Manly to Taronga

[khiemtran]

My sister and her family came to Sydney this week in their cruising catamaran, so we took the day off on Tuesday to have an adventure on the harbour.



They were moored at Manly, so we caught the Manly ferry out to see them. We had only just left Circular Quay when we spotted the Opera House seal, back again after a few weeks absence. (No, that's not a filter, I was taking moon photos for the Mid-Autumn festival earlier, and I forgot to revert all the settings on my camera...)



After some shopping for provisions in Manly, we were ready to head off. Liem has been excited for weeks about seeing his cousins again.



Before we had even left, we spotted a pod of dolphins circling nearby (we also spotted one or two from the ferry). Unfortunately, none of the photos came out very well.



From Manly, we sailed across The Sound and then up the harbour towards the bridge. I got to helm, which was a lot of fun. I'd never steered a boat this big before. It was obviously not as nimble as Shearwater, but it was surprisingly light to steer. We started out under motor as we raised the sails, and then once we got going, switched to sail power alone. The difference was magical. The boat just seemed to sigh along as we zig-zagged downwind across the harbour.



Here's a view of the tiller. There were actually two tillers, one on each rear corner. Which meant that each time we gybed, I had to run across to the other side to grab the other tiller. Luckily the boat was pretty stable in the interval.



At last we pulled in to a little cove...



And saw our destination ahead - Taronga Zoo!



Relaxing before lunch...



And enjoying the view...



It's difficult to believe this beach is literally in the heart of Australia's largest city.



After lunch, it was time for the second phase of our expedition.



A little path ran up from the shore...



And right to the gates of the zoo.



Most of my zoo photos didn't come up because I had forgotten to change my exposure settings. This pied heron shot was probably the best. (Black and white birds are notoriously hard to photograph, so I may have just discovered by accident a good trick for avoiding overexposing them.)



The boys doing some more navigating on an epic day out. A truly magical day...

Comments

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

So it's not just me that forgets to adjust the settings! And then there's all the nature shots I miss because I've been using a tripod and forgot to switch off the auto-timer...

Wonderful shots of the harbour!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I learned a very important lesson about Pentax DSLRs - when you switch from manual to full auto mode, it reverts every setting EXCEPT the exposure compensation, which you have to revert manually. I'm annoyed I didn't check sooner, but it could have been a lot worse - I would have been devastated if I'd done it on a once-in-a-lifetime trip instead....

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

That pied heron is gorgeous! And that sounds like a day my family and I would love. :D

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I hope you get the chance to come back here to try it. You can't get much more "Sydney" than sailing to the zoo...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The boat just seemed to sigh along --that's such an evocative phrase; I can hear and feel it when you put it like that.

the Manly ferry --every attributive with that town name is going to make me giggle. The Manly public schools. The Manly library. The Manly municipal center. What a masculine town!

So your trip allowed you to approach the zoo from an unusual direction (I mean, most people presumably travel over land, right?) You ambushed it. "We didn't expect their forces to come by sea!

Sounds like an excellent time.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Actually, the most popular way to come to the zoo is by ferry, which is a classic Sydney experience. But I guess not many people come up the path from the beach like we did.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Hah! The water road is more popular than the land road, and it's your stealth approach on land that makes you different--completely the opposite of what I was imagining!