Cruise Letter: THE STOKE BEACH HOUSE IS HEATING UP

We’ve switched into our summer wetties and things are heating up at the Stoke Beach House as we head into the warmer months. Manly is getting back its jive after a weird limbo winter when we weren’t really sure which direction the world was heading in… and it’s definitely the place to be this silly season with activities going full steam ahead from beach cave explorations to live sunset gigs and hostel family dinner spreads that will have you on that I-forgot-to-check-the-time vacation feeling (all socially distanced of course!)

THE WHOS WHO

Our Beach House is jam-packed with all sorts of creative cats from painters to cirque performers, guitarists and DJs and so apart from our impromptu kitchen jams (thank you, Tommy and Lewis, for the background music!) we are also taking advantage of the post-lockdown freedom to host our very own Brazilian surfer slash musician Bruno Bah for an in-house live concert. Stoke loves to travel and so while a trip to South America is off the cards we are bringing the tropical Portuguese tunes and dreams of sipping caipirinhas on the beach directly to our courtyard bar at Raglan Street. Bruno and his bandmates have also been playing Saturday night sunset sessions at the Quarantine Station up in North Head National Park: vino + music + Sydney harbour views + lush nature = muito bem.

for the frothers

For those who are more athletic than arty every day in the beach house we have free activities showing off the best Manly has to offer with the chance to work up a sweat. Our India-trained Argentinian yoga trainer Maria sets us up every morning with meditation and gentle flow before Cali girl Mariko dishes out your best hostel breakfast ever. We’ve got free surfboard hire weekly (BYO board if you are a pro, obviously!) with a new quiver recently christened in our staff lunchtime surf break sesh.

During the week we love to show our international friends the freaky wildlife we’ve got on our doorstep from water dragons to manta-rays so it’s a great occasion to chuck some shoes on and go for a hike to Collins Beach through coastal rock paths, past waterfalls and jump in to the crystal clear water for a snorkel. (Legend says you don’t have to walk so far to see Aussie wildlife…if you hang around our hostel bar long enough you’ll see two possums checking in for an after-dinner drink.)

WHAT’S HAPPENING – Tail end of November

This November we’re also cheering that Manly Markets have kicked off again in full force on Saturdays and Sundays in the Corso shopping area where we love to visit our local artists and artisans on the way to the beach. At night times, we’re pretty good at making each other laugh – but on our rustier days, we gather the crew and head to a local venue for some socially-distanced joke telling from the professionals.

The last weekend of November is a bit of a fancier affair with a lavish in-house evening cheese spread and charcuterie, DJ sets and our new ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM WINES we’ve just added to the bar for the summer season.

Later on, to get some good karma for our weekend sinning we will be participating in Operation Strawkle aka snorkelling to help clean up our gorgeous ocean nature reserve on our front door. We want to keep our turtle neighbours happy!

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