Those who live downtown Sydney have the amazing gift of the urban beach. The ability to go surfing on your lunch break from the office blows my mind. Yesterday I checked out the famous Bondi beach which is an impressive white sandy spralling beach with buildings in either side. Skaters and dog walkers patrol the paved pathway up top and joggers, sun bathers and surfers own the beach. Its dominated by hipsters at coffee shops with the odd old time local wandering the streets in his speedo. Both here and in Byron Bay I love the fact that it is acceptable to wander around barefoot. In Byron folks even grocery shopped barefoot!
A beach more along my style is Manly Beach. A half hour horgeous ferry ride from the Opera house lands you in a California like atmosphere with great take out seafood joints and its much more relaxed... folks arent as concerned about appearances as at Bondi. Both are quite touristy but I forgive Manly more because of the absence of the hipster population.
We had a family outing on Sunday with Andrew, Caroline and the kids, Ethan and Vivica to the blue mountains just outside of Sydney. The temperature cooled down a bit as we drove up to the beauty of the mountains. The landscape is covered in Eucalyptus trees which is where the name is derived from cause of their color. After looking at the view we were treated to a 52 degree drop via train down to the forest canopy. Exploring trails down on the forest floor was a delight with all the Eucalyptus and Sassafras trees with giant vines and tree ferns growing among them. Old remnants of the mining industry still live in the forest which is how the railway down to the bottom originally came into being. After a gondola ride and tram we enjoyed the thrill of the steep train ride once more before heading home completely exhausted. Good day.
Today is my last day and Im just cruisin around downtown... trying to find this elusive didgeridoo muscian that I encountered on my first day. Its pretty rainy today so I may not find him, its too cold for the locals. Everyone is all rugged up (translation wearing coats). Peace kids.
Ps. First collage is Manly beach, second blue mountains and third back to the beauty of Byron Bay.
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