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Merry Christmas from Australia!
Soaking up the Christmas Eve day sun at one of my favorite places, Bondi Beach
Sending lots of love and sunshine from Australia this Christmas! It’s strange being a hemisphere away from home during the holidays, but I think I could get used to celebrating the season in a bikini. I hope everyone back home has a very Merry Chrissy!
The most festive form of transportation I’ve ever seen
Christmas exploded inside this bus to the beach
No Christmas is complete without cookies 🙂
Sculpture by the Sea
One of the first (and only) sculptures we saw, with a Bondi Beach background
Well, for the past few weeks, the stretch from Bondi to Tamarama Beach was transformed into the 16th annual Sculpture by the Sea, a free sculpture exhibition showcasing more than 100 sculptures from Australian and international artists. I was really looking forward to taking the seaside stroll again and to see all the creations on display. You would think with all my free time, I would choose a quiet weekday to visit the outdoor art, but no. My friends and I chose to go on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, which was also the final day of the exhibition.
Look beyond the art at the people marching one by one to Tamarama
Fighting our way against the current of spectators
Apparently, all of Sydney also waited until the last minute to check it out. I’ve never seen so many people in Bondi – it was suffocating. We joined the herd from the bus up the hill past Icebergs to find an obscenely long, slow moving line of people occupying the usually quiet ocean walk. One look at the masses, and the decision to turn back and laze on the beachside grassy hill for the rest of the afternoon was unanimous.
We did see a few of the beginning sculptures, and we learned we could view the rest on the event’s website, so not all was lost.
I will always love Bondi after spending five months living there, but after experiencing the madness of Sculpture by the Sea (followed by a lovely two hour journey back to the city), I might start beaching elsewhere once summer hits to avoid the crowded chaos.
Christmas in July
As someone who truly hates being cold, I still can't believe I chose to put myself through two winters too many this year. While the season itself hasn't been that bad in Sydney, the fact that most apartments (like mine) don't have heating make the chill that much harsher. With winter in the air (and in our homes), me and my friends decided to embrace cold and celebrate Christmas in July.
Last Saturday, my temp-mates and I decided to celebrate by preparing a pot luck traditional Christmas dinner. We enjoyed a delicious prawn salad to start, followed by a hybrid Scottish, British and American feast – Yorkshire pudding and gravy, roasted chicken, bacon wrapped sausages, green bean casserole (sans French's fried onions) and roasted cinnamon and honey sweet potatoes. For dessert we had Banoffee Pie (very similar to Banana Cream Pie) and sparkling wine. And what Christmas dinner is complete without secret santa? I was so impressed with how well the meal came out and can't wait to try to make Yorkshire pudding, as it's amazing!
On Sunday, the winter festivities continued on with my friends from the hostel. We all met in the afternoon to check out the ice skating at the Bondi Winter Festival, along with everyone else in the Eastern Suburbs. Sadly, the skating sessions were sold out all day, but it was still pretty fantastic people watching. It was a beautifully sunny day as well, so the tiny rink on the beach was turning into more of a pond, with wobbly skaters and bobbies (seal seats for those who can't skate) splashing more than skating. So, I'm actually relieved there wasn't room on the rink for me.
After a few friends finished skating, we grabbed some snacks and 'cheeky' drinks outside at Hotel Bondi before making our way to my friends' share house near Bondi Junction for my second Christmas dinner of the weekend. My friend Karen graciously cooked a huge meal for about 20 of us – complete with mulled wine, all the usual fixings, Christmas pudding and a bit of Christmas caroling.
The weekend full of friends and feasts was such a great way to see everyone before I leave to do some traveling for a while. I feel so lucky to have met so many wonderful people during my time in Sydney. Merry July Christmas!
Posted with BlogsyA Whale of a Time
Living in Bondi, you can expect to see loads of hipsters, surfers, tourists, travelers and locals. One of the charms of this suburb is also the unexpected sights, like last weekend’s random whale festival.
While walking back from enjoying a Saturday sunset and drinks with my Swedish roommates at the Bucket List (an outdoor beachfront restaurant that graciously gives guests blankets to use during the winter), we saw a poster for the third annual Bondi Whale Festival, featuring a life size inflatable Humpback whale on the beach. Clearly, I had to check this out the next day.
Well, there was a life size whale (named “Venus”) as advertised and a few stalls promoting sea life protection (read: intense Sea Shepherd activists), I’m not sure this ‘festival’ is worth remembering forever via this blog. But, it’s happening.
It was a great excuse to enjoy the beautiful, sunny Sunday, and my brief whale fest walk by did teach me that winter is the best time for whale watching in Sydney, so maybe I’ll see a real life Venus soon?
Protect the whales!
Going from Beach B to C
The temperatures are slowly chilling down on this side of the world, but Mother Nature has been pretty kind to Sydney this fall – which only started to feel like fall over the last few weeks. During the day, we’re still enjoying high 60s/low 70s temperatures and at night, it’s usually in the cool 50s. Winter is just a couple weeks away (starts June 1) and I’m not sure just how brisk it will get – I’m hoping my China Town purchased jacket and collection of scarves will suffice for the next couple months. But with weather, you never really know, so I’m trying to take advantage of the pleasant days the best I can by being outside as much as possible – eating my lunch outside with coworkers in Hyde Park, going on the occasional jog or jaunt by beach in the evenings and doing my weekend exploring.
Last Saturday I finally did the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. I lazily never took the time to do this before because it always sounded like more of a journey than a walk – taking about 2 hours to get from Bondi Beach down to Coogee Beach. But after making my way to the end with one of my new Swedish roommates, I decided this trek is one I should take the time do more often. It’s easy to walk – only one daunting set of stairs – and its sun-faded signs make it simple to follow. With the chilly weather putting a hold on laying out and swimming, this walk offers an alternative way to enjoy the Sydney beaches. The best reason to re-walk this trail is, of course, for the stunning and endless views of the Pacific.
Along the way to Coogee, we passed all the smaller beaches and inlets including Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly and Gordon’s bay. Tamarama is the closest the Bondi and it’s kind of embarassing that this was my first visit to this beach (literally around the corner from Bondi) but when Bondi is at your backdoor, it never makes sense to relocate a mile or two south to other smaller beaches.
While walking by all these mini beaches, it’s hard not to compare these to those back home. The beaches I’m used to in the Carolinas are beautiful, long stretches of sandy shores. Here, the beaches are more cove-like and concentrated with distinct suburb/towns surrounding them, giving each one its own vibe/character (For example, Tamarama is often called ‘Glamarama’ because of all the beautiful beachers). I must say though, the water temperature is much warmer back home than here – and there’s also the rips, blue bottles (Portuguese man of wars) and sharks to watch out for here – ah, the dangerous details…
Besides beaches, we also passed by some wild parrots, a few rugby matches, the beachfront Waverley Cemetary, some lawn bowling clubs (with stylish silver roos playing) and plenty of other walkers and joggers. It was a beautiful way to spend our sunny Saturday afternoon and it’s something I recommend to anyone wanting a closer look at the eastern beach suburbs of Sydney.
From Carolina to Oceania 