March 28 - Final Day in Manly and Australia

FINAL DAY IN MANLY AND AUSTRALIA

The bittersweet day had arrived -- last day in Oz and last day to be with our dear friends until who knows when.  I assume that most people who've been away from home for a month miss it and are ready to return.  Yet how can you want to leave one of the most beautiful, peaceful places on this earth and dear friends with whom you only get to spend time every few years?  But here we are, so let's make the most of it.

As with most days, we each began the day doing our own thing.  For me that meant a walk north to Freshwater (which isn't) beach and the Duke Kahanamoku statue.  I had checked closely with Mr. Google Map, so walked along the beach promenade to Queenscliff, where I looked for Sir Edmund Hillary and a sherpa guide.  What lay ahead were streets laid out over cliffs that would make San Francisco look like Greenwood, MS.  Son of a beach!!  I made it over the precipice and down the cliff face (without rappelling!) to Freshwater Beach.  The view made the trip worth the climb!  One thing I immediately realized that on this day the surf, judged by the density of the surfers and the size of the waves, was superior to Manly's.

This is where Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, who is credited with popularizing surfing to the world, brought it to Australia in an exhibition in 1914.  So Freshwater is sort of an Aussie surfer version of the Mormon "This is the place." The Aussies have been very successful in surfing competitions, as well they should given the percentage of their people who live on a coastline with challenging surf. (The popularity of surfing in much of the country can't be overstated.  It was obvious from looking off our balcony every evening that lots of residents of Manly and other Sydney suburbs would hop in the car after work, drive to Manly, or presumably the nearest beach, and have a surf ... even though late afternoon/early evening is prime shark feeding time!)  In 1991 Prime Minister Bob Carr opened the Surfrider Foundation national office in Freshwater Beach, and 3 years later a statue of Duke and a commemorative park were unveiled.  In the park there is also a mosaic walk that details world champion Aussie surfers and their exploits.  [Footnote:  Fortunately a book that I had begun reading in Nambucca Heads, Pacific by Simon Winchester, had a chapter on  "The Ecstasies of Wave Riding," which detailed the advent of popular awareness of and growth in popularity of surfing, so I knew something about Duke.  Otherwise I would've probably missed his statue and Freshwater Beach, which lies below it.]

On my hike back over the peak, I found that I needed something cool and nourishing.  Remembering that I had passed the Queenscliff Cafe, I stopped by and had a ginger ale and a pear/white chocolate muffin.  They sustained me so that I made it back to the hotel.  Since I was still hot, I put on my trunks and headed across the street to get in the water.  The surf was bigger and rougher than the previous day, and I had one spectacular ride, another good one, and got dumped a couple of times.  Keith was down there too, and we decided to call it a day before long.  After getting cleaned up, it was time for a treat I had been savoring since our first day at Manly, i.e., fish and chips at Manly Ocean Food, a little mom and pop takeaway place at the end of the Corso, just across from the beach, where we had eaten in 2014.  I actually had the seafood combo, which meant fish, calamari, a crab stick (think crab roll shish), and chips (fries).  Susan had picked up something, and we met and ate on one of the picnic tables beside the beach.  Some very aggressive seagulls stalked us, but we managed to finish without a full scale attack a' la Hitchcock's The Birds.  The fish & chips were as good as I remembered, and it was more than I could eat.  Having had my sustenance, I tackled the souvenir shops for the final time.  Had a little luck, but not everything yet.  Oh, well.  

Susan and I went back to the room and packed with the goals of 1) getting our bags to close, and 2) not exceeding the weight limit the airline imposes.  Then we went up to Keith & Di's room for a last relaxed dinner on their balcony.  Keith picked up smoked salmon from a nearby fish market, and Di had made a salad and some slaw. It was a bittersweet occasion, knowing that we had no idea when we would see each other again.  That's been the case since they left Florida in the summer of 1974, when we put them on a plane for home.  Our goodbyes this time were purposefully quick.  Hopefully both couples have at least one more trip to visit the other; but at our ages, we know that there are no guarantees ... and that every visit is a gift.  How blessed we have been!  But we'd like more, please.

Tomorrow will be a lonnngg day ... but at the end of it we'll be home.