far far away downunder... 遠得要命又顛倒的地方: 到 Manly 海灘走走 / An outing to Manly

以往到 Manly 都是專車 door to door 的直接開到 Manly 步行街, 找家有空位的 Caf'e 坐下, 吃完早餐或下午茶, 或喝完咖啡就走人了, 個人對 Manly 的認知就是長長的海灘, 長長的步行街, 加上座無虛席的 Caf'e... (我可以把我的無知全部推給我的地陪吧!)

某個周末終於有機會可以地毯式的認識 Manly 了, 大好機會來自 Andy 的 Ocean Race, 這次是從北邊的 Long Reef 划到 Manly, Andy 先把車開到 Manly 停車場放著, 換搭社友的車, 前往 Long Reef 參賽, 待比賽在 Manly 結束後, 則換 Andy 開車載社友回 Long Reef 去領車.

一待 Andy 的車消失在街角, 立馬靠著直覺找到熱鬧的主街 The Corso (這是每次都只能用眼睛遠眺的街道), 街道兩旁商店, Caf'e 林立, 走道中間還有週末市集. 雖然街道不長, 但是我還是很珍惜的每一家, 每一攤都逛了. 大多商店賣的是海灘裝備和用品, 澳洲的海灘裝備有好幾個品牌, 又分休閒和專業兩區塊, 專業我就不多談了 (就是那些無聊的質輕啦, 排汗啦, 聽不懂的高科技纖維啦這些的...), 就休閒品牌而言, 各品牌也不單單只賣泳裝, 商品從最基本的泳裝到罩衫, 超短褲到潮T, 人字拖到拉風帽, 儼然就是海灘時尚產業.

井底之蛙逛完了街, 這才發現原來 Manly 有兩個海岸..., The Corso 主街連接靠外海的 Manly Beach 和海灣內的 Manly Harbour. Manly Beach 就是高手聚集"尬浪"的衝浪區; Manly Harbour 也有海灘, 但主要提供船隻交通, 停泊, 往返雪梨市中心到 Manly 的交通船便是在此接駁.
文字太抽象? 有圖有想像 - 請看地圖 :-)

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逛完商店街, 延著 Manly Harbour 往 Esplanade Park 的方向走, 又是一個讓人心曠神怡的散步道, 海水拍岸聲取代了流行電音, 嘻鬧的遊客換成了禪定的釣客, 我情不自禁地用相機補捉海上的百萬遊艇 :-)

這就是我最快樂的一天, 謝謝大家!

One of Ocean Race Andy joined starting from Long Reef and ending at Manly, Andy left his car in Manly, then hop on his mate's car, and headed together to Long Reef to start the race. After race finished in Manly, he then drove his mate back to Long Reef to pick up car, a mission of race from point A to point B was completed.

According to above, I had a chance to know Manly totally, rather than few images of esplanade walk, surfing beach and caf'es.

The main shoppoing street of Manly is The Corso, a regular weekend market is held here as well. The Corso connects 2 beaches, one end is Manly (surfing) Beach in Tasman Sea, the other end is Manly Harbour in Manly Cove, which provides shuttle service to Circular Quey in Sydney city center.

There is smaller beach in harbour side, also a museum, a indoor swimming pool and Ocean World for family visitors. For visitor fancy hiking can start from Manly Harbour, then walks along coast, the longest hiking tract is around 2kms, ending at Spit Bridge.