Australia -- Day 3

The bags situation is still a nightmare: Day 4 and no bags. I am so exhausted with the whole situation I cannot even devote words to it.

Today was another day with fantastic weather- between 60 and 65 degrees. Today’s itinerary was to head to perhaps Australia’s most famous beach: Bondi Beach. We took the Bondi Explorer, which basically has 19 stops all around the area and you can jump on and off whenever you like. We began at St Mary’s church, a stunning gothic cathedral. When we got to the bus stop, we were alerted by the bus driver that we had been sold the wrong tickets. No worries, as they say in Australia. He let us ride to the next stop, where some sort of GM figure inspected our passes, wrote “OK!!! For Bondi Explorer Only” and signed his name. The passes were well-accepted the rest of the trip. In America, there would have been paperwork, and BS, and suspicion—but in Australia, they try and take care of you. Beautiful.

I was startled at the heights Sydney reaches—we were going up steep cliffs and around tight bends. We saw lots of the different beach and bay neighborhoods, yacht clubs, etc. My favorite was Rose Bay – very old Hollywood hills glamour. Absolutely beautiful panoramic views. Then we got to Watson’s Bay, and The Gap, where I was just blown away. The cliffs, the vastness, the sheer volume of Tasman Bay was breathtaking. One of my most favorite places I’ve ever been. I hope that Jay and I will be able to return on our final days in Sydney. Likewise with Bondi Beach…I can see why it’s the most famous of Aussie beaches. It even FELT warmer there (it was about 62*)—not only were their plenty of surfers but there were people in shorts, tee shirts, even bathing suits. The crescent shaped coastline and architecture had a very Mediterranean feel! The waters were the bluest of turquoise, very tropical! I could’ve stayed there all day…and again, I hope we’ll be able to return. We walked on the ocean a bit and I collected some shells as souvenirs. We headed up the street to a restaurant at which Jay had eaten on his last trip to Australia – Hog’s Breath Café. Think Outback Steakhouse except REALLY Australian. We both had burgers topped with beets, among other things. Beets? The fries were delicious dipped in this honey-chili sauce. Before boarding the Bondi Explorer again, we stopped at the Beach Supplies Australia surf shop and I picked up a red hibiscus print tee shirt with the BSA logo which is way cooler than any American surf supply shirt.

We ended our enjoyable trip on the Bondi Explorer (nice to sit and be transported around after all the walking we have been doing) at Circular Quay.

Our final activity of the evening was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge! Yes, can you believe that they actually allow yokels to do that? They’ve only been doing it about 6 or 7 years now. We were scheduled for a 17:25 climb (5:25pm) ensuring it would be nice and dark with glittery lights by the time we ascended. Now, I am not scared of heights usually, and I ride the scariest of rollercoasters and all that, but the thought of climbing the steep iron staircases made me extremely nervous. The Bridge Climb group does a great job of preparing the climbers, however. We had tons of gear and took “practice” climbs indoors before doing the real thing. The actual climb took about 2 hours. We had a fantastic guide named Niomi, a Sydney native, whom Jay and I talked to a lot throughout the climb b/c we were right up front. She put me at ease. She gave the group a lot of historical information about the bridge as well as Sydney, and we stopped for a few photos along the way (that they charge you for of course—I’ll have to scan ours in when we get home).

The experience was surreal: being up in the air and viewing Sydney in a completely different way. With the exception of 8 steep flights (4 up, 4 down) which were not fun for me (you climbed them one person at a time, so it felt very isolated!) the rest of the climb was extremely gradual. We truly felt on top of the world, seeing Sydney 360* with all of the gorgeous night lights and sights and sounds of the trains and cars passing below us. An unbelievable experience