Tuesday 4th March

Today, with more sunshine and cloudless skies, we had a lovely day out with Matt, Cheryl and Verity. After a breakfast of scrambled egg, toast and tea, we set off for Bondi Beach – you can’t come to Australia and NOT go there. Matt drove us on a conducted tour, pointing out places of interest on the way. We went over the Harbour Bridge, through the city, down to Woolloomooloo (where Russell Crowe has a harbour front property) and Kings Cross (the disreputable area!), down Oxford St where the Mardi Gras parade had been and on to Bondi. ( I’ve probably got the order wrong but we saw so many places, it’s difficult to remember them all). The views on the journey of the bays and the sea are tremendous. The land is quite hilly and just about every rise has a water view – and, of course, lots of people travel by ferry from A-B as it’s so quick and more relaxing than fighting with the road traffic.

The waves at Bondi are even longer and bigger than at Manly but again, disappointingly, there weren’t many surfers. We had a coffee sitting just above the beach, people watching and taking photos, before going on to Watsons Cove for lunch at Doyle’s famous fish and chip shop – the food was fantastic, and that was just the takeaway. It was roasting hot even though there was a sea breeze, and we ate outdoors at a picnic table, watching the ferries come and go. There is a small beach there but as it is the landing point for the catamarans, swimming isn’t recommended but Verity went for a paddle and loved it, falling down several times and ending up wet through. There were more views to enjoy, as we ate our lunch and wandered back to the car, out towards the city skyline.

We drove a different way home, over the Anzac Bridge and through more outer suburbs. After another day of sun, sea air and a little walking, we were all tired when we got home - except for Verity, whose paddle had obviously woken her up. So we had a lovely lazy afternoon, snoozing and watching more cricket – Australia v India, the second match and having pizza for tea. The cricket got really exciting in the evening (and yes, there was another streaker – this one was shoulder charged by one of the Aussie batsmen and completely floored! – more about this later), with India winning by 9 runs. Since they have now won 2 of the 3 matches, the third one won’t be played, so Adelaide have missed out on a match.

Bed called after the match had finished so that was the end of another perfect day.
(The streaker – the tackle by Symmonds has caused a great deal of controversy. Some people are calling for him to be charged, and there was talk on the news on Wed morning of the streaker suing him. Most sane and sensible people reckon that if the chap was daft enough to streak, knowing he’d be arrested and removed from the pitch, then he deserves everything he got. If we hear anything else, we’ll be sure to keep you posted).