Daytrip to Manly Beach

On our last day in Sydney we took the ferry over to Manly Beach.

Waiting in the ferry terminal

One of our favourite touristy things to do is to take the public transit ferry for an inexpensive harbour tour.

A view of the Sydney Bridge and another ferry

We arrived at the Manly ferry terminal

And set off on the coastal walk to North Head after a stop for coffee and a little urban birding.

Leo checks out a friendly sulphur-crested cockatoo

We crossed a beach where little penguins nest, but it is closed at night to protect the birds so this as close as we got to seeing any penguins.

The North Head Sanctuary protects endangered Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub habitat, of which only 3% remains in the Sydney area.

The plants in front are grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea).

 In the photo below the brush has been burned (probably a prescribed burn) on the left of the sidewalk and the right is undisturbed.   

We saw lots of little wattlebirds.  They feed on the wattles of Banksia shrubs.

Even the drab birds are kina flashy

The orange leaves below are banksia shrubs.

I believe that is the flannel flower in the centre

We stopped at a hanging swamp, but due to drought there was no standing water.

No water to be found

There were lots of great views from the headland.

We returned to Manley for coffee and a snack and did some last minute souvenir shopping.  Manly also has a very nice beach.

And we took the ferry back to downtown Sydney.

And that was that.  Time to fly home to Canada!