Today started with a 2.30am wake up, as we said a sad goodbye to Amelia who was leaving for the UK and a return to University, whilst Meg was travelling on to Brisbane to see family and friends. We’ve loved having them with us in Manly and we hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

There were a few tears at the international airport as we waved off Amelia who had been with us for her 5th stay over the last year or so, and then on to the domestic terminal where Meg said her goodbyes and we waved her off after her 3rd stay with us since we began our travels. They’ve both helped us enjoy our time with family and friends and we thank them so much for this.

As it was still only 4.40am when we returned to Manly we decided to grab a little more shut eye, before we jumped into the car late morning for a trip up to Palm beach.

We’ve been up to this part of the Northern Beaches numerous times before and love the area, in particular the walk up to the lighthouse to take in the views over the Palm Beach peninsula and the islands.

Palm Beach sits on a peninsula at the end of Barrenjoey Road near Pittwater and is the northernmost beach. Palm Beach is colloquially referred to as ‘Palmy’ and is used for exterior filming of the soap Home and Away, as the fictional town of Summer Bay.

Despite the hefty property prices it remains a haven for a variety of artists. Palm Beach houses range from cottages to grand estates owned by some of the country’s most affluent people.

After an enjoyable mid morning coffee and cake looking out over the Pittwater Bay, we started the short hike up the beach and on to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse.

The Barrenjoey track is steep and in the heat there’s definitely a need/want to stop every few minutes to take in the vista and appreciate the beauty of the most northerly part of the Northern Beaches.

The Barrenjoey Head Lighthouse is a heritage listed lighthouse with amazing views over the headland that projects out into Broken Bay forming its southern entrance. To the north is Bouddi National a Park along the Central Coast.

We could go on about the wonderful views, but hopefully the pictures speak for themselves. It’s a beautiful part of Northern Sydney and well worth a visit.

After a very enjoyable few hours at Palm Beach we then stopped a couple of times at Avalon and Newport beach before taking the long drive back down the coast to Mascot to drop off the hire car.

Back in central Sydney we hung around for a hour or so before getting the Manly ferry back. In between we managed the obligatory photos of the bridge, opera house and the sea views from the ferry.

With the girls gone, the apartment feels very quiet so we were keen to get out and met up with Tracy, Jamie and Caroline over at Freshwater for the World Food markets evening.

We then spent a couple of hours drinking eating and chatting in the early evening as the sun went down.

Our stay in Manly is coming to a close, as we depart on Monday 6th to Brisbane for the next chapter of our travels. It’s been another great festive holiday in this beautiful part of Sydney spending time with old and new friends who help to make this place so special to us. Going to miss it when we leave in a couple of days.

Tomorrow we plan to go for another walk along the coast to the Spit Bridge. We last did this in 2020 and remember how beautiful the beaches and views were in the Middle Harbour into Sandy Bay.