Sydney Coastal Walk

Photos:

• Top left: View of Coogee Beach from hillside
  
• Top right: Clovelly Beach
• Middle left: Waverly Cemetery overlooking the Tasman Sea
• Middle right: Bronte Beach
• Bottom left: Icebergs Club at Bondi Beach
• Bottom right: Target at Bondi Junction

Yesterday I saw some of the most beautiful beaches in my life! Once again, I met up with Carla at the end of her shift and we headed to the coast, which is only a mile or so from her University. We did the Coastal Walk, a 6km (a little less than 4mi) walk along the coast that extends from Coogee Beach towards the famous Bondi Beach (pronounced BOND-eye). The walk took about two hours, and included some of the most incredible scenery I have seen since arriving. I'm definitely going to make a point of going back.

The Waverly Cemetery was established in 1877 and is absolutely huge. It takes up an entire hillside and is bordered by one of the most amazing views of the Tasman Sea. Looking out, you can see nothing but the ocean and open sky.

At Bronte Beach we saw a lot of surfers, as well as families with children enjoying a day at the beach during the school holiday. For those of you who care, this is also the best location for sightings of old men in speedos. (I had to be careful with my timing when I was taking pictures at this beach...)

Farther down the coast, we arrived at Bondi Beach. (I'll take more pics of the beach the next time I go there.) This is a huge, touristy place that I'm told is nearly always completely packed. Even now when it's winter here, there are still pretty big numbers of people that go there. Carla said that in the summers it's so full that you can hardly see any sand.

Next we took the bus to Bondi Junction. Lots of shopping there including a 5-story mall where we found the Target store which, incidentally, is completely different than in the states. Almost resembles more of a department store than the version Americans are used to. I also got another taste of just how costly it is to live here: a regular bath towel can cost as much as $40 AUD, which is still about $30 USD.

After shopping, we took the bus back towards Coogee to check out some potential plans for the evening which ended up not working out...but we'll be able to do it this afternoon so I guess you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it. We finished up the evening at Carla's apartment. We made dinner and had a little bit of the root beer that I brought with me, then watched a little television. Nothing too exciting...but a lot more to come in the next few days.