Bondi Beach Sydney
It was a rare, sunny, winter’s day so we took full advantage of it and went to Bondi Beach. It is huge. However, it is not a long stretch of beach like you would find in California or anywhere along the west coast. It is a bay. The day we went, no one was in the water. Not even surfers. There were wind warnings. The waves were too big and coming too fast to be able to enjoy them.
Sandstone boulders lay on the beach.
Eroded sandstone rock formation makes up the cliff in the background. Maureen wondered where the water was coming from that trickled down from the top.
There is a pool farther up which we did not explore. It turns out that this pool, opened in 1929, is the most photographed pool in the world. So here you go. Here’s one of those photographs.
They have a skate board park that a lot of kids were using.
The three humans on the right look extremely tiny. They come up to the guy’s knees. Even if they’re kids, they should be a little bigger than that, shouldn’t they?
Better Late than Never
We, unfortunately, were the unhappy, unwilling third party recipients of news that a woman was “late”. This woman was hysterical and being comforted by two other women who knew “what it was like to be late.” We were standing on the seawall minding our own business while this young woman was breaking down and crying just inches away. Pull yourself together lady. It was shortly after this that we decided to proceed ever onwards and upwards to another beach, namely Palm beach.
Palm Beach
Which one is better Bondi or Palm beach? The battle of the beaches. And, no I am not speaking with a Russian accent about two women.
We took the ferry to Manly, birthplace of Australian surf culture (a manly sport), and then the city bus up to Palm Beach. The whole trip took about an hour one way.
We get off the bus and walk over to a bench beside an outdoor cafe. As soon as we sit down and are just looking around to get our bearings, this Chinese guy (who had been on the bus) suddenly materializes right in front of us and chirps loudly in accented English, “Hi guys!” Then he looks straight at Maureen and says, “What’s your name?!” I said, “We don’t speak English”. And as he starts to walk away, I turn to Maureen and start speaking English.
The Guy
Then I walk over to the beach and leave her sitting there with that guy still hovering. There were men (surfers) sitting at outdoor tables staring listlessly out to sea, and I figured they might spring into action if that guy attempted any sort of abduction maneuver. Besides, Maureen is a second degree Black Belt. He ended up, bizarrely enough, taking the same bus back with us, but we lost him in the hustle and bustle of Big Sid. Or did we?
Where’s my flyswatter?
Maureen told me that when I walked away he had circled back (like a shark) and kept asking her name. She finally said, “Leave me alone.” We come to the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, yes better than Bondi, and we are pestered by a horse fly in human form. He just kept buzzing around Maureen. She should’ve told him to buzz off.
Seriously
Palm beach is like a cove in a lake surrounded by dark, green forest. Only the waves are huge and come rolling in one after the other. The color of the water is actually aquamarine. I know, it’s surprising. There were about 30 surfers in the water, unlike at Bondi where there were none. The vibe was very calm (except for you know who). If there are other places like this in Aussie Land, I’d like to see them some day (without the you know what.)
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