Bondi Beach and Icebergs?

At the moment I’m sitting inside the concourse of Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne awaiting the finish of the Ash Barty/ Sofia Kenin semifinal match. I suspect it’s going to go to a third set. Kenin won the first in a tie break and Ash Barty is up two games in the second set. Who knows? Kenin could say she’s sick of the heat and wrap it up in two. (Note: I didn't finish this blog post sitting the lobby because Kenin did just that and knocked out Barty in straight sets.) I’m inside for two reasons: 1) I’m going to the Garbine Muguruza/ Simona Halep semifinal that won’t start until this finishes, and 2) it’s 100 degrees outside. Literally.  The Australian Open is known for its scorching temperatures, but this year it’s been pretty mild, even chilly a couple of days.  This heatwave is quite a switch. Everyone that is walking out of the arena during the breaks has sweated through their clothes - men, women, everyone.  This match could be over in 15 minutes, or it could take at least another hour so I’m going to take advantage of the time I have and try to publish a blog post on my phone.

On my second to last day in Sydney I went out to Bondi Beach.  When looking at a map I thought Bondi would take quite a while to get to, but it really only took 15 minutes from Sydney’s CBD. Because I stayed about 30 minutes outside of the CBD it took me closer to an hour to get there, but it didn't feel that long because most of my trip was on the train. 

I left my Airbnb by 9:00 AM because I wanted to make sure I could get access to a place called Bondi Icebergs Club.  On my first night in Sydney I Googled  “things to do in Sydney” and found a couple different websites to build my list of what I wanted to do while in town. Both lists has Bondi on them, but also had the Icebergs Club. You can read more about the Icebergs if you're interested; they have a pretty cool history.  I wasn't interested so much in becoming a member as taking a dip in their famous open ocean pool.

I had never really heard of one before. The Icebergs Club bills theirs as the most Instagramable, and it really is just that. The views are amazing and the crashing waves make for outstanding photos.  I paid a small fee to get into the Icebergs and for a locker and towel service. I didn’t realize that the locker was a one-time use locker, so that was probably a waste of money because I wanted to be able to pull out my phone to take pictures then put it back so I didn't have to worry about it while I used the pool. However, I was happy to use a nice plush towel while I was there instead of my quick dry backpacking towel. There are some other free options in the Bondi area for open ocean pools, but this was one most convenient and I felt like my possessions were more secure than they would have been at those other pools. After I left the Icebergs I walked along the famous coastal walk and spotted one of the other open ocean pools at Bronte Beach.  It looked pretty great, but there was practically no deck along side the pool so there was no place to put your stuff close to the pool without it getting soaked by the waves or actually falling in.  I stand by my choice to pay to get in to the Icebergs. 

The day that I visited the ocean waves were pretty fierce, so it made for some great photos. It also made for some pretty great shocks when I got hit by the waves. Despite it being the Australian summer, the water was quite crisp. When I checked in the woman at the register asked if I planned to swim and I said yes. For some reason I got real nervous all of a sudden and asked, “it’s not that cold right??” I mean, it IS called the Icebergs Club for a reason! She laughed a little and said, “no, it’s quite refreshing!” When she said quite refreshing she meant it in the way your dad tells you something is refreshing and makes fun of you for being a wuss while flirting with hypothermia. It was also a bit overcast in the morning, although the sun came out more later in the day and it was quite warm throughout the day. 

I was going to go take a picture on the far side of the pool, but the lifeguard stopped me because the waves were getting so high and crashing so hard. In this picture the wave is probably mid crest. They were HUGE.  Not five minutes after this picture was taken the guards closed off this end of the pool because it was too turbulent.  You can see in the photo below that there are stairs located right about where this picture is being taken from and you can go straight down to the ocean from there. There's a really clear sign that hangs on the gate to the stairs that declares the Icebergs' lack of responsibility if something happens to you. Throughout my couple hours at the pool I saw several people go back and forth from the ocean to the complex - even a kid once! The waves pound and crash so hard against the rocks there.  I cannot imagine feeling confident enough to enter the ocean there. The picture below really doesn't do it justice because the water looks somewhat calm in this moment.  The lower edge of the photo as looks there's sand there, but it's actually a tarp that covers a patio of sorts located on a low cliff. That bottom edge is all rocks, no nice soft sand there at all.

