Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

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One of my favorite things that we've done so far is to take the coastal walk that begins just south of Bondi Beach and meanders down to Coogee. The path will take you past most of the beaches in the eastern suburbs. In order, you pass Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly, Gordons Bay, and Coogee.

The trek stretches over 6 km (about 3.73 miles) of coastline. I've read that this should take you about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete if you are moving at a good pace. I'm sure you can complete it even more quickly if you take it as a jogging route, which I just might do sometime. However, there is sooooo much to see and I highly recommend taking your time to wander through the walk the first time. We stopped A LOT, so It took us between 3.5 and 4 hours. Here is a rough approximation of the route:


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Everywhere you look there is something cool to see or do. In the course of our hike we got to see tons of different things. We played in tide pools and touched a couple of anemones.

We caught a glimpse of a drum circle.

We played on a playground. G and I tried to seesaw, but I think that the seesaw may have been designed for smaller people than we are.



We walked along a beautiful wooden bridge along side the lovely, old Waverly Cemetery.

We meandered up and down hills and watched many waves crash. If you want to feel at one with nature, well, there are tons to lookouts at which to be awed and many inviting rocks on which to meditate. As Emerson would have, I felt "the current of the universal being circulate through me" many times over.

For a large section of the hike, the path was a mere suggestion that we completely ignored. Starting from about Mackenzies Point, just beyond Bondi, it is very easy to walk on the rocks off-trail and work your way all the way down to Tamarama Beach.


When presented with such excellent specimens of rocks, really the only option can be to scramble and scamper amongst them. There are so many cool rock formations and small caves, there is no way you can pass up to crawl into them.


You could practically live in some of the little caves. Actually, it appeared that a couple did have residents.

We spent a long time exploring this area.



It feels truly magical. And let's just say for minute that you're a twenty-nine year old woman -- and never mind that your knee aches a little from running and you woke up that morning with pains in your back -- but nonetheless, you want to just put all that aside and pretend that you are and Elven Warrior Princess on a quest. Well, a magical staff-sword will be ready and waiting for you.

(I may have succeeded in being less Elven Princes and more 'Where the Wild Things Are')


You certainly don't have to take the whole trek all at once either. G and I have returned since to do smaller sections of the route again - in particular to scramble over a few more rocks. This really can't help but make you feel like a kid again.


There really isn't much I can give by way of description that wouldn't be better illustrated through images. Luckily, G only took about a million. Here are a few.

Oh, and then he took just a few more when we went back and walked from Bronte up to Bondi.



This site has a good guide with point of interest and historical note: http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/council/parks/parks/coastwalk.asp I may even take this with me next time. A nice map is also available for download.



Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Randoms: Pheromone Wipes


Kate spotted this dispenser in the female toilet right next to the tampon dispenser at Pontoon Bar in Darling Harbor. Gotta be ready for anything, I guess.

Fascinating.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Wildlife World: Marsupials and snakes and arachnids . . . Oh my!



Everyone talks about Sydney's amazing Taronga a Zoo -- and don't get me wrong -- I definitely want to check it out. However, G made a good point when we first got here. World class zoo's tend to be somewhat similar, showcasing amazing animals from around the globe that are interesting and exciting to the people living in that city. What we wanted to see right away is what is cool, exciting, and different about Australia, so we made Wildlife World our first zoological stop.

Wildlife World is a a fairly new attraction in Sydney as it opened in 2006. Their goals are to showcase, conserve, and provide a storyline for Australia's fauna. It's located right downtown in Darling Harbor, right next to Aquarium, so it's extremely convenient to get to. It's a really a great, compact structure with three floors and walkway that leads you through the various types of habitats found in Australia. There are all kinds of lectures and programs throughout the day, however, we arrived at around 2:45 and had missed out on most of the scheduled events. (We had a pamphlet with out-of-date info stating that the place closes late in the evening. They now close at 6 p.m.)

Kate, G and I, however, were determined to pet a koala, so we booked it up to the roof level to catch the tail end of the koala feeding and petting session. Luckily, when our turn finally came to meet the koalas, the docent was nice enough to talk to us a bit about their habits and answer questions. Interestingly, they designate only one koala a day to be the petting koala. Despite looking like sleepy teddy bears that are ready to snuggle, it turns out they really only want to snuggle with their chosen tree branch and don't really want to be touched. Our docent comments that often the koalas seem to know whose turn it is be petted that day and the chosen koala will scramble up to the highest tree branch they can find. Today's designated koala has done precisely this, but the docent is nice enough to quickly and slyly pet the one that is being the most social that day, Molly. He tolerates us quite nicely as we take millions of pictures with him and pet his paw.

