Day 2 - Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Surry Hills is a tight residential area tucked into the city. It’s got plenty of options for food. Little cafés, organic food stores, and open-air restaurants abound. I had no problem finding what I wanted for breakfast, even on an early Sunday morning. After coffee with Ceren, I headed out on foot to famous Bondi Beach, in my flip flops that I hadn’t worn since the northern hemisphere summer (someone say ‘uh oh’).

I took plenty of precautions with the sun, keeping my shirt on the whole day and lathering on a modest amount of sunscreen. But I hiked for over 7 hours in the flip flops, all said and done. We’ll get back to that part.

South Bondi Beach (Oprah inside...)

Surry Hills and Bondi Beach are separated by miles of excellent specialty shops, such as one filled with almost everything Russian, providing jams and olives and figs and you name it. The specialty shops get more plentiful and more specialized the closer you get to Bondi (until reaching Bondi, at which time the shopping becomes ordinary, i.e. stores selling regular commodity goods like tee shirts and shorts - one exception being a store with incredible displays of didgeridoos).

Didgeridoo Store

I glanced at a newspaper on the plane over, a few days earlier, and read a headline that Opera was going to be in the city. Turns out she was at a restaurant along Bondi Beach when I was snapping photos. I didn’t know this part until I was passing the establishment via the Coastal Trail and asked someone why there was such a crowd outside the front door. I just wanted to get by and in front of me a woman using a cell phone was doing the same. She glanced up at the most prominent string of gawkers in the bunch, pulled the cell phone from her face, and yelled “GET A LIFE!” I smiled in agreement.

Surfing Lifesaving

Look at all those people on Bondi Beach (top photo). It’s a nice Sunday afternoon, so you would expect a beach like that to be full. A plaque nearby mentions something about 35,000 people on that beach during a period of record saves by the Rescue Lifeguards. Could there be that many? I doubt it. But the statistic gives you some idea of the size and use of Bondi. By the way, some of the women didn’t have a top on (and they weren’t laying on their stomachs either).

I keep forgetting Christmas is coming, until I see clear reminders – such as Santa sitting with a father and fussy son as a glittery elf plays with a toy in order to pacify the little tyke for a memorable antipodean holiday. (How do you like those clichés?)

Christmas Scene at Parramatta Mall

Liquor Store Drive Thru

Another thing I found interesting was a drive thru liquor store and in another location a slogan, which said “It Takes Beer to make Thirst Worthwhile”. Were truer words ever spoken? Seeing as how I don't drink, I suppose there's no point in getting thirsty then.

By the way – I got an $86 dollar parking ticket today. At least they’re good sports –It says on the back that I can pay for this on-line.

Oh yeah, the flip flops. I’ll make it short – I got blisters on my blisters. But I learned there are worse things. You see, I started getting in the routine of taking the flip flops off for the last few miles when there were grassy areas I could walk in. This worked well enough until this one section of grass had, unknown to me, a massive amount of these little needle balls (some sort of seed pod dropped by a variety of tree) that stuck into flesh immediately when foot pressed upon by a 160 pound man. I quickly hobbled out of the briar patch (feeling quite perturbed) and spent some time plucking them out. And that’s when I learned to appreciate simply having blisters, by comparison to the amount of newer suffering.

Let's go flying.

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Day 2 – Bondi Beach

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