Manly at 53

It was a festive 5-hour Christmas-day flight across Australia, east from Perth to Sydney. Our special vegan meals were served in Christmas boxes, and one of the flight attendants put up decorations.


I'm fortunate to be able to celebrate my 53rd birthday here in Manly. This is a great beach town, located on an isthmus between an ocean beach and a harbor beach. The place got its name when Governor Arthur Phillip, arriving in 1778, observed the strength and manliness of the aborigines. The best way to get here is by ferry from Sydney Circular Quay. For about $5.50 you get a 30-minute ride through beautiful Sydney Harbor. Since I booked about 9 months ago, we were able to get a hotel room with a view of Manly Beach. This is an active place with many surfers, snorkelers, joggers, bikers, joggers...


Aside from water sports, dining out, and drinking in Manly, there are also some great walks along the harbor side and the South Pacific Ocean side, and also at Sydney National Park, located here on the isthmus.





View of a ferry arriving in Sydney from Manly

Street performers near Sydney's Circular Quay area


I took this shot at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art.


A pigeon feeder near the Sydney ferry terminal


I took a photo of someone taking a photo of street performers, in Sydney's bustling Strand area.


I call this photo Sunset Jump, taken last evening at Manly Harbor.

Exmouth: roos, emus, sea turtles, and burning sun

Exmouth is located on the west coast of Australia, about 750 miles north of Perth. It's a hot (about 100F), dry, flat and dusty town, but we're managing to have a good time during our 4-day stay. Our room here at the Ningaloo Lodge is pleasant; there's a small outdoor pool, cook-out area, game room (darts & pool), and communal kitchen.




While snorkeling just outside of Exmouth we saw some sea turtles, including two that swam right up to Dawn as soon as she was in the water.


We've seen this emu wandering around town every day. It walks in around mid-morning, then heads back home, wherever that is.






In the van on the way to our snorkel tour out in an inflatable boat, our guide, Ash, stopped by an old Australian naval base where kangaroos like to hang out.




Dawn spotted these bags of refrigerated pet food at the local Exmouth IGA.


A very large and unusual statue on the lawn of the Exmouth tourist office.

Perth

Sunny Perth, on Australia's west coast, is a wealthy mining town.



This odd statue (on the left) in downtown Perth displays various minerals, and serves as a reminder that the city's wealth comes largely from mining.

You can take a ferry along the Swan River from Perth to Fremantle, which is on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Home to numerous artists, in Fremantle you find many cafes, buskers, galleries, as well as various eccentrics. I took this photo in downtown Fremantle, and I believe it's the largest Christmas tree I've ever seen.

Pilgrimage to AC/DC-land

The ashes of Bon Scott, lead singer for AC/DC, are buried at a cemetery in Fremantle, here on the west coast of Australia. On 19 February 1980, after a heavy night of drinking at a London bar called the Music Machine, Scott passed out in a friend's car and never woke up. His passing away was classified as "death by misadventure." Scott's most famous album with AC/DC was Highway to Hell, and in 2004 he was voted Greatest Frontman of all time in a 2004 issue of Classic Rock. On July 28, 1979, at the Cleveland World Series of Rock, I had the chance to see him sing with AC/DC. Other bands that day were Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Journey, Thin Lizzy, and Scorpions.


Bon Scott's grave is said to be the most-often visited in Australia.


Across town, down by the harbor, is a bronze statue of Scott standing on top of a Marshall amp.

Penguin Island, West Australia

Penguin Island is located in the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park in Western Austalia. It's summer here now so is fairly warm (about 70F-80F) and sunny.


Though we took the sea lions boat tour, our boat ended up following a dolphin-spotting boat tour, so we were lucky to also see dolphins.

This is the first time I've seen sea lions outside of a zoo.


We of course saw penguins on Penguin Island, but only at the island feeding station. They are extremely shy so they hide from humans on the island are are hard to spot.