I got permission from the lifeguards to go to the far side to take a few photos. One thing that sucks about traveling alone is that your options generally are to take a selfie or a picture of something without you in it. I was lucky enough to meet two women who were super sweet and one volunteered to take some photos of me. Both of the women used to live together in Bondi, but had each had moved away for separate reasons. They were reuniting after a long period of time apart.  I chatted with them for maybe 20 or 30 minutes while we all braved the chilly water of the pool/ocean and bucked up the courage to ask for help taking a photo while I had the chance. The woman who took the photos was a dream come true because she just kept clicking away knowing that I'd want to select from a series of shots instead of hoping one super posed photo came out good. I was happy with a few of the photos she took that I didn't even know to expect. 

After I chilled at the Icebergs (see what I did there?) I took the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk of about 1.5 miles and back. The views were stunning.  My pictures do not do them justice at all. I also didn't take too many photos because I felt like they were all the same and not showing the natural relief very well.

While I took my walk this crazy car accident happened. I was happy to have missed seeing it, although it did cause quite the hullabaloo. I had to reroute my walk at the end and all in all I probably walked up and down the hills of the coastal walk for about 3 to 3.5 miles. I was happy to get into the water to cool off.  

As it's a surfer's paradise I couldn't help but take time to appreciate the surfing culture and mentality - and form ;) LOL.  It's amazing that the waves are so consistent that you can pretty much surf all day if you wanted to. I think surfers still prefer the morning to some degree, but that's just because there are fewer people in the water. (Side note: This morning while eating breakfast I watched a reality television show about the lifeguards at Bondi and the beginning credits mention that 40,000 people a day can visit Bondi!) There was one point when I decided to spend some time jumping waves in the ocean that I actually got a little scared.  From the moment my feet hit the water I could feel how strong its pull was. The water moves in and out so dramatically that you can be standing 20 feet into the ocean and be thigh-deep in water, but two minutes later you can be in ankle deep water because of how much the water moved back out.  The waves were so powerful and rapid that I knew I had to be really careful.  There was one moment when I got knocked down and violently pushed back toward the sand.  I was in stomach deep water and then a few seconds later I was in six-inch deep water. When I got up I saw the same thing happened to a surfer next to me.  I think he was coming in to the shore anyway, but washed out on the wave I was attempting to body surf.  He gave me a look I don't know exactly how to describe except to say it was a knowing look that he paired with a gesture that clearly said, "Nah, mate. It's time to get out."  Which I immediately did.  Later in the day I moved spots and picked an area with less dramatic waves so I could jump in just long enough to cool off. A minute dip was enough for me and I was done in the water for the day.   

All in all it was an amazing day and I was in heaven! It was one party of Sydney that I whole-heartedly enjoyed. 

Home Not So Sweet Home

I wrote before about how amazing my Airbnb experience in the Whitsundays was and if I'm on top of my blogging game I'll be writing about how amazing my Airbnb experience in Melbourne is, because it really has been. Sydney... kind of a nightmare.

I say nightmare, but I recognize that I'm being over dramatic. I wasn't living in squalor and I made it work while I was there. If it was a true nightmare I'd be writing about how I found a new place to stay. It really wasn't great though. It's tied for the worst place I've stayed in while traveling with a hotel in Vietnam that had a bunch of ants that made my one-night stay pretty crappy.  As I reflect on that last sentence I recognize how blessed I am for that to be true.  If this place tied for my worst ever then I've been quite lucky. 

For those of you that don't follow me on Instagram I'll post the videos I had updating my cockroach saga even though now I can recognize that I was a little spastic about the whole deal.  I'll admit I don't like bugs, but I can handle them if I know that they won't hurt me and that I don't risk taking them with me when I leave. My initial reaction to this whole fiasco in real time was a result of being annoyed that my Airbnb did not live up to expectations and was really not cosy or homey in any way, along with a heightened fear of all the creepy crawlies in Australia.  There are just so many stories about all the things that can get you in Australia that I came with a little fear of everything. It's probably a healthy fear, but it makes me now feel a little foolish about my reactions to what I now know to be cockroaches.

It's not worth hashing out every single detail again, but here is what I wrote in my Airbnb review. And for a frame of reference, I have never said anything bad in an Airbnb review. I've provided suggestion of how things could be improved for future guests or features I wished it had, but I have never been critical. That tells you how much I was not pleased by this stay.

