If you've never to Manly you should go and have a look. There's a marina, one with actual yachts and everything.
It's a great place to go spend the weekend, whether you're grabbing a bite to eat or doing a bit of shopping.
There's a brilliant little place called
The Fish Café that does these amazing hand-cut chips, but if you're not up for the fancy kind of chip, there's another little café down the road, called
Baywatch Café which also does delicious chips. Both places go a bit old-school on you and wrap up your chips in butcher's paper.
I had trouble ordering at Baywatch Cafe, because being a city slicker I'm used to standard sizes – small, medium, large. Or if you want to get really fancy – regular. But this place bases it on price. So medium is $2.50 and then it goes up by the dollar. Being quite famished by this point, I ended up ordering the $3.50 chips, thinking, yeah that sounds about large.
The delicious bundle of joy I received was a mini-challenge to get through. After convincing my friends to eat as many as they could, I finally tricked a friend into having the rest. And man those chips were good. I want to go back for the chips alone.
Another good place to discover is the
TLC Bookstore, it was tucked away neatly inside, like a random $20 inside your favourite winter coat. If you're a booklover like me and love finding new little bookstores, you should see this one. It's gorgeous.
It fits in with the almost New England-like theme of Manly, with its quaint and relaxed feel. The books are standard price and range in different genres, but it's the feel of the place, the timber floors the white bookshelves, the inviting atmosphere.
You'll also find a
market in Manly on a Sunday. I didn't get to stay long at the markets, so I'm planning to go back and check them out properly. You can't keep a good market-junkie down. Accordingly to the Manly Information Centre, the markets are up and running from 8 – 3 every Sunday.
Basically, my recommendation is that if you have a weekend to spare and feel like doing something where you can actually relax and enjoy yourself and take in the clean, crisp air, pick Manly. It's relaxed; you can get fish and chips and sit by the park, near the sea-side, have a peek at the markets and just take it all in. Perfection.
