Saturday was the wedding for Haydn's friends, Brent and Deb. It was very casual and a very happy event, as those things should be. The wedding was over at Coogee Beach, a nice suburb just a few beaches down from Bondi and the reception was at a hotel (aka pub) right on the beach. I even went downstairs to the betting area and bet $10 on a horse race, and lost $10 on a horse race. The bride is a belly dancer by trade, so there was a big belly dancer number at the reception, very interesting to see who came out of the wedding workout as a belly dancer. Pictures below of revelery and a good opportunity for some of you to see just who this Haydn character is who wooed me all the way to Oz.
A pitfall to the wedding, was that it the food was passed hors d'oeuvres, and while the various fried things of yumminess that I had were delicious, it seemed the trays of food somehow often did not cross my path or were completely picked over by the time I was able to get my hand in there. So, Haydn and I simply had to leave around 5:30 or so and went home and ordered pizza from Bondi pizza institution, Gelbison's. We got a Mexican pizza -- thin crust with pepperoni and a gazillion other things, and very very spicy. I don't usually go for novelty or theme pizzas, but this one is pretty darn good.
On Sunday, I was midway through my bacon/avocado/BBQ sauce roll, when a colleague of Haydn's, Morgan, called and invited me along for a day to Manly. Morgan is just arrived from London and wanted to do a little daytripping, plus he knew Haydn was going to be working hard for the Pussycat Dolls on Sunday, so very nice of him to give me a bit of a distraction, all things considered. Heh heh.
Manly is a lovely beach town across the harbo(u)r, and I did go there last time I was here, but it was very drizzly that day. So this was really my first proper journey to Manly. We took the ferry across the harbour and it is such a nice 30 minute ride, you can look back on the skyline, Harbour Bridge, and Sydney Opera House and look forward to all the houses perched on the hills along the water. We wandered a bit through the pedestrian mall at Manly, then met Morgan's friend, Troy, down at the end of the beach.
Troy lives right next to the beach, really. It was such nice, warm weather yesterday and the beach is just nice and quiet there, so I finally took my first swim since I got here and it felt great. Also had my first chips (french fries) with chicken salt. Pay attention here people, it is like yellow salt that is, ah, poulty flavored. It is pretty much the secret ingredient to everything at KFC and it goes well with a diet coke and a beach. After swimming, we headed back to a hotel at the ferry, Manly Wharf Hotel I believe, and had a couple of beers and a beautiful plate of nachos with loads of stuff: sour cream, avocado, chili, melted cheese. This place was quite the Sunday evening scene, with loads of locals who are much more attractive than any other average "local," as far as I could tell. Everyone was all sunny and tan and happy after a day at the beach. This picture is from where I was sitting opposite the corral area of good looking Aussies. If you look beyond the pier and across the water, you can see Sydney.
It was really a near-perfect day, and one of those when I stop and think about how I ended up here...there on a beach with a couple of people I didn't know a month ago, and the sun is shining, and I just kind of go with it.
til next time,
tara
1 comment:
i completely forgot about manly...we spent a short afternoon there where the weather turned on us! Sar
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