Sydney Beaches

Grafitti artist
View from Bondi Beach
Swim Pool at Bondi
Bondi Beach 2
Bondi Beach 1

In the afternoon on Saturday we took the Bondi Explorer tour bus, which mainly stops at different beaches around Sydney, including Watsons Bay, Bondi Beach, Bronte Beach, and Coogee Beach. It was a bit cool but sunny. We hopped off at Bondi Beach and did a scenic coastal walk from there, through Tamarama, and ending at Bronte Beach, where we caught the bus back to Circular Quay. I couldn't stop taking photos, it was so picturesque. There were lots of surfers out as well as families. I did see one brave soul in a skimpy bikini but brrrrr. The wall next to the walkway at Bondi Beach is covered in grafitti, but I have a feeling that it is allowed because they seemed more like planned artworks and a guy was there with a dozen spray cans working on a piece (see photo). Reminded me of San Francisco. I was surprised to see a large swimming pool right beside the ocean, but later read that it is part of the Bondi Icebergs Winter Swimming Club, designed to help local lifeguards stay in shape during the winter season (see photo). Most swimmers we saw were in wetsuits. Go here to see a really cool blog of area surf photos. It's interesting to learn the meaning behind different names here. Bondi comes from the Aboriginal word, "Boondi", meaning roughly "water breaking over rocks". Coogee Beach is believed to be derived from "koojah", the Aboriginal word for "smelly place" or "stinking seaweed", named because of the decaying kelp on the beach (source: Wikipedia/audio tour).