Coogee Strolling

[Editor’s note: these posts are going to start going up out of order in the interest of time. The post from Sunday requires some care and crafting to strike the literary notes that the subject matter deserves]

Monday:

the day started, as many days often do here, with a dip in the drink at Bondi. Actually, it started with breakfast at Tyler’s place. I’m fascinated by the bacon they have here. It really is the best of both worlds. They've got the strip bacon that we commonly know in America, but attached to that still is the leaner ham portion, what we generally call "Canadian bacon" in the states. They get both! And the strip portion is particularly hardy, definitely in "thick cut" territory by US standards. It's great.

Moving on from breakfast, we spent the morning at the beach. Being a weekday, it was decidedly less crowded than we had seen it all weekend. The surf was pretty tame, and we spent a while in the chilly water tossing a football around. Tyler explained that the surf was "dumping out" and thus wasn't ideal for surfing. The waves were breaking all at once along the line so there wasn't much of a roll to ride on.

After a while on the beach, we went to grab some beers at speedos, a nearby cafe. After all, it was past 5 o'clock back home, and we were still a bit on east coast time. We ordered a bucket of 4 coronas for $20, which was a pretty good price. Beer in Australia is crazy expensive. You can easily spend more than that for a six-pack at the grocery store. Restaurant prices here often gave me a bit of sticker shock, but it was unjustified. What needs to be kept in mind was that the exchange rate cuts 20% off the price when comparing it to us prices. You also don’t tip in Australia (at least, Tyler assured us this was the case but mike and I continued to worry that we were earning a spot alongside him in the "these guys never leave a tip" blacklist that we suspected gets circulated amongst the Bondi service workers). On top of the no tipping, there's no sales tax, vs. 10% in DC. So if you add up the 20% tip on top of the 10% sales tax, then factor in the .80 AUD/ 1 USD exchange rate, that's a substantial difference. You'd need to perform some form of advanced calculus to get the actual conversion ratio, but it's significant.

When the waitress looked a little stunned that we were only ordering a bucket of coronas at 11 am on a Monday, she explained that we would need to order food with the beer. This was not a restaurant policy, but apparently a requirement to comply with the responsible service laws (RSL). Similar laws are on the books in the states, but most places don't feel the need to rigorously enforce them. We asked the waitress for a few minutes to contemplate the food options.

A different waitress came back later to take our order. Mike, who wasn't drinking with us at the moment, ordered a side of hash browns and side sausage, for a total of $3, the cheapest food options on the menu. When our original waitress returned a few minutes after our order had arrived, she laughed at us, "that's the food you ordered with your beers?" looking down at mike's tiny plate of side dishes, while Tyler and I indulged in our coronas. We were indeed complying with the letter but certainly not the spirit of the law. We each took a bite of the hash browns to make sure we were in full compliance. She laughed again while pretending to smack Tyler for his smart-assity. In an important cultural note, they served the coronas with lemons rather than limes. Weird, but not altogether unrefreshing.

After that, we strolled about Bondi for a bit to get a feel for the neighbo(u)rhood. We eventually settled on "little l" for some chicken sandwiches. They were quite good.

With lunch concluded, we headed back to the flat to shower up and prepare ourselves for "the walk." the Bondi to Coogee beach walk is, as the name implies, a marked walk along the coast from Bondi beach to Coogee (pronounced like huggies but with a k and a slightly more boogie g sound). I was excited to finally put my camelback that I had purchased for this trip to good use. We donned our walking shoes and filled up our waters, as it was well hot out there.

Tyler lives on the northern end of Bondi beach, so the walk began by traversing the boardwalk above the beach to the southern end. At that end there's an establishment called Bondi Icebergs, which sports a saltwater pool that's so near to the water's edge that some of the larger waves would wash over the deck and mingle with the pool water. It looked like a cool place to do a few laps. We continued on along the coastline towards Bronte beach.

The Australian coastline is heaps different from, say, the Atlantic seaboard. On the east coast of the us you've essentially got miles and miles of nearly unbroken sandy beaches. At many places, you can look north or south and see nothing but more beach all the way to the horizon. This is not the case for the eastern shore of Australia, at least not the coast of new south wales where we were. The beaches are all in coves, surrounded on both sides by imposing cliff faces. This makes for dramatic views as the waves crash along the rocks or cruise in to the beach inlet. It also makes for a very taxing walk, as we would climb seemingly endless staircases or steep inclines, only to crest a hill and see a similar decline down to the next beach and hill to climb.


We stopped for photos at many of the cliff peaks, as the views were spectacular. Tyler played the tour guide along the way, breaking down the different vibes for each of the beaches we passed. This one has a small beach but great waves, so it's big for surfers. This one is so far in that it has a calm surf, so it's big for families with little kids. We passed one that had an underwater nature trail, the first of its kind. It consists of a heavy chain anchored in to the seafloor with concrete, forming a loop that goes past interesting marine habitats. It is intended to be enjoyed by snorkelers or scuba divers. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Finally, our legs wobbly from the exertion, our backs soaked with sweat, we spied our final destination: the Coogee pav (pavilion, for those who prefer using entire words). This was a pretty sweet bar with a relaxing rooftop overlooking the beach. The ground floor walls were bedecked with oversized games: tic-tac-toe, connect four, checkers, even a scrabble board. It definitely seemed like my kind of place. We had ourselves a couple of pints of local pale ale, and headed back to Bondi in an uber once the sun began to set.

To wrap up the night, we went to a Thai restaurant called Bangkok on Bondi’s main drag. The place was hopping, but we were able to get seated right away. This was a byob establishment (or byog- bring your own grog, according to the Australian language and culture book my sister got for me for the trip. Although I have yet to find an aussie or ex-pat that had ever heard the phrase or confirm its usage). They kept our beers refrigerated for us and brought them out as we needed, which was a very nice touch. A good time was had by all. We walked back to Tyler’s flat, and all slept soundly that night.