That's Manly for You: Me and an Ugg

It's not nearly as fierce as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankee's rivalry yet there is friendly debate over which is the better beach - Manly (A on the map below) or Bondi (B).


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Bondi's more well known world-wide and has it's own reality TV show Bondi Rescue and many, many tourists flock here (I'll admit that on my first trip to Australia I visited Bondi Beach but not Manly). It's even where Cisco famously launched its FlipVideo in October 2009 with a Towel Surfing Flash Mob - you can check the Flip Video here:



So what's Manly got going for it? Well it's further from the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) so quite a hike to get there (last Mother's Day I drove up to meet friends for Yum Cha and it took nearly 2 hours to get there, when it should have only been a half hour drive). Besides driving, there is a beautiful ferry ride to Manly. And I've also discovered Manly has one of the few Ben & Jerry's in the area (been there twice already - it's pricey though about $6 for a single scoop).

And it has a really nice pedestrian mall that on June 6 hosted the Taste of Manly: Food and Wine Festival. It started out as a great day with the sun shining (although it was still chilly as technically we are in Autumn) and I enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and lovely paella and seafood. But then the rain poured and I took cover (with my wine glass of course) under the store awnings. And that's where I posed here with this "Ugg" - where else but in Manly?