Well this weekend I made it, to the beach that is. It may surprise you that up until now I’ve not actually set a foot on the clear sands of Bondi Beach (I = Simon, it’s a given that Caroline has been to the beach!) It’s not for want of trying either, a couple of weeks ago I did wander down, but the wind was strong, and the sand literally blasted me away. Before that I always seemed to be walking by or sitting next to the beach.
Anyway, sipping a fruit smoothie and lying back reading a book is definitely the way forward. There are a couple of other beaches near Bondi, so we headed down to Tamarama beach, a smaller homely place. Lunch was at a cool little beach café, whilst a wedding took place on the grass. It also had loads of washed up jellyfish like creatures, little blue pockets of air with a long strands coming out the back. Didn’t think much of them, but Dave at IBM later told me they are Bluebottles (also known as Portuguese Man O’war) that can administer an almighty sting (non-deadly if that makes it any better). I’ve now spent the rest of the week scaring myself and Caroline by trawling the internet finding out about all the poisonous and deadly creatures of Australia! Syndey also has the Blue Ringed Octupus on it’s shores, with a venom that inflicts so much pain you don’t need an ambulance siren on your way to hospital, nice!
We rounded off Saturday with a trip to Star City, the casino of choice in Sydney. I guess we’ve had our expectations set high by Vegas, as it didn’t quite cut the mustard, or was it that the $1 put in a fruit machine didn’t pay out…
By Sunday it was time for another beach, Cronulla (pronounced Cru-null-a, although that’s still up for debate…), basically a suburb by the sea 1 hour from Bondi. A relaxed sort of place with families sitting by the sea doing the sandcastle thing and having barbeques. Quite a contrast with Bondi, but I’m glad we’re living near Bondi Beach!