Sunday, April 29, 2012

6 Hours til Sun Burn

That´s right, it only took six hours of me being in Australia to get my first sunburn of 2012, thus beginning the process of tanning from winter´s florescent white to the end of summer off-white (or, if I am lucky, antique white). 

Kim picked us up from the airport bright and early and quickly whisked us away to their gorgeous beach house just north of Manly Beach.  After a quick tour of the house (whose photos do it little justice) Kim was off to work and Martin and I were off to explore Manly (after showers and freshening up of course).

We decided to walk the 10K path along the beach into town, stopping at the North Curl Curl Surf Club for coffees and a snack.  Feeling full, we continued through Freshwater beach, with a slight detour past 8 extremely large Hunters spiders (more on those to come) and finally found our way to Manly Beach. 

Ready for another snack, we made our way to the Manly Wharf Grill for fish and chips and beers on their patio overlooking the bay.  Still thirsty from the walk, we also made a pit stop at Hotel Staynes for another beer looking out at the beach before hitching a “free” ride on the bus back home (with not enough in change and nothing smaller than a fifty, the bus driver was kind enough to turn a blind eye to our indiscretion.)

It wasn´t until we were back “home” that I realized how sunburned I was…unfortunately, the coloring was selective: my new sunburned look was limited to the back of my arms, neck and chest.  I was the typical, and all too common “spotted tourist”.  So while I thought I was getting friendly smiles all day for my California style, I was in fact getting smiles of sympathy for how ridiculous I looked not only to them then, but also for lasting look I would be stuck with for the rest of my trip.  Ah, to be fair skinned. 

We wrapped us the afternoon on the balcony reading and enjoying the views.  And later that night Kim, Martin and I enjoyed a great meal like old times, with good food, good wine and good stories, both from Zurich and home... Unfortunately Nick was out of town for work, but we were able to catch up with him before we left.
The beginning of the walk at North Curl Curl

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