Before 1902, it was illegal to swim at the beach during the day because there were no changing facilities and swimming costumes were rare.
In October 1902, William Gocher swam at midday at Manly Beach wearing a neck-to-knee costume. A year later, Manly Beach became one of the first places to all daylight swimming and surfing. It’s now one of the most renowned beaches in Australia for surfing.It was named by Captain Arther Phillip after seeing the indigenous people’s “manly behaviour”.
Talking about beaches, interesting fact: if you were to visit a different beach in Australia every day, it’d take over 27 years to see them all. That’s a lot of beaches.
I’m not that fond of beaches, so observed from the shady sidelines. It was quite busy, and can imagine that it gets packed during high season.
The journey itself was half the fun – the ferry from Circular Quay affords excellent views of the Sydney Opera House:
… and Sydney Harbour Bridge:
Another interesting fact: if all the sails of the Opera House roof were combined, they would create a perfect sphere (apparently, the architect was inspired while eating an orange).
The ferry was very safety-conscious:
Later that evening, we went to a pub for dinner, where I had my first taste of kangaroo (we’d seen it earlier in the supermarket):
Croc nachos were also on the menu:
As well as unusually sized pints:
A relaxing day to start our Australian adventure.