Little Manly

Ironically I have not gone for a walk to Little Manly beach while living in Manly for almost two years. One day when I was having day-off I finally decided to explore Little Manly, which is only two blocks away from my street, Addison Rd.

There is one little cafe at the beach and it was closing at the moment when I got there. The dog seemed to belong to the owner of the shop. I talked to the owner and he did not believe me when I said it was my first time to come to Little Manly beach while living in Sydney for nearly three years. Then he said I should come for coffee some day. The cafe opens at 9am.
This is a shot of Addison Rd from Wood St. I think it is the most leafy street in Manly. Thanks to these beautiful trees, you can see heaps of birds - especially noisy white cockatoos.

a fishing pelican

There is a swing at the east side of the Manly Wharf. Recalling when I used to enjoy swing ride in my childhood, I tried it. But I had to get out of it asap because I got so dizzy. lol

building a IKEA EXPEDIT bookcase and my new flat

Last week, I got three boxes delivered from IKEA and could not resist opening and assembling them notwithstanding that the manual said two persons should work. I recall I had so much fun with building my new bookcase and it reminded me of playing lego blocks when I was a kid. IKEA furniture must be a bigger version of lego blocks. After completing it, I had to have someone help to lift and move the masterpiece to the decent position in my flat. Since the last weekend my flat has become clutter-free and I always get stoked whenever I look at my new bookcase. One of several moments that I was proud of myself.

front door before the small book case was transformed to a shoe case

after the shoe case was made

lounge wall before I had a EXPEDIT bookcase (that small bookcase has become a shoe case)

after I completed assembling the EXPEDIT

Now, my flat has become clutter-free with more lifted vibe. Thank to this, now I have my own home-office so that I can concentrate on my study better than ever, and I more love my castle, which is protected by the Constitution s 51 (xxxi). :-)

Coincidentally, after the post about my favourite breakfast menu yesterday, I had a chance to go out for brunch at Rocks the next day. I had to go back to Manly with the 12:00 ferry for lunch appointment after I arrived at the Quay at 10:30am and we were ravenous so we did not have enough time to contemplate where to go - we just walked in a certain Italian place offering only one menu of breakfast.

Bacon, egg, sausages, grilled tomato and bread with butter; perhaps this must be most common breakfast as we would normally have ingredients at home. The dish was tasty with a cup of coffee and my stomach was still full till I was around at Choi's house for lunch.

On the way back to Manly, I saw heaps of yachts sailing on the harbour and some of them were so close to the ferry so they were likely to bump into each other. When I was on my way to the Quay, the sky was still dark and shower was unlikely to stop, but when coming back to Manly it was already sunny and breeze was so fresh. Just by seeing gorgeous yachts sailing from the ferry, my mood is always lifted. This could be one of privileges of living in Manly; enjoying every different scenery every day on the ferry.

Then, I headed off to Choi's house in Balgowlah for lunch. As advised by my friend, I used the 'hop skip jump' bus which is providing free ride service between Balgowlah and Manly. It was the first time to use the bus as I always thought the bus might be only for a certain people. The bus service was actually for everyone!

With my full stomach, I was indulged in another tasty food Choi made - chicken drumsticks marinated with mustard sauce and honey soy sauce (of course, there were marinated separately). I think I might want to try the recipe myself. I had a glass of white wine too, then realised even a small amount of alcohol always made me so sleepy - this has happened a week ago when I was catching up with a friend from Melbourne. I fell asleep as soon as I got home and now ended up waking up in the middle of the night, writing a post! After this, I think I would study til the dawn...

french toast & marmalade jam

Even though I like trying to use varying culinary skills, I barely cook for myself during weekdays because of the lack of time to indulge myself in cooking - rather I prefer to spend that cooking time with reading my textbooks. lol Then, weekend should be the right time for me to feed myself well. Oh, yes, I cooked rump steak with caesar salad myself to celebrate my first tax return last night!

French toast is one of my favourite weekend breakfast menu for it is a good chance to rescue leftover bread which have been dry during the week. Actually I eat oat porridge for my daily breakfast, but I can't obviously have it every morning for seven days even if it is good for health.

Yes, I made french toast this morning and spoiled my toast with the marmalade jam I got from ALDI yesterday. The picture is the last piece of the breakfast and I enjoyed a lot. Then, I realise white bread is always nice for french toast as it gives soft texture when soaked in milk rather than multigrain bread I used to use.

living in Manly

Except that I lived in Neutral Bay for six months, I have lived in Manly nearly over one and a half years so far. There were some memorable (?) but ridiculous happenings occurred in terms of my living arrangements (thanks to this, I moved four times over two years), but finally I think I currently settled in Manly.

Actually, during those six months in Neutral Bay, I enjoyed the life there a lot - metropolitan atmosphere, short distance to the city and the view of the Sydney harbour including CBD from my apartment... I think that flat I lived in was the most gorgeous and convenient place that I've ever lived in Sydney.

I apparently, however, began to feel missing something there - especially, water and green. Then I started contemplating to move again and decided to go back to Manly in which I was still familiar and most of my friends were living. Amongst all, I seemed to miss the ferry most - I didn't realise until I could only spend 10 minutes on the bus for commuting that half an hour on the ferry would become most enjoyable and refreshing moment of the day. At the moment of that I get off the ferry, my worries or stress of the day are already washed away with the ocean and breeze, and I don't have to be bothered to find peace like the way I do in the city.

Yes, actually there are at least three reasons that made me to chose to live in Manly; beach, ferry and friendly neighbourhood. And if I could add one more - cool surfers even though I cannot surf. :-)

I've heard that a hometown is not a place where I was physically born, but a place where I feel like the hometown. In this sense, I think Manly should be my hometown as far as I recall I have felt myself being a part of this area one day when I was looking over the beach...