The interesting thing to me about koalas is that evolution should be against these guys in every way. They eat pretty much only eucalyptus, which is actually slightly poisonous to them. They're not even born with the ability to break it all down and cope with poison. They acquire the bacteria their gut needs to process the poison from a pap produced by their mothers -- i.e. a koala's first solid meal is it's mommy's poop. Beyond this, because eucalyptus is so nutrient poor and takes so much energy to digest, they sleep like 22 hours a day and have developed very small brains to use less energy. However, because they're tree-dwellers that have no natural predators, they're totally free to be sleepy little leaf munchers. Of course when you see them, all you really think is, "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I want one!!!!"


With our koala mission accomplished, we return to the main walkway to make our way through the habitats. We fawn over rock wallabies.

This gal is called a cassowary. She hypnotized us will all of her crazy running. As you can see, she was moving so much, G couldn't get a picture of her that wasn't blurry. Still, you can make out the casque on the top of her head.

We fall completely in love with the wombats. They're like the adorable cousins of ROUS's!!!

Kate becomes a tree person - although she's far more rabid than I would have imagined tree people could be.

We spend a long time observing the kangaroos.

Shredder is the biggest guy in the mob.

This guy -- we think his name is Mervin -- is a total ham. He positions himself close to the edge of the pen and seems to pose as soon as G pulls out his camera.




Nothing quite like a good tummy scratch!

When you see all the Aussie animals together in one place, you see really quickly just how different the wildlife on this continent actually is. Most of the animals here aren't found anywhere else, and they tend to have very different habits. More animals are nocturnal than not. There aren't any large predators, but there are tons of small, deadly creatures. The most venomous just-about-anything is located here. Actually, right now Wildlife World's main attraction is their Dangerous & Deadly trail.

However, they also do a good job of providing educational info through out explaining that while there are many dangerous creatures, they rarely attack humans unless provoked and are historically responsible for very few deaths -- usually in the single digits for most of the snakes and spiders. I can't tell you how many people warned me about poisonous spiders -- our friend Katy, who is a doctor, actually told us all about a lecture she gave on the subject. It's good to know that the chances of actually getting mortally bitten are very, very slim.

Some of my favorite informational bits are the occasional Aboriginal Dreamtime stories they have on the walls. You can read the origin stories for why Koala's live in eucalyptus trees, how kangaroos got their tails, and why goannas and lizards are not friends. I feel very bad for goannas. In the beginning Goanna wanted to be pretty. He made a pact with Lizard to paint each other and make themselves beautiful. Goanna went to a lot of trouble to paint Lizard carefully with many beautiful colors. When it was Lizard's turn to paint though, he got bored and hungry and just did a rush job by slapping on some dull, drab paint on Goanna. When Goanna saw the end result, he obviously was hurt and mad and he bit the lizard. Goanna's and Lizards haven't been friends since. Poor Goanna!

I have since found this site, Dust Echoes, that has some lovely animated dreamtime stories.

We wander around until 6, at which point we're surprised to find out they're closing. (Fie! Lead astray by the faulty pamphlet!) However, we've made it most of the way through, and the staff member who comes to let us know is nice enough to let us finish making our way through the last bits of the spider exhibit. Three hours is actually a pretty decent amount of time with which to explore this place.

By now we're pretty hungry. Outside is Darling Harbor, which is a tourist and commercial center and there are loads of places to eat. Amazingly, we find a reasonable priced place right away called Pontoon Bar.

This place is part restaurant, part sports bar, part club. This makes for a very interesting mix of people -- at least at around 6:30 on a Saturday. There are tourists of all ages, guys watching sports on the big screen, and girls in miniskirts starting to pre-game for a Saturday night out. Great people watching. That said they have a full menu of serviceable selections for about $10. I opt for a kebab plate with chips and Greek salad. It's nothing out of the ordinary, but definitely hits the spot. It's certainly better than I would have expected for such a touristy area at that price.

Full and happy, Kate, G, and I head for home. Further exploration of the Darling Harbor Area is to be continued. We'll be back very soon to explore the aquarium.

In the meantime, enjoy a slideshow of some of G'd pics.







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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Aussie Funny Bits

Based on my very limited exposure, I am now going to make broad generalizations regarding Aussie humor. My first impressions are that it splits between really cheesy and slapstick, to more in your face and blunt than in the US. We saw this clip on a sketch comedy show called Double Take a few days ago. Now don't get me wrong, I love my SNL -- and you can argue with me on this -- but I just don't think they'd ever get away with this on hyper-PC American TV. I think it's hysterical.


Friday, September 25, 2009

Bondi Beach


As I've mentioned, we spent our first week in Sydney in the Bondi Junction area. Just a 15-20 minute walk down a hill is the famous Bondi Beach, so it's not a big surprise that we spent most of our first weekend here. Right away you can see why this place is so well known. It's just really vibrant.

Kate and I made our first trip down to Bondi Beach on our first day in the city while the boys were taking a mid-afternoon nap. First day in a new city/country/continent/ and it's gorgeous out and they sleep . . . go figure. Right away I'm taken with the long wall of street art. It starts on one end and stretches down most of the length of the beach. I think it adds so much color and I kind of went crazy taking pictures.


