Bondi is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Australia. It is home to one of the most famous beaches in the world – Bondi beach. Bondi itself is 4 miles east of Sydney although it feels a lot further. No matter how touristy Sydney is there is still a high number of ‘corporates’ dressed immaculately in their suit and ties so it’s bizarre to see so much flesh on show just a short way out of a major commercial city.
How To Get To Bondi from Sydney CBD
I imagine there are numerous ways in which you can get from the CBD across to Bondi. I personally never looked into this as we already had tickets for the Sydney Hop On, Hop Off bus. Don’t get me wrong I love walking places and taking in the sites along the way. However when short on time or visiting somewhere which is out of the city the bus is the best way. This journey would have in reality taken us over 90 minutes to walk and to be honest, I was super excited to get there I couldn’t wait that long.
Plus in my opinion, the bus is great value for money. We had a 48-hour ticket (for approx £32 each). This allowed us to jump on and off the bus as many times as we liked at any of the 34 stops on the 2 routes it operates. One of which was of course Bondi. Even if you do not get off at any of the stops the trip journey itself is worth it as you may catch sight of things that you would have missed.
Bank Holiday at Bondi
Now I can imagine that on a nice day Bondi beach is packed at the best of times let alone on Labour Day Bank Holiday. It holiday is celebrated on the first Monday of October every year in New South Wales. Needless to say, there was not a grain of sand to be seen as everyone had descended on the beach. I can’t say that I blame them, who wouldn’t? 30 degrees and a bit of sun and surf, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. Well, they are if you are a pasty girl from England! Needless to say, the flip-flops (or thongs in Australia!) were soon kicked off. In fact, we had to stop ourselves from running across the beach like children and into the water.
Outdoorsy Life
We walked the full length of the beach at the water’s edge taking in this alien outdoors way of life people take for granted in Australia (I’m only jealous). Men, women and children of all ages sunbathing, swimming, surfing, playing with a bat and ball etc. It was Bondi where it hit me that we only had a few days left in Australia. I really didn’t want to go home. Here it was sunny, the people are friendly and you can come to the beach the majority of the year. Not like in England where the window of opportunity is precisely 3 1/2 days and on most beaches you find used nappies rather than people frolicking in the surf and enjoying themselves (*sigh*).
Bondi is not a ‘beautiful’ beach. Yet not horrible by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is a famous one and in my opinion if in Sydney somewhere you must visit. Even if it’s just to say you’ve been. If you’re not a beach lover you really should still take the trip. Even if it’s just to get a smoothie or a juice from one of the many shops on the beach front and sit and watch the world go by. If you do decide to take the hop on, hop off bus there – they depart every 30 – 45 minutes.
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