Bondi Junction to Bondi beach

Bondi Beach, gorgeous first beach day in Oz, I think we're gonna like it here...

on the coastal walk, Bondi to Bronte

well, well, well, we have finally arrived in the land down unda. gotta say, always fun in SE Asia. would go back again, probably will go back again at least once before heading back to the States.

so we snuck into the Meriton Serviced Apartments in Bondi Junction for a couple weeks on the company. it's nice and convenient. there's a subway stop below our place, as well as a junction stop for all the eastern beaches. that's right, each beach has their own bus line...Bondi, Bronte, Coogee, Maroubra...direct from downstairs. now this has been key as we don't have a car, so it's been relatively easy to explore. not being able to be this close to beaches with surf without getting antsy, we were off to Bondi asap...as you can see from the pics. the surf has been...well, disappointing. not to worry on our end though, no boards have arrived yet. there's a surfshop down the street which has a board tempting me, but i have to wait. especially at these prices, they want $450AUD for a used board, $1000 for a new quad fin 5'10" fish...ouch. not terrible once you convert into USD, but geez...this surfshop is a few kilometers from the beach! bri still found a bikini i have to admit looked pretty good, so she picked it up and we were off to check our next beach, Bronte. having heard of this one as well (yes, there are other beaches in sydney than bondi) since a couple pro surfers have come out of here, i was hoping for the best. there was surf, although it was generally flat, there were a few waves reforming on the inside of the beachie (what beachbreaks are called in Oz). a couple kids had it wired, and there looked to be a right hand reef point setup as well. however, i'm sure that point is REALLY crowded when it gets good. unfortunately, work has yet to supply a laptop and blackberry, so we have been making frequent trips to the local internet cafe around the corner. this is fine until 3pm, when 20 high school kids roll in to get their internet gaming on....sweet! the other nice thing about bondi jct is that there is a westfield mall across the street. yes, the same westfield that is famous for a few of our malls in Cali. there is a target there, however, not quite the same as in the states. however, on our third trip, we found a skimball...sweet! this is something we should consider importing to the states. it's a crazy invention of a ball that skims on water!!!?!! how does it work, we'll never know;), but it is fun to throw each other into the shorebreak. the last beach on the list (coogee is more of a bay and really busy on weekends) is maroubra. for those that have seen the Bra Boys movie...yes, that beach. i expected the locals to be out in force, but, like everything else in the movies...a bit exaggerated. gorgeous beach, and i could imagine that property has blown up here as it is really expensive around the rest of the eastern beaches. this is the cheap beach area, and a 2/1/1 is still close to $500K. unfortunately, you can't go positive buying one of these units and renting it out...kind of like a place we used to live. dammit, it's been discovered. get a deal, buy a top of the line 2/1/1 unit for $450K, put 90K down, owe ~$2000/mo...and the rent you may be able to get is still under $2000. ahhhhh, welll, it does rain here more than SD, so be OK with paying rent. at this point, i hate paying some else's mortgage...but ya gotta look at the bigger picture here. anyways, maroubra is nice, a bit rundown compared to the other eastern beaches, but still livable in my eyes. just a little spicier eh?

rockNroll