to Sydneysiders

[one more dude]

Hi,

I'm considering moving to Manly or Dee Why, and got a couple of questions. Do you know how busy these beaches are at 6am - 6:30am on a week day? I've been told that in Cronulla it can get pretty crowded at 6am, with 20-30 surfers per peak. On top of that, the 6am surfers are probably good surfers, so it's going to be hard to snatch any waves from them. Sure, it depends on the conditions etc, but a feel for the crowd factor would be appreciated.

Another question is the commute from Dee Why to CBD. If I catch an express bus (L90...), how long does it roughly take in the morning to get to CBD? The timetable says around 40 mins, but in my experience timetables wildly underestimate the traffic. I'm thinking more about 1hr, but hopefully not longer than this - would that be a fair estimate?

As for the commute from Manly to CBD, I'm assuming there is no problem catching a ferry at 8am, is there? It's not that busy that ferries get filled up?

Thanks!

[jaffa1949]

I left Dee Why years ago but several trips back confirmed why I left.

Dee Why to CBD a morning peak hour 1hour 20, if all goes well. You can also go to Manly and ferry over too, beautiful trip .
Problems fog = no ferries fog can close the harbour bridge, a crash on the free way can close the city traffic off, forcing every commuter onto the other ways of getting to the CBD this can happen at any peak hour morning or evening.
Bearing in mind too, that every worker that commutes to town uses these services.
You won't have the leisure of a morning surf and then a hassle free jump on the whatever to town!.
Best bet though to attempt that, is Manly there are two services and the buses, whereas Dee Why bus to Sydney or bus to Manly then the ferry.

My advice; choose the beach you like best and just deal with the commuting as you see fit!

MY absolute advice which doesn't help you at all!
Move to a nice quiet coastal town hopefully after securing a job there that requires your service!
Lifestyle, less hassles and clean air and more neighbourly interactions.

[one more dude]

Thanks. Hm if the Dee Why City commute is 1hr 20, then I won't be able to surf in the morning at all.

Looks like Manly is better in terms of commute. Hard to rent something good at a decent price there though, but I'll look.

As for the beach, I actually do like Manly. It's consistent and there can be fun waves. The crowds are daunting though. Dee Why can be excellent, but in low tide it is hardly surfable (at least by me).

[jaffa1949]

Why not Cronulla way there is a train to the city and buses, and quite a few surf spots!

There are the same morning crowds, + Manly has the full learning spectrum of overseas learners,Cronulla not so just a lot of locals.

[one more dude]

Learners are not a bad thing - it's easier to get a wave. And to progress, one needs to get a lot of waves. There are some good surfers in Manly but the majority are probably - well, not complete learners, but more like myself. If I compete for waves with better surfers in Cronulla, then I guess the result will be less than spectacular. Dee Why was not too bad somehow, maybe because it's less crowded (except on really good days).

Another reason is that my friends live mostly either close to the city or over the bridge.

[jaffa1949]

Having grown up at Dee Why and learnt to surf there, you've got th pole and No mans and peaks all the way to Long Reef, and of course Longy itself , cost surf and may the time of a slightly longer trip!
DY. DY DY

[drowningbitbybit]

I'm considering moving to Manly or Dee Why, and got a couple of questions. Do you know how busy these beaches are at 6am - 6:30am on a week day? I've been told that in Cronulla it can get pretty crowded at 6am, with 20-30 surfers per peak. On top of that, the 6am surfers are probably good surfers, so it's going to be hard to snatch any waves from them. Sure, it depends on the conditions etc, but a feel for the crowd factor would be appreciated.

Manly crowd - insane.
Dee Why crowd - busy, but not as insane as manly.
Cronulla - 1% of Manly, but still crowded peaks.

And you wont be 'snatching' waves from anyone at 6.30am.

[Jimi]

As a cronulla local, Yeh, some mornings it can get crowded on some peaks.. usually the point, the alley and sandshoes. If you're prepared to surf a lesser wave (i.e. a beach break) then you can surf alone if you are prepared to walk 10min up from wanda. This is even in summer. Sure it may not be the "best" peak on the day, but crowds are entirely avoidable.

Train to cbd is exactly 55min to town hall.

[jaffa1949]

I wonder where he ended up?

[surf patrol]

Kings Cross.

[jaffa1949]

Kings Cross.

Sleazy and overrated IMO, easy to get into a fight with drunks and people with assorted ethic chips on their shoulder.
often they're people who elsewhere in Sydney wouldn't do anything wrong. Kings Cross they go fighting drunk.
Bad and badly cut drugs,
Sad really it used to be fun

[drowningbitbybit]

Yeah, but the girls wear really short skirts...

[surf patrol]

so do some of the boys!