Bus to Bondi

Sorry once again for the radio silence. We’ve been busy having various ‘adventures’ in Hamilton Island. I can tell you more about those in due course but for now thought we’d catch up with Sydney.

So, back on day 3 in Sydney we decided to try and be a bit more relaxed. Today we were off to visit Bondi Beach and we’re going on the bus! Hurrah a new mode of transport. We caught the 333 from Circular Quay which was ready and waiting for us and because it was early, we easily got a seat. Today was Saturday so we’d noticed that the CBD was very quiet. During the week, the bars get busy after work- just like the good old days back in the UK!

I traced our route on my phone so I could work out where we needed to get off. We went through the very busy Bondi Junction. There was a huge queue of people waiting to get on as the alternative way to get to the beach is to catch the train and then hop on our bus.

Bondi Beach is huge and we wanted to get off at one end where the Icebergs Swimming Pool is. It gets its name because it’s famous for people swimming all year round. Jane wasn’t keen because the water looked ‘dirty’. I think it’s just natural seawater and looks spectacular with the rocks and splashing waves all around it.

Again, today the weather wasn’t too great and so we’d decided not to do the whole Bondi to Coogee Walk. It involves quite a lot of steep steps and there was a definite chance of rain. We had some obligatory photos on the rocks and then a coffee inside Icebergs.

Afterwards we had a little walk along the paved walkway which was v beautiful. I climbed the first set of steep steps to have a look at the views the other way. There were lots of incredibly fit people out for a run.

As I turned back it started to rain and this time we’d come prepared with our foldaway rain ponchos. They did just the job but looked ridiculous.

I then made my way down onto the beach but Jane stayed at the top to take some pics. Her bad back was still hanging about so we took the opportunity to just not make it any worse. The beach is pretty impressive and there were lots of people out surfing. Unfortunately, there were also lots of small ex-Jellyfish on the beach. Yuk.

After our morning down here we caught the bus back to town St Martin’s Place and walked through to the New South Wales Art Gallery. It was a relief to hand in our heavy back packs and we headed to the cafe as our first stop. Here we had a nice cup of tea and our very first ‘Lamington’ to share. This little beauty is like a Raspberry Ruffle cake.

After this we had about an hour to check out the best of the artwork. In the modern bit of the gallery called Naala Badu (seeing waters) we really enjoyed the Aboriginal art. Some huge pieces of colourful, dotty, splendidness and some smaller, more ‘primitive’ pieces of painting and ceramics depicting everyday scenes.

Next we visited the older building called Naala Nura (seeing Country). Here Jane visited the blue walls of the European and International section and I ran round the pink walls of the wonderful 20th century Australian collection.

We had a walk back to our hotel for a rest before heading out again for dinner. Tonight Jane found us a fab little Chinese restaurant TAO near the main shopping district. Jane was in search of the XO Sauce which she remembered having last time she was in Sydney over 20 years ago.

So much for a more relaxing day, eh?!