Back to Sydney, another YHA and Bondi - 18th Jan

Despite being up at 4.15am the day before for the sunrise tour we again awoke before sunrise to walk the 10mins to the centre of Ayres Rock Resort and the high point of the town. From here there were great views of both Uluru and Kata Tjuta and we, along with only about 15 other people, watched the sunrise on the rock. One of the 15 people turned out to be an American living in Harlow who often visits the restaurants of Epping.

 

Having seen the sunrise we then headed back for a couple of hours sleep before the pick up for the airport at 10.30am (not before I had one last look of the rock from the high point though). On the plane back we again had great views of Uluru (but I will not bore everyone with the photos).

Back in Sydney we went straight to the car rental desk and picked up our car. Another upgrade but without the ipod usb connection we had got in Brisbane, and had hoped for. Brisbane car rentals definitely had the newest and best cars.

In the car, we then followed the directions provided to get to Bondi – the legendary surf beach. We did miss a few critical turns on account of Aussie phraseology such as “slight right”, and so having tried to avoid the centre of Sydney we instead found ourselves recognising landmarks from the previous few days. We finally got to the Bondi Beachhouse YHA and checked in.

The YHA itself was Art-Deco but in need of a bit of an overhaul. The third floor that our room was on had only two toilets and two showers for about 12 rooms, some 4 and six bed dorms, and everything was a little old and shabby.

Design detail in one of the two toilets

Unlike the other YHAs in Australia this was the stomping ground of the young with no 'older' clientèle in sight. There was a deposit for the room key, as well as for any cutlery or kitchenware you wanted to use and there were signs everywhere saying no alcohol after 9pm and no boxes of wine at anytime. It was the most disappointing YHA we had stopped in but it was only for one night. It's only redeeming feature was it's view of neighbouring Tamarama beach.

Great view despite the weather

Bondi is the nearest ocean beach to Sydney and thus a very popular place for city workers to live, as well as backpackers to relax for a couple of days, but compared to the beaches we had experienced in our time in Australia it was mid-table at best. Bondi town itself reminded me of a cross between Skegness and Blackpool but with a lot nicer sea. It has big three storey buildings along it's front as well as a promenade, fish and chip shops, gift shops and an aquarium; one might say on looks alone it may have seen better days.

However in driving around both the town and the surrounding places you can see that it is obviously a nice place to live with great coastal walkways, good open-air swimming pools, lovely cafés, popular restaurants and good transport links to the city.

In the evening we went for a drive, heading south along the coast taking in a few of the beaches and towns such as Brontee, Clovelly and Coogee – incidentally all pioneers in the Australian Surf Life Saving Club culture. In Coogee we had our last fish and chips of the trip before heading back to the YHA.

Living the high life!