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Went to Sydney to spend a few days with my daughter and her family before they head back to Canada. While Sydney weather was glorious, going anywhere was such a pain. I just can’t stand the traffic and the agro. But being on the water is always seductive. And meeting friends in Manly opened my eyes to what a buzzy enjoyable place the area around the wharf is now. Some great sidewalk cafes.
Brought back memories of my teenage escapades in the old Manly Aquarium – a place of dank salty seaweed fishy smells, and below the surface an eerie dark undersea world seen through thick plate windows. I met a bloke through friends who was the diver in charge, a bit of a rough diamond who’d been diving for abalone off Tassie. He persuaded me to be the attraction each weekend to try to gee up a bit more interest from the few visitors who ambled past. I was still at school and the pocket money – peanuts in retrospect – was attractive. I was taught the rudiments of diving with a tank and wearing goggles, a bikini (no wetsuit or flippers)I dived in and swam around feeding the sharks and stingrays – who, I was assured, were lazy and harmless.
After a couple of weeks I was getting to know the sharks individually though I’d never considered them pals. One Saturday a big turtle, half blind, bit a chunk out of my calf causing me to bleed profusely. Mayhem erupted as the big sharks started to circle and close in on me. The diver boss grabbed a rifle (why he had one I never asked) and started to fire at the meanest shark to get him away from me. I was in more danger of the bullets ricocheting around the tank. That was the end of my diving career when the owner found out, not to mention no insurance or signed waivers if I was attacked. I couldn’t walk into those big shark jaws above the kids ride at the wharf ever again.
We also went to see ‘Wind in the Willows’ performed in the Botanic Gardens. We sat on the grass around the main pond and it was delightful. The actors were great and kids and adults alike loved it.
It’s still a magic story.
Cheers.
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