Staying another day

During b'fast this morning just before leaving for the airport, the weather finally changed to sunny and blue sky. I made a proposal of staying another day to enjoy the sun after almost a week of wet Sydney. We couldn't get to the China Eastern airline office; the only recording was in Mandarin! Good one in Sydney; what no non-Mandarin speaking passengers? We packed up and left for the airport; got there and request to change our flight; no problem. Just show up tomorrow. Back in the cap with our suitcases to the Four Seasons. Everyone was stunned we were back; o well.... 11:00am by then, we caught a cab to Double Bay. You have to understand, Australians do not like having shops open on Sundays. Short hours on Saturday, and during weekdays, short as well... Forget North American mentality here. After bumping around, we went back to the hotel. Decided on going for a hike from Manly Bay to The Spit; total distance, 10Km. We took a ferry from Circular Key which was just across the street from the hotel; 1/2 hour later, A$12.50 for two one-way tickets, we were off. Nice view from the top deck departing the quay. After 30 minutes, arrived at Manly.

Manly is a surfer paradise and a nice beach; well, once you have seen enough beaches around the world, it's just another beach. There were shops from the wharf all the way to the beach; 3 long blocks of mixed shops - souvenirs, 7-evelen, cafe, seafood places as well as a bizzard.

We started our 10-K hike around 4:30pm. Finished by 7:00pm. Started with paved path then gradually, turned into a real hike of beaches, bush walk, stone/rock steps. View was good. Had a chance seeing Sydney downtown got hammered by rain storm. I could see the sky opened up. The clouds, some were dark but some were ice blue layers. Very wicked. There were times we thought the storm might caught up with us; thank god, it didn't. When the sun finally began to set, the lighting again the trees, houses, cutting thru the path were spectacular. Houses, o yes, there were houses building along the path but you couldn't really see them most of the time. I believed those houses costed over Millions.

Once we finished w/ the hike, we caught a bus. Who said Australians are all friendly? This bus driver needed some customer focus and customer appreciation courses. Rude. Need some tuning in. Buses must have run late or infrequent on Sundays. We hardly see any. This bus driver dropped us off at the wrong spot; another kind one picked us up and gave us a free life to another stop - for better chance of catching a bus. At this point, anything would do as I was sweaty and overheated, I am sure Audrey had the same feeling. We just took a cab to this tiny Indian restaurant in North Sydney; just below the Harbourview Hotel we stayed earlier; it was on Lavender and Walker.

Now, we are "home"; cleaned and ready to get some work done.