After a brief rest at the hotel, I caught a bus to Coogee beach so I could do the “Coogee to Bondi” scenic walk. It took 80 minutes in 80+ degree heat to walk the first part — from Coogee to Bronte Beach / Park where I was tired of walking and stopped for a beer.

The scenery along the way was beautiful. I had brought along my “cozzie” aka “swimming costume” aka bathing suit, but was nervous to leave my new Furla bag, credit cards and clothes on a rock while I swam. There was one place where I was really tempted – everyone was snorkeling and not too crowded.

I passed probably 6 different beaches today and there are some major differences to what we experience at the beach:
1) no one has bags of toys or beach chairs. It’s towels, sunblock, and snorkel gear. Except for Bronte where the waves are large enough for the occasional boogie board and surfer.
2) there are very few snack shacks or places that sell things. People bring picnics and often they are grilling and eating under a canopy at the neighboring park.
3) kids get just as overtired and cranky in the sun.
4) I’ve seen one Boston home and one Boston away jersey for Garnett, one Red Sox hat and one OKC jersey today.

So after walking another 30 minutes from Bronte, I came to this view:

I was not expecting the quaintness of the other beaches, but Bondi was just as I imagined. Packed with people, beach shops, and restaurants. Since I arrived at Bondi from the south, the first thing I saw was Icebergs.

I’ve been hearing about Icebergs from my coworkers all week. It’s an upscale Italian restaurant and swim club right on the water at the South end of Bondi. So I walked along the beach, popping in to a few places and finally at 6:30 had my second piece of solid food for the day – a pork bun from Miss Chu. The only other solid I’ve had today was the half dozen oysters for lunch, so the bun was really, really good!

I walked the entire length of Bondi beach, all the way to North Bondi, when a friend rang to meet me for dinner. I was exhausted and she offered to meet at Icebergs, at the very opposite end of the beach where I was! So back I went – legs feeling like jello and my body crisp from being in the sun all day.

We had a nice dinner at Icebergs. She lives in North Bondi and is a member of the swim club, so we ate outside at the club, perched high above the water with a view of the beach and boardwalk all lit up at night. We caught up on life and family and work. And it was a nice, relaxing way to end the week — with the company of a local on the beach.