Christmas Eve at Manly Beach

After touring the Harbour on our boat cruises, we decided to catch the ferry to Manly Beach. Manly Beach is about a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay to the Northern side. Manly is famous for its amazing beaches. The beaches in this place attracts so many tourists to the beach but also to surf. We heard that if the waves are poor in Bondi, they are sure to be great at Manly and vice versa. Click this link to check out the live surf cam for Manly Beach or you can navigate the sidebar to check out other surf beaches like Bondi or the many others! It's very cool!

The boys at the beach's entry point.

After we arrived at Manly Wharf, we had to walk a block to reach the beachfront. The block is "chock a block" full of shops and eateries. We were feeling hungry so we decided to eat first and swim later (always a good idea :). We stopped at an outdoor cafe and had a beautiful lunch! I had salt and pepper squid with salad which I enjoyed thoroughly. The atmosphere was fantastic - we saw a young boy of about 10 singing and playing guitar and he was awesome. There were scores of people in their swimmers and Santa hats on walking to and from the beach, kids playing in the outdoor fountains (including ours!), and people greeting one another.

There was also a church along the way that was having a Christmas pageant at various times throughout the afternoon. The interesting thing about this pageant was that it told the nativity story but it incorporated Star Wars. There were Luke, Leia, Han Solo and Chewie who wee on a quest to find the newborn king. We watched for a bit on the big screen TV outside the church because it was so cool and captivating but eventually the lure of the beach won over and we moved on.

Sam at lunch

We Three Kings ....
Angels We Have Heard on High ...

We got to the beach and wasted no time getting into our swimmers and finding a great spot on the beach. It was busy and the lifeguards were out in full force. It seems that it is customary here to spend Christmas at the beach. People are all decked out and ready for some sand and surf on their holidays - SO opposite to what we are accustomed to. Even the lifeguards wore reindeer antlers or elf hats!

The lifeguards and our 2 Baywatch Babes jogging up the beach


Jack and Dan taking a stroll on the beach

As it was Christmas Eve, we had been discussing with the boys how Santa would be visiting our Kenora residence - not our cottage in Australia. We were still reminding them that Santa could see what they were up to and that in the hours that lead to Christmas he watches extra closely. Well, you could just imagine our surprise when we saw one of his helpers come strolling up the beach! Jack and I kept a close watch as he approached and breathed a sigh of relief when he passed by.

Our jaws dropped open though when he turned into the sea - there must have been someone pretty naughty out in those waves that he had to see!

Santa's helper went way way out there - all the way up to his beard! We watched him frolicking and then we he came back to shore, we noticed that he had split his pants!

Jack was sure to watch in wonder as Santa's helper disappeared from the beach. He'd have to hurry to see a tailor before heading back to the North Pole in order to finalize all the preparations for Christmas! As for us, we were able to kick back and enjoy a gorgeous afternoon at the beach, playing in the sand and surf and daydreaming of sugar plums and all the other wonderful visions that Christmas brings!