"I honestly can’t believe anyone in the reviews I read before booking described this stay as cozy. It is far from that. The apartment provides for basic needs if that’s what you’re looking for it will get the job done, but not without some hassles. I’m honestly shocked that it had such good reviews. First, the posting really emphasizes the area outside of the flat. When I got there the gardens were not as tidy, there were leaves and debris everywhere. The table and countertop space outside clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a long time – there were leaves, cobwebs, dirt, etc. While I wasn’t told not to use that space, there were no clear indicators if it was ok to use it if I wanted to. I definitely would have had to wipe down everything in order to make it useable. The pictures of this area in the post were misleading. The entrance into the flat is two double doors and there are curtains covering them for privacy. This is fine except that the curtain does not slide easily on the curtain rod. I had a hard time opening and closing them. Also, there were no outdoor lights, so it was very difficult to see coming in and out in the late evening. The pictures of the kitchen/ television area and the bedroom were accurate, although they were much tidier and cleaner in the pictures. It seemed as if someone did a cursory wipe down of the main surfaces, but not very carefully and not in detail. There was a fine layer of dirt on a lot of the surfaces, including the sinks in both the kitchen and the bathroom. The kitchen/ television area floor is sloped so substantially that when sitting in the black office chair I couldn’t keep it in place. That meant that there was no comfortable way to watch the television or eat from that chair. It also contributed to the feeling of a not very warm and welcoming place. The worst part of my stay was the presence of cockroaches. I understand that in a warm, wet climate there are going to be bugs. How the flat doesn’t come with bug spray I just don’t know, especially when it seemed to be a common occurrence. Quan brought me bug spray and after that I didn’t have any problems, but I had two uncomfortable evenings and nights with cockroaches first. I think the main cause of this was the fact that there is a one-centimeter gap between the kitchen window and the wall. You can see branches of the greenery growing through the crack. There’s nothing to prevent bugs from coming in at all! It was the worst part of my stay. After a few days the apartment started to smell a bit because of the heat and moisture from it being closed up. I wanted to leave the windows open to get some air flow, but there were no screens. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving anything open because of the bugs. The best part of the apartment was the shower. Even though it was small, it had the best water flow and temperature (even for long showers) that I’ve ever experienced in all my travels across 5 continents. All in all, I think you can find something better at the same price point."

Yummy, Yummy in My Tummy!

I ate a few things in Sydney that are worth taking a moment to discuss.  Twice I went to an Italian joint called Pane e Vino Trattoria.  It is located on the Strand in Croydon, a suburb in Sydney's Inner West district where I stayed. I didn't see anything like this in the Whitsundays, and I've seen it few times in Melbourne, but Sydney is full of "strands". I gathered from my experiences that a strand is basically a thoroughfare with shops and sometimes restaurants. A quick internet search basically confirmed this, although it originated as the term for the bank along a river. "Strand" could be used in a general sense or as a proper noun.  Sydney was full of ally-type roads between buildings that are pedestrian malls full of shops.  Sometimes it took the form of the first floor or lower level of an entire city block and people used them to cut through popular areas.  Pane E Vino was located on The Strand (aka main street) in Croydon. In Croydon, it was a small series of shops, some open regularly and some seemingly never open, that took up about two city blocks. I walked up and down The Strand every day to get from my Airbnb to the Metro. 

I initially stopped at Pane e Vino my second night in Sydney. Italian sounded good, but in Australia I've been presented with a LOT of Asian food options.  I've been avoiding them like crazy because after I leave Australia I'm going to be faced with a lot of Asian food. I was generally really good about making food at home and packing a lunch when I went out while visiting Sydney, but I did treat myself.  I am sooooo thankful I found Pane e Vino. It was AMAZING! I learned that Croydon is a bit of a weird melting pot in that it doesn't have a big mix of multiple ethnicities and races, but it is dominated by Chinese and Italian immigrants. My sense was that they were very "old world" is that most were speaking the native tongue.  I couldn't get a sense of how much there was interaction between the two groups, but it's not like I saw a Chinese-Italian fusion restaurant.  When I stumbled into Pane e Vino I really lucked out because it was all food made by actual Italians.

Both nights I visited I sat outside. The first night it was a little chilly and I knew I was in for a treat when I they left fleece blankets at each table so that you could stay warm while enjoying the ambience.

I had a really hard time picking out what to eat and I heard my mother's voice in my head when looking at the menu and considering getting spaghetti - "I'm not going out to eat and spending $15 on something I can make for $0.25 at home." As an adult, the sentiment now resonates with me even if I didn't really get it as a kid.  That being said, I decided to go with spaghetti bufalina. Let's be real, it was the idea of buffalo mozzarella that won me over. The be mild about it, I did NOT regret this decision. It was amazing and 100% hit the spot.

Something that really made the night was getting this bottle of red wine too. It was a perfect pairing! Although, I probably would have thought that about any bottle of wine if I'm being completely honest.  I wasn't going to get it, but when the waitress told me that I could take the remainder of what I didn't drink home with me I was sold. 

