Sydney Day 1

We left the airport and headed to Rosemary's house. Rosemary is the sister of Marg, who we met on our Galapagos cruise in September. Marg is kindly allowing us to stay in her apartment while we are in Sydney. We picked up the keys from Rosemary and met her husband Brad. We stayed and chatted for about an hour before Rosemary drove us down the road from Maroubra to Little Bay.

When we got to the apartment, we settled in and had showers. We also had a cup of coffee and planned the next few days in Sydney. Today we decided to take a coastal walk up towards Bondi Beach. We got a quick lunch wrap in the grocery store across the street and we were on our way!

Marg mentioned that we could start the coastal walk at Little Bay Beach, but we couldn't see a path that didn't go through the golf course, which wasn't allowed, so instead went inland around the golf course and the local prison. Once we got to Malabar Beach, we entered Malabar National Park. We walked along the coast over sandstone and vegetation on a metal grate to not disturb the environment. It was a peaceful walk and we encountered some people running through the park, but not many other tourists.

When we exited the national park, we were at Maroubra Beach. It wasn't very busy. We walked along the promenade watching surfers catch the occasional wave. We kept going admiring all of the beautiful, and huge, houses along the coast. We were only about halfway to Bondi at this point despite walking for almost two hours, and we realized that Marg's three hours estimate to get to Bondi via the coast was a gross underestimate. We were about 20 minutes from Coogee Beach at this point, so we decided to at least get to that spot before reevaluating our plans.

Once at Coogee, it was a further 6km on top of the nearly 13 we had done already. The travel and jet lag were definitely starting to get to me, so we stopped at Coogee Beach and went in some of the saltwater pools near the cliffs instead. When I first dipped my feet in, it felt cold (not as cold as Rio, but still cold). When the waves got higher, I got a shock from the chilliness, but over time my legs didn't feel the chill as much. We sat and enjoyed the water for a bit, but it started to get busy so our pocket of peace was broken.

We walked back along the beach to another pool, but the sun was going down and that made it feel colder. Allan went in, and I stood at the side with my feet in the water. He didn't last very long before he got out. We changed out of our swimsuits and got a cheap McDonald's for dinner. Can't beat £1 hamburgers and £0.50 ice cream.

We got the bus back to Little Bay. The bus system seems pretty good here, and not too expensive with the Opal card. Back at the apartment, we had showers and a cup of tea before heading to bed. With the time change and the jet lag, my body has no idea what's going on, but it was tired.Read more