Manly Jazz Festival

The first weekend of October is celebrated as Labour Day Weekend, with the following Monday being a public holiday. This is the time of numerous events across Sydney, one of which is the International Jazz Festival at Manly.

Manly is an ocean beach a few kilometres to the north of Syndey city. The best way to reach there is by ferry. I boarded the 12 noon ferry from Circular Quay on a grey, overcast Monday. I was on the port side of the ferry, and had good views over the bush covered slopes of Middle Head on Sydney Harbour.

The ferry wharf is on the inner, harbour side of Manly, from where it is a 10 minute walk along the pedestrian only 'Corso' to the ocean side beach. For the jazz festival, there were stages set up along the Corso, near the wharf and on the ocean beach. I started at the stage close to the wharf end of the Corso, and made my way up the Corso to the beach. By the time I reached the beach side stage, the sun had broken through the clouds, and it turned into a nice, fine afternoon.

After lunch of packed sandwiches, I set about exploring Manly. Walking south along Manly beach, one reaches South Steyne beach. This is a small beach backed into tree covered hills. There is a walking track up the hill, which leads on to look out points along the cliff. These provide wonderful views over Manly and the beaches running north along the Pacific Ocean, right up to Narrabeen. 

I then walked back, and by now, the sun was again behind clouds, and it started raining. But it didn't stop the jazz musicians from playing. The music continued to be good, and the crowds just as strong. Luckily, it didn't rain for long, and the sun came out again as I was listening to the last programme of the festival.

The ferry ride back was an experience, simply for the strong winds that made it almost impossible to stand on the bow of the boat. My eyes were watering from the winds, but it was worth it for the beautiful views of the Opera House and the skyline of Sydney city against a backdrop of the sun setting behind clouds.

The day ended with a train ride to Sydney Central followed by a bus ride back home.

One of the most beautiful cities in the World

Exactly 3 weeks after we landed here, we finally did our city sight seeing tour. This was organized by the ISS (International Student Services) of the UNSW, and conducted by Colourfultrips. The driver and guide was an affable, middle aged gentleman named Lee, with a nice sense of humour. We were also lucky with the weather; it turned out to be a fine, sunny day, after a particularly dull and depressing Friday.

Our first stop was at Mrs. Macquaries Chair. This is a bench carved out of the sandstone overlooking Sydney Harbour. On the way to the chair is Mrs. Macquaries Point, which offers stunning views of those two iconic Sydney structures - The Harbour Bridge, and Opera House. On this day, the view was picturesque indeed, with the sunlight glittering off the white exteriors of Opera House, framed against a clear blue sky, and lapped all around by the clean blue waters of Sydney Harbour. However, the wind was blowing strong, and the cold wind was making things a
tad uncomfortable. So we were not too unhappy to make our way back to the comfort of the air conditioned bus.

We then crossed the Harbour Bridge, and made our way across North Sydney to Manly Beach. North Syndey has its own CBD (Central Business District), which felt more relaxed than the city one across the bridge. This is where many
electronic and insurance companies have their offices.

We encountered bad traffic on the way to Manly (and on the way back too). If there is one thing that I do not like about Sydney, it has to be the amount of cars on the road. I am surprised why so many people would take their cars out given the difficult traffic and parking conditions, and given that the public transport system is quite efficient. But I guess I will learn along the way...

Manly Beach was given its name by Captain Arthur Phillip, who, when he made his way here, found the local aboriginal people to be in a manly, healthy condition. The beach is typical of Sydney's ocean facing beaches - clean green waters of the Pacific Ocean lapping against the golden sand with a backdrop of green trees. And with the ubiquitous wet suit clad surfers with their boards in the water. Today was just too fine a day for surfers, with hardly any waves for them to ride.

We then made our way to North Head. This is a part of the Marine Parks reserve, overlooking the northern entrance to Sydney Harbour. There is a nice walking track that offers sensational views across the Pacific Ocean, on the one side, and Sydney city, on the other. Walking along this track, it is easy to understand why Sydney is consistently voted as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.