Sunday walkies and swims

January 21st. A leisurely Sunday according to Sue saw us walking into Manly (1.5 miles) then a bus to North head sanctuary parkland and a 4 mile walk around the headland with spectacular views over Sydney, with dramatic cliffs, along walkways among wilderness with plenty of plants and wildlife; the highlights being the enormous golden orbed spider webs above our heads, Adrian spotted a blue wren, a laughing kookaburra, Australian magpies. The plants I particularly liked were the bottle brushes, sword sedge and grass trees with their tall bull rush seed heads. The temperature was heading towards the mid 30 s when we stopped at the Bella vista cafe for a drink with spectacular views, and a brush Turkey clucking around which Sue and the waiter agreed was a horrible bird and we were given a water pistol to shoo him away.
We walked towards Manly and stopped just beyond Shelly beach to swim at high tide with choppy water and a view of the the huge Manley beach just beyond. Sue and I had a wonderful swim. A board said the sea temperature was 23.5 today. Quite a few bathers were snorkling at this location using whole face masks. I asked someone how they felt and she told me that after 20 minutes her face ached but it was worth it not to breathe through a pipe.
Back at Sue’s we ate sour dough with perfectly ripe tomatoes, feta cheese and avocados dressed in home grown basil from the balcony, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and lime juice.
Then Sue and I went swimming in the nearest accessible place where a lot of friendly dogs were also swimming. Also a lady in her 70s who carefully picked her way down between the boulders rocks and tree roots, with her snorkel and flippers.
Fish n chips ( barramundi) in a bench overlooking the beach, with a bottle of pignot Grigio with small glasses brought with us, and a couple cans of beer for Adrian. Then to Anita Gelato for the best ever ice cream where you don’t mind queuing. Above our heads are the most enormous bats