Beach, rocks & bridge

Now we are going through the Sydney sight-seeing tour tick list: Opera House - tick. Bondi beach - tick. Sydney Harbour bridge - tick. Today we started off at Bondi beach. If this sparks images of tanned, muscular boys and slim girls relaxing in the hot sun and surfing, you are completely right. But what impressed me the most was not the tanned surfers, the white sand beach or the general chilled out feeling, it was actually the rock formations. We walked from Bondi beach to Bronte beach along a beach walk/promenade. On one side there were fantastic views over the ocean, beach and surfers. On the other perfect examples of what erosion can do to sandstone, with obvious differences between stone eaten away by waves (smooth surface) and that affected by the spray (holes). I was also impressed at the distinct lack of sign-posting, consistent or up-to-date information regarding public transport and the way in which the tourist information sent us on a wild-goose chase (to upstairs when actually the bus stop platform that we needed was 50m behind us). Maybe I'm just spoilt (with clear sign-posting in other countries) and too practical (where going around in circles is not my idea of fun on holiday). Lucky we weren't in a hurry. By the way, its the first time I have seen surf-boards walking around the metro and standing in the bus...

Next stop was the Rocks area. This is one of the oldest sections of Sydney city, site of the original settlers (convicts etc). It did actually contain some old buildings, a strange sight among the skyscrapers of the central business area. We stopped over for coffee/snack and were disturbed by the silence: we could not hear the traffic at all behind the thick walls of what used to be a hospital.

and then the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Up until now we've only seen it from a distance, featuring in our holiday snaps. Now we've not only walked around the great 'feet' of supporting pylons (because we got slightly lost trying to find the entrance) and seen it from the balcony of our hosts, we've also walked on it to get across. Quite an impressive metal structure with nice views across the Opera House/harbour area too.