I forgot to take a good picture of it because I was just enjoying myself, but after a few bites I realized I really wanted some bread with my spaghetti because I clearly wasn't getting enough carbs. They didn't offer some basic Italian bread and butter, but they did offer some garlic bread that was TO DIE FOR.

Look at the actual garlic pieces on this toasted bread! My Pavlovian response has kicked in and I'm drooling as I write this.

A few days later I returned and took advantage of their pizza offerings.  I went with the gorgonzola pizza. Oh yeah. It had fior di latte mozzarella, gorgonzola dolce, baby spinach, and proscuitto. It wasn't exactly what I expected at first, but it was also amazing and completely hit the spot. You'll also notice that the same bottle of wine appears in this photo. No, I didn't drink two bottles of wine in less than a week on my own.  On my first visit I noticed that people were carrying in their own bottles. So, for my second visit I took what I had left with me. They had no problem with me drinking it with my meal.  I wasn't even charged a corking fee of any sort!

For desert on the second night I decided to get some ice cream from the small grocery just down the street.  I had lots of options, but I selected this Maxi Bon bar.  I'm a HUGE fan and - spoiler alert - I have had several at the Australian Open in Melbourne. I'll leave you with these ridiculous videos of me enjoying my first one after my pizza and a glass of wine. LOL

Farewell, Sydney!

I started writing this post at the airport while waiting for my flight to Melbourne. It was raining like mad and the visibility was about 10 feet. I sat by the window and reflected on my time on Sydney while barely being able to see the planes just five gates down the terminal.  Everything I was wearing and touching was damp because to get to the airport I walked from my Airbnb to the train that took me to the airport for about 15 minutes is a downpour. I had on a raincoat and an umbrella, but still managed to get pretty wet.  The worst part of sitting in the airport was that my shoes and socks were wet so I had that deep chill that you can't get rid of until you change.  I'm painting this picture because it really seemed to fit my trip to Sydney.

Sydney was full of ups and downs for me.  It's was a fine place to visit, but I definitely didn't love it. I'll admit that I was disappointed because I expected to be completely wowed by the city. I really enjoyed some of what it had to offer, but overall was underwhelmed by it.  I could have been there for three days instead of six and I would have been absolutely fine with that.  I think that I'm so used to visiting cities where I have low or no expectations, and so they end up dazzling me in the long run.  With Sydney, I had high expectations and even though it was still a cool city, I was left wanting more and feeling a bit let down.

 I think I would have had a dramatically different experience if 1) I stayed in a nice place that was in a more vibrant and located more centrally, and 2) I was with friends.  The neighborhood I stayed in was lovely - very quiet, very quaint.  It was about 30 minutes from the CBD and was a good choice, except that once I was back at the flat, I was back.  It was a solid 10-15 minute walk to the train station, which was fine, but I was a 10-15 minute walk from any shops or restaurants.  It put me in the habit of doing what I wanted to do and then once I was home for the day I was home for the day.  In general this was ok, but there were some evening things located more central to the city that I didn't take advantage of in part because of that.  I also made a concerted effort to save money by making meals at the flat and not drinking alcohol out that much.  If I traveled with friends I would have drank a lot more. I would have been out in the pubs and restaurants later into the evening. I would have taken advantage of Sydney's hidden bars and late night hot spots.  Something I was disappointed I missed out on was a very popular bar where there's dining and drag every night.

All of that being said, I did some pretty fun things while I was in Sydney. I took a city walking tour, which was really interesting. It gave me a basic understanding of the the history of the city and also gave me the lay of the land. Something that I really appreciated is that the tour started with a little talk about how the aboriginal people's history has been fairly wiped out and ignored throughout the history of British-occupied Australia.  There was a recognition of how the tour was going to focus from British arrival and on, but we were pointed toward different resources and another walking tour that focused more on the aboriginals.  Furthermore, that wasn't the only moment where the guide recognized the greater history and the people who lived there before. It came up several times and while it still wasn't a sufficient presentation of those people and their plight, it was an attempt to say, "hey, we can't ignore this."

I want to post a lot of pictures of the things I did and enjoyed in Sydney, but it's going to take me a while.  I'm so delayed in posting about Sydney because I'm in Melbourne and enjoying every moment possible at the Australian Open. As I can, I'll do short picture posts of Sydney. Eventually I'll catch up and do some photos of Melbourne too! By then I might be in Thailand. LOL For now though, here are some pictures from my first full day in Sydney and my walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens.