10 January 2015 ~ Manly Beach & Watson Bay

Listening to: Van Morrison ~ Cypress Avenue


I did a day trip around Sydney today.

The summer temperature today was around 90F. I heard there was a deep freeze in Minneapolis and they had to close the schools because it was -40F. Whether with or without wind chill, that's crazy cold.

The surf was up at Manly Beach. The beach was named by Capt. Arthur Phillip for the indigenous people living there. He wrote about them, "Their confidence and manly behavior made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place"

The water was cold.

But my toes enjoyed the sand, even though my pants got wet by an incoming wave.

It was interesting with a pine tree background for beach volleyball.

At Watson's Bay the rock formations were the highlight.

The original inhabitants of the area that is now known as Watsons Bay, were the Cadigal people. Watsons Bay was named after Robert Watson (1756–1819), formerly of HMS Sirius, when he had to beach his three vessels at Camp Cove for many years.

After the day trip, my co-worker and I went to the Odyssey Wine Bar. I did the flight tasting with appetizers. The wine was fantastic, and accompanied by even tastier dishes. On the far left was duck sausage with apple and ginger chutney, served with a 2013 pinot noir. Next up was a slow cooked mini beef pie served with a 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. On the far right to round out the tasting was grilled kangaroo and confit crocodile.

I know...really!

The kangaroo reminded me of a gamey ostrich and I didn't like the confit crocodile at all. Too fishy for some reason. These were served with a 2012 limited release Durif. This was the first time I had a durif, and according to google, is a red wine grape varietal grown primarily in Australia, California, France and .Israel

Oh, Happy Birthday Melissa!