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September 19, 2009 Arrive Bondi Beach
As I stated at the end of my last lengthy post, we arrived here at our hotel, the Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, around 8 or 8:30 in the morning. Time really is probably going to become meaningless to us on this vacation as we will be flying a lot back and forth between time zones. Of course, we will need to keep up with it so we catch flights and board tours on time.
We have very nice rooms. There is a sitting area, then the bathroom area, then the bedroom area which can be shut off with a door. There is a small balcony, about two feet deep by ten feet long. Unfortunately, we are not on the ocean side of the hotel and we look out onto a brick building. The people here are very nice and have been a big help whenever we have had questions.
We got in our rooms, then we kind of floundered for a bit. We came with adaptors (we thought), unfortunately, none of the things we brought with us work here. So, we had to purchase us each an adaptor yesterday.
We walked up on the roof to check out the rooftop pool. And while the view from our room is the pits, the view of Bondi Beachfrom the roof is awesome!
Then we enjoyed some of the walk on the coastal walk. We didn't even make it to the first set of cliffs. We were tired, but it is beautiful. The water is so blue and the sun is so bright. This beach seems to be a big draw for 20somethings. Unlike Myrtle Beach where you see people of all ages and sizes. This is a beautiful recreation area and people were using it in all kinds of ways. Some were laying
Then we enjoyed some of the walk on the coastal walk. We didn't even make it to the first set of cliffs. We were tired, but it is beautiful. The water is so blue and the sun is so bright. This beach seems to be a big draw for 20somethings. Unlike Myrtle Beach where you see people of all ages and sizes. This is a beautiful recreation area and people were using it in all kinds of ways. Some were laying out in the sun, friends were playing games in the surf, volleyball, eople were surfing the waves, people were running along the coastal walk for exercise and others were contemplating the quiet beauty of this beach which combines beautiful blue water, rocks, and the softest sand to create a vision of beauty for the eyes.
I don't know if you can make out the brownishness of waves. As they come up, they are very tan when they crest. It is because of all the sand they are carrying.
We were heading towards this outcropping, but didn't quite make it.
This is an example of the rocks that are a good way off from the beach, but at some time, the water was right up to them. Ants live there now.
On our way back to the room, we noticed that Burger King has a different name here in Australia and Jack likes it!
We also found that I had my own place here in Bondi Beach as well.
So, Daniel and Jack decided they wanted some quiet time in the room. Katrina wanted to play on the beach, so I went back with her for a couple of hours. She had a blast playing in the waves and digging a really big hole in the sand. It was so deep, she could stand in it, then I buried her to her chest while she was standing up. She thought she would be able to break out and was surprised to find the only way she was getting out was if we dug her back out. I put my toes in the waves...the water was like ice cubes! But there were plenty of people out there enjoying it!
After a bite of food, we came back to the room and pretty much crashed! Now, here we are, wide awake after about 10 hours of sleeping. Problem when we got up it was 4 am....
Oh well, I figure our sleep habits are going to be very off for our whole trip.
Some other observations from yesterday. While we heard the lovely Australian accent, we also heard a lot of foreign accents and languages. The Australian dollar is a little weaker than the American dollar, but the prices here more than make up for any advantage that might have given us. People here are nice and you can tell they just have a joy of life and want to suck out as much of it as they can.
We don't like Turkish Delight. Ever since I saw little Edmond get his plate of Turkish Delight from the White Witch, I have wondered what it was. They had it here and it was flavored with roses (which I realized when I tasted a bite of the confection and my first thought was soap). I am sure it is an acquired taste, but Katrina and I both wonder why Edmond liked it so much.
Also, you think Americans like sweets? You should see the sweets they have here! Dark chocolate covered strawberry licorice, way more candy bars than we have at home, tons of cookie type confections.... We tried something called Pods. It was like a cookie with Twix filling (you could also get it with Mars filling).
Today, our big plan is to visit the Sydney Aquarium.
