Day Twenty-Four – Bondi to Bronte and Beyond

Of all the beaches in the Sydney area, the one that comes to mind most readily is Bondi beach. Most of the Australians that we spoke to on the cruise suggested that we avoid it , but we felt that we couldn’t come this far without visiting it for a short while.  We decided to catch the local bus and after meandering our way through the city centre traffic found ourselves on the Pacific coast.The bus got really crowded as we got closer to the beach,filling up with young people ready to spend time at the coast. The beach itself was a little disappointing and was no bigger than Porthcawl town beach and the surf was not as good as Rest Bay.

We had decided to complete the  walk to Bronte, this is around 2km long and follows the coastal path. After first walking across to look at the Bondi Pavilion, we climbed the steps that took us past the Bondi baths and the Bondi Icebergs clubhouse. This is a swimming club where prospective members must swim every Sunday, regardless of weather,50 weeks of the year for four years before being allowed to join. We withdrew our application!

The walk took us along the cliff edge and as we turned each corner another bay came into view. The most difficult part of the walk was avoiding the joggers, in their determined efforts to stay fit they forget that walkers have an equal right on these paths. Thankfully not all the people were quite so rude especially the man who kindly took the picture of both of us.

At the end of the walk we had a nice cool drink in a street side cafe and waited for a bus back to the city.  The weather this morning was excellent for walking, with a slightly overcast sky and a gentle breeze from the sea, but  warm sun on your back.

The bus took a different route back to Sydney and we ended up at the main railway station, a short hop away from Paddy’s Market. This is a large indoor market selling both food and clothes that operates from Thursday to Sunday each week. I had seen this mentioned in the guide books and wanted to see it, but was rather glad that I had not made a special trip as it was no different to any other market. We then made our way to Darling Harbour where we caught a ferry back to Circular Quay.

After a refreshing cup of tea and a biscuit back at the hotel, we decided on another walk, this time across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  Now before anyone gets too excited this walk involves walking along a path next to the roadway, and certainly does not involve climbing up the arch!! I would recommend this walk to anyone visiting Sydney, the views that you get across the harbour and city are truly magnificent.

After walking back across the bridge we felt that we needed a good meal so called into “The Rocks Cafe” about two blocks down from the hotel. Here Sylvia had a lovely seafood stir-fry and I was tempted to try kangaroo loin, it was scrumptious. We followed the mains with some lovely sweets and for all you foodies all the dishes are pictured below.

And the sweets……..Yesterday’s visit to the Blue Mountains prompted PJ to send me a picture of the Three Sisters. This was not that of the rock formation but of a sculpture that I had decided not to publish in case it offended my more sensitive viewers, however today I have had second thoughts and here they are.