Day 6: Barramundi at Manly

Today we decided to explore more of the locale further afield.  We drove first to Wellington Point, a spur/spit of land around Waterloo Bay (lots of historical reference points here!) to the south east of Christina's suburb.  We are now becoming more familiar with the wonderful trees, some with enormous alien fruits, but there were even more species to enjoy on the drive up to the point, full of orange flowers and purple flowers - and one with breadfruit hanging from the branches.  I remember those from my Cook readings.

There wasn't a great deal to see at the point apart from the ocean, but these recreational spaces are very well set up for people coming to enjoy the water: covered/sheltered barbecue areas; toilets and showers and a welcoming cafe where we stopped for a cuppa before moving on.  An unusual feature at the point was a thin spit of sand which formed a walkway to a small island (King Island).  Apparently at one time cattle would wander out along the spot to enjoy the leaves of the trees on the island and then would get caught out by the tide.  They would then swim back to the shore!

When we arrived the tide was on the turn and several folks were 'walking' their dogs out to the walkway which was partially covered by water.  The owners were wading and the dogs swimming!

We moved on further south from Wellington Point to Raby Bay and Cleveland Point.  The bay looked to have interesting geographical features which drew us to visit but when we arrived those turned out to be man-made marinas for a very exclusive housing development where all the very individual houses had their boats moored outside their front doors.  We continued to Cleveland Point which was smaller than Wellington Point so took no time to walk around.  An interesting directive from a noticeboard informed us that we were not allowed to take more than fifty shellfish from the shoreline!

On the way back to Wynnum we called in at the mall in search of a hat for Tony, present for Hayden and wi-fi to do our airport check-in.  Over lunch we found all three, so I sent off a quick message to Becky and Jenny and completed our check-in for our flights the next day from Brisbane to Auckland, and the next stage of our adventure.

We dropped Christine at home and continued a short way to find Fort Lytton National Park only to discover it is only open on Sundays! It is an important historic site, built in 1881 and used for the defence of Brisbane until the end of the Second World War.  It is a pentagonal fortress concealed behind grassy embankments but sadly we weren't to get to wander around it today.

Tonight we get to meet Carol and Scott and Hayden for a meal at the Manly Hotel (which makes me smile every time we pass through the town or see signs.  I wonder if there is also an Unmanly for those who don't quite make the grade?!)

The day finished on an excellent note with a meal at the Manly Hotel with Christina, Carol, Scott and Hayden who is a delight.  I had my first taste of Barramundi (with macadamias) which was delicious.  And I got to ride home in the fun truck!  On the drive back to Christina's house we passed the boat stacks.  Water activities are, unsurprisingly, very popular here and there is not sufficient boat space in the Marinas, so the boats are stacked up to several storeys on an amazing contraption.  Lovely people and a fine few days.