In my mind, the beach area can be divided into 4 tiers.

The first tier is the street level with all of the stores, cafes, bars, hotels, and hostels. These stores and cafes clearly make their living based on foot traffic from beach goers. Of course, this means that most of time it's on the pricey area; however, if you come on off hours there are some decent deals to be had -- if not deals, then reasonable prices at least. G and I came down here on the early side one weeknight when there are few beach goers or partiers out to populate the many eateries. Many of the restaurants seemed to be hurting for customers and had some kind of extra deal in place to lure people in. A few had people outside actively trying to herd in patrons -- i.e. they give you the hard sell. In a very rare move for us, we go for the pitch given to us by the manager of a small mom-and-pop Italian joint called Il Puntino.

The manager promises us a decent discount, plus free garlic bread. (A free bread basket is by no means a given here I've started to notice.) We order a bottle of the house wine at just under $30. To our amusement it's a wine we're already acquainted with as an inexpensive, but quaffable red. Translation, we purchased it at a bottle shop -- as liquor stores are called here -- on discount for about $6. We laughed. Luckily, everything else was lovely. The garlic bread was served with a large bowl of garlic in olive oil, and one of chiles in olive oil. They're both delicious. The chile infusion is quite good and it isn't too hot, although I probably liked it better than G did. By the end of the meal, we've pretty much done away with the garlic mixture. It's a good thing we both love garlic, otherwise we'd both be in trouble. The pizza has decent quality toppings and a thin crust that is nice and crispy. The olive oil mixtures gets sprinkled all over the pizza as well, and this takes it to another level. At the end of dinner, the waiter offers us espressos on the house and we walk away very happy with our meal. I think it was those olive oil mixtures that won us over.


Once you cross the street, you hit tier number 2. This level is dominated by the Bondi Pavilion, which was initially built to be a changing area for surf-bathers around the turn of the 20th century. The current version was built in the twenties to include turkish baths, a gym, shops and a ballroom. (For further info see this history. ) Nowadays, there are galleries, music studios, class spaces, and performance areas. As might be expected, there are some restaurants and cafes in the Pavilion as well. G and I happened to be back in this area today within happy hour range, so we stopped into one of the cafes, Nick's, for a snack and refreshments. You're definitely paying for the view here. The service was slow and food was expensive -- and we ordered off of the happy hour menu mind you. We had salt and pepper calamari for $10, which were very tasty, I just wish there had been more of them.

Four . . . just four lonely, tasty calamari. We did get a pitcher of beer for $12, which is pretty good, and Bondi Beach was sprawled out before us as the sun was going down. Truly Beautiful! Just realize that the beauty comes at a premium.

Just next to the pavilion is a park area with a hilly grass area perfect for picnicking, reading, or just to perch on and take in all the sites and people. There are playgrounds for kiddies and a few other attractions. Off to one side there is also a skate park where skaters of all ages --- from tiny to all grown up-- take turns launching themselves into flight.


The third tier is sandy space, good for all the beloved activities that go on sandy beaches everywhere. This one is large and sprawling, and even on a really busy day, Kate and G and I didn't have too much trouble claiming a space.


And then of course -- the fourth and final tier -- the water. Bondi Beach is on a small bay. This actually seems to be the case for most of the beaches nearby, although Bondi is the biggest of the beaches in the eastern suburbs. There are good waves to be had well throughout the day (at least at this time of year) and surfers are EVERYWHERE. My next project is to get a board so I can get out there and give these waves a try. I have high hopes that I'll do better here.

Clearly, Bondi is a very energetic place, and they add to this vibe by hosting several festivals every year. (Including a South American Festival, which I'm sort of surprised to discover.) We got pretty lucky because on Sept. 13th they held the Festival of the Winds. Colorful kites filled the air.


It was really beautiful and the day was perfect for it! On top of the beautiful kites everywhere, there are all kinds of musical acts going on in and around the pavilion. And I do mean all kinds. We saw traditional British folk dancers, a couple of performers on stilts, a great gypsy-esque singer, and some kind of crazy South American tribal dance.


It's all free. There is also lots for the kiddies to do and see, including a cute petting zoo.

Of course, the glory of any good festival is the the vendor food. The food selection here is ok -- it's a small area, albeit decently varied. However, they have Poffertjes! Poffertjes are small dutch pancakes that are served topped with sugar, or other sweet toppings.

I first tried these in the Hague, when I went in High School for Model UN. Ele, Anto, and I didn't actually spend much time at the conference. We shopped and ate our way through the city instead. Poffertjes constitute one of my favorite food memories from that trip and I hadn't seen them since. Imagine my surprise to find them here! I was a very happy girl.

Please note, most of the pictures in this post were taken by G.



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