Manly
to Spit Walk 1
Manly
to Spit Walk 1
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Manly Wharf where we will begin |
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The ferry is the most common way to arrive in Manly. In 1854 a 50 foot pier was built and irregular trips from Sydney began. Daily excursions began in 1856. These were started by Henry Gilbert Smith who had a dream of making Manly the holiday resort for the new colony. Smith was also responsible for beginning the plantings of Norfolk Island Palms along the foreshores. |
| The Corso is the main connecting street between the wharf on the harbour side of Manly and the surf beach on the ocean side. Most of the Corso is closed to traffic and is home to a multitude of tourist shops, take away food cafes and more mega surf stores than anywhere else on the planet. |  |
| This video shows the direction we will first head, from the Wharf to Oceanworld where they promise you "dangerous Australian animals" and we're talking more than just sharks here. | |
 Looking down the harbour towards
Sydney from the wharf |
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From the wharf we head west along the promenade of local Olympians. Look for the bronze plaques in the edge of the promenade. It begins at the wharf end with Stan Rowley a sprinter, who won four medals in athletics. Three medals were for Australia and one was for Great Britian! He is the only olympian to ever win medals for two countries at the same olympics. Andrew "Boy" Charlton is one of Australia's greatest sporting heroes. He represented Australia in three Olympics. He had many memorable events the most famous of which was against Johnny Weissmuller who went on to gain Hollywood fame as Tarzan. He was particularly successful in the 1500 metres an event that Australia has continued to dominate. He was inducted into the Swimming Hall of fame in 1972. The Manly Swimming Centre is named after this famous home town boy.
Once this bay was enclosed by timber walkway stretching from the ferry wharf to the point where Ocean World now stands. The whole area was netted with shark proof wire mesh creating an enormous safe swimming area. Gigantic slippery dips were constructed on the walkway and pontoons with play equipment anchored in the pool. The beach was so popular that it had it's own team of volunteer lifesavers. In 1974 a storm destroyed it all.
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