that line up nicely along the shore.

St. Matthew Anglican Church in Manly Corso

The Corso statue

This is how the Corso looks like, I believe the palm trees are imported

Can you see the pines?

There are stone benches where you can sit

Or you can simply lay around and cover yourself in sand

I am sure Australians are crazy about walking. It seems to me that every single place has walking route: coastal walking, bush walking, mountain trekking. Manly has one too. Manly Scenic Walk was opened since 1988 and it covers 10km of walking track from Manly Beach to Spit Bridge by passing through Sydney Harbour National Park and many beaches along the way. The map of the walk can be downloaded here.

Walking further north from Manly Beach to Freshwater Bay, Curl Curl Beach and Dee Why Beach is recommended too. The track is 7km long and at the end of the walk, there is Dee Why Lagoon waiting for you.

We did not have the brave heart to walk 7km or 10km. We chose to walk to Shelly Beach instead, located about 1km south of Manly Beach. It's actually part of Manly Scenic Walk, only 1/10 of it. Next time I'll come back to conquer the 7km and 10km walk for sure.

The start of the walking track

Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve covers 20 hectares of marine life at Manly to be protected

The view while walking towards Shelly Beach

What I saw when I looked back

Smile

I don't know how that guy even access the rocks there. Jump, perhaps?

There is a little town

The Fairy Bowel Rock Pool

Shelly Beach

After finish our 1km walk to Shelly and 1km walk back, we got hungry and searched for another seafood dinner to make up the dissatisfaction we got in Doyles Watsons Bay. We circled The Corso to find a few fish and chips shops and gauged the choice by the crowds. We decided to go for Manly Fish Market. And really, I will keep using this method to find my food choice. It is a delicious dinner we had, especially the calamari rings.