Day 5 - The Northern Beaches

It's Sunday in Australia and my day began much as it does in the US.  I woke up, made breakfast and went to church.  I attended a fantastic church called C3 (C3 Church C3 Facebook) in Oxford Falls. The worship was contemporary with a band whose energy, passion and seamless, flowing and engaging worship reminded me of the old COS evening service days with Gregg Hytha (those of you from COS know what I mean).  It was great!

They had a guest speaker from the UK named Paul Scanlon (Paul Scanlon) who was amazing. I always say there are no coincidences when it comes to God as He orchestrates all things and the message Paul delivered on Sunday was so spot-on for what I needed to hear.  The service was 2 hours but it seamed like 15 minutes.  I hope my travels allow me to return to this church again.

After lunch Rick and I loaded up and headed South along the A8 through the beach communities of Narrabeen, Collaroy, Dee Why and Manly.  It reminded me of driving through beach communities of Florida or Southern California with surf shops and people carrying their gear to/from the beach.  

In Collaroy we went through the neighborhood where Rick grew up.  He showed me the house he grew up in, the park where he had his first job and the areas where he used to play.  It was really cool to see this.  In Dee Why Rick showed me the apartment that he and Linda lived when they first married and the beach park they frequented during their first 2 years. 

Each of beaches we passed were beautiful but the one in Dee Why really stood out to me....

In Manly we visited the North Head Sanctuary (North Head) which is part of the Sydney Harbor National Park. This is a high point with cliffs on all sides that offers amazing views of the Pacific ocean, Sydney Harbor and downtown Sydney.  We took a short walk on the Fairfax walking track (Fairfax Walk, Fairfax Loop) and took some great pictures at the Fairfax Lookout (Fairfax Lookout)....

Busy day in Sydney harbor

View from Fairfax lookout

*Remember you can click on any photo for a larger view and you can see more photos by clicking the "View Photos" links on the right.

Our final stop was the Manly Wharf as Rick wanted to show me where I could catch the ferry to downtown Sydney.  At this point we had logged many miles and were getting quite weary from our travels so we stopped "somewhere" (see "Where am I" below) to refresh and quince our thirst.  :-)  

After that we returned home, stopping to pick up Zara from work, spent some time relaxing in the spa with Linda and Josh and had another wonderful dinner.  

All in all another great day, with great weather, great friends and beautiful scenery.  

Where Am I