Tag Archives: beach

Bondi Beach

Seeing as I’m living in Sydney, I felt compelled to head out to visit Bondi Beach – it’s a pretty famous location, so figured it’s worth getting out there to check it out at least once.

All set up for a day at the beach, geek style!

Getting out to Bondi is a bit of a mission, since unfortunately the rail link doesn’t go the whole way – instead you catch the train to Bondi Junction, and then switch to bus in order to get to the beach.

You can buy a (pricey) ticket at any of the city train station machines that includes both the train and bus fare – costing about $8.80 return at an off-peak time.

The bus is the worst part of the trip, in future I’ll probably consider just walking it as it’s only 3.2km from the railway station – whilst the buses *do* have air con, any benefits are lost with the squeeze with numerous tourists squished into it, personally I’d rather be hot outside than hot squeezed into a metal tin with random strangers….

Bondi Beach. It has sand. Waves. Usual beach things really.

People are really the biggest issue with Bondi – it’s a nice beach in it’s own right, but the volume of tourists and shops around it kind of ruins the enjoyment somewhat, particularly when combined with the transport hassles. In summer the crowds can be massive, as much as 30 thousand+ – and it’s not a particularly large beach really.

The smaller beaches in walking distance to the south like Tarramara and Bronte look more appealing if you’re more of an introverted type, or take the ferry over to Manly for some of the nice beaches over there.

If you’re a tourist on holiday, you’re probably better off spending your time in Sydney to explore the city and waterfront and save the beach trips for when visiting Brisbane’s gold coast.

Having said that, if you’re in Sydney and don’t mind lots of people, it’s a nice beach and looks great for swimming and surfing, plus it’s well patrolled by surf life savers.

One of the perks of Bondi Beach is being able to meet pretty ladies. Although they won’t always appreciate you taking pictures of them. ;-)

Aside from the beach, there are a large number of eateries along the beach and in the surrounding streets – (like Funky Pies for some delicious vegetarian/vegan goodness), as well as a walk up over the rocky cliffs.

Walkway from the southern end of Bondi Beach.

Looking back at Bondi

It was worth the visit, but I don’t think Bondi will become one of my regular visited locations, the transport hassles make it a bit difficult to get there – it’s easier for me to get out to Manly on the ferry than it is to get to Bondi on the train/bus.

It would be a different story if living locally or having a private transport option- some of my colleagues at work get there by bike which seems to work quite well for them.

Takapuna Beach Low Tide

Takapuna Beach Wanders

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Because I’m getting nowhere near as much exercise as I previously did in Wellington, I’m trying to get out and do regular walks in Auckland.

My currently frequent circuit is around Takapuna and along the beach which is always enjoyable and certainly very popular with other walkers, joggers, swimmers and other water sports.

Very tempted to go for a swim in the beach in the near future when there’s a nice hot weekend day, it’s certainly popular for that and with the very gradual beach it looks like it’s quite shallow for some way.

Takapuna beach in the evening. I do love coming down here late at night when the beach is almost pitch black and wandering along the beach with only a few other weirdo night owls walking dogs as company.

At the boat ramp end of the beach there is the Takapuna Beach Cafe which offers brunch options including a number of vegetarian options and seems quite popular with the locals, being packed whenever I go there.

I personally don’t rate their food that highly, I think it’s somewhat average and should be better for the premium they charge, although I can’t fault the location and views from there.

Vege brunch at Takapuna Beach Cafe. Looks promising, but didn't really do anything for me, not a huge tomato fan, the hash cake thing was a bit bland and the toast just a bit plain.

View out over Takapuna Beach. Although TBH I prefer the view of all the fine ladies when walking along the beach. ;-)

On the plus side, the beach cafe *does* offer some excellent gelato and the gelato takeaway portion of the cafe is open till late in the evenings even on weekends. It’s better priced and better tasting than the Movenpick along Hurstmare Rd as well.

Always nice stopping for a gelato on the walk, although that’s probably not helping with the whole getting less fat plan. ;-)

I’ve got a pretty good loop circuit from our apartment block, down the highway to Hauraki, along the full length of Takapuna Beach and then back through Takapuna’s shopping district.

The area near Esmonde Rd has a marshy swamp area that’s always interesting, with a seemingly large population of Pukekos living there and wandering out onto the pedestrian area and sometimes even Akaranga bus terminal to say hello.