Bondi on my mind . . .

Today was an "at home" day, so we drove through the city (Sydney) to Bondi (pr. bond.eye) Beach on the south coast.  There is a surfaced path all along the headlands of that area, so we set out to walk about 6 kilometres south to Coogee.  The views were some combination of spectacular, stunning, and just plain breath-taking.  Of course, the sun was shining in the clear blue sky and lots of walkers and runners were using the path, although not so many as will be on the weekend.

Every beach along the way had an ocean-side salt-water pool built at one end among the tidal rocks in such a way that the waves would keep washing "new" water into the pool where people were swimming.  One bay even had a natural long channel running inland about 100 yards where people were swimming in the swells generated by the tidal waves.  Some people were even swimming out in the open ocean and among the surfers waiting to catch a wave.

We actually walked through several communities on the way, each with its own shape of bay or beach that dictated the path and the amenities and activities that were available... and there were many very nice facilities and beaches.  One community of note is Waverley... due to its massive cemetery covering "quite a few acres" and coming right to the walkway above the beach.  This has got to be some of the most expensive real estate in Sydney.  And some of the graves looked to be pretty old.  There were even a few substantial above-ground family vaults near the beach, which caused my "Far Side" theological bent to wonder if they were all having a party in there.

As the Aussies would say, it was a brilliant day... with lots of sunshine, too!  If this keeps up, Becky and I will return home with far better tans from wintering in Australia than we've ever had from summers in the Pacific Northwest!

Unfortunately, we cannot show you many of the magnificent vistas we enjoyed throughout the walk because I forgot to charge the camera battery yesterday... way to go, Dave!  It died with the third picture of Bondi Beach at the beginning of the walk.  I tried using the photo function of our DV camera, but it only produces low resolution shots.  So, I am attaching only a small number of shots from the day.  Sorry about that. 

(I've also added some shots Bob took as we arrived at Coogee.  I know.  It's a tough life, but somebody has to do it!)

Whatever the case, please accept my strong recommendation that you be sure to do some of the Bondi Beach walking trail if you ever visit this area.

Bondi Beach on a beautiful winter day.

Looking down the length of Bondi Beach... lots of surfers out for a Friday. 
(The bad news: my camera battery died with this last shot, so I had to resort to low res shots with the video cam.)

 

It is a beautiful rocky sandstone coastline.
(This is a low resolution shot with the DV cam)

 

Becky looks out over the Pacific from the walkway high above the rocks and surf at Waverley.
Note the very large cemetery off to the right.  It extends back up the slope to the right for several acres.
(This is a low resolution shot with the DV cam)
 

Bob shot this from the beach at Coogee... if you look carefully at the two figures standing up in the park at the left center you will discover that they are Becky and me, just coming down the path and stopping to take a picture.

Arrival at Coogee!  What a beautiful day to walk the coastal pathway!

Nothing like a good lunch at the Coogee Bay Hotel overlooking the beach.  Great burger and fish and chips!
Did I mention that this is winter in Australia?

Looking on down the beach at Coogee.  There were actually a lot more people around than this photo would indicate.