Bondi Beach & our very last day Down Under

Our last day in Australia was spent in Sydney.  We decided to stay at the beach this time rather than downtown.  We spent the entire time in the Bondi Beach area.
We absolutely LOVED it and wished we had planned a few additional days there.  It was surprising to us as we generally like the quiet, secluded beaches and Bondi was the complete opposite.  It is definitely the busiest beach either of us had ever been to.  What's crazy is it was a weekday afternoon in their fall season and was hardly busy at all for Bondi.  We have heard that during the summer, on a weekend, there can be up to 40,000 people on Bondi Beach!!

The area around Bondi was so pretty!

 

The beach was so wide and just gorgeous. 

It reminded us of the beaches back on the Sunshine & Gold Coasts.

 

There was a huge wall of amazing graffitti at Bondi running the entire length of the walkway - it was so cool!

 

You can see the one lifeguard stand on the left side of the picture.  Crazy that this is a slow day at Bondi!

The lifeguards ride back & forth along the beach from the one main lifeguard stand.  We recognized a couple of the lifeguards from the "Bondi Rescue" show that we enjoyed during our trip.

Kalyssa loved the busy beach.

There were lots of surfers but the waves weren't very big the day we were there.

 

It was the perfect day to end our vacation - warm, sunny & calm.  So so sad to be going home

 

 

You can see the cameras that were mounted on the front of all the lifeguard surfboards - these were to film the water rescues for the Bondi Rescue show

The beach is very distinctive - after spending just one day there, we instantly recognized it from the air on the airplane when we were leaving Sydney the next day.

We really can't imagine what it is like there on an actual busy day!!



We stayed in a great hotel in Bondi Junction.  I highly recommend staying at Bondi Junction as there is amazing shopping/restaurants to walk around.  We could have definitely used some more time to tour around the area. 

 This was the view of downtown Sydney from our Hotel.

There was the greatest 'food court' we have every seen at the mall in Bondi Junction.  We were soooo glad we didn't go to a restaurant instead.  There were basically tons of amazing eateries with fresh, made to order, every type of food imaginable.  They gave you beepers to let you know when it was ready.  There were chefs all over, cooking up a storm - it was a licensed area too so you could drink whatever and there was even outdoor seating with a view of the Sydney skyline/bridge etc.  Such an awesome option for people with kids!

GoodBye Australia - we had an AMAZING trip and hope to go back some day. GDAY!

Our place in Jervis Bay & the last beach day

So we realized that we forgot to post some pictures of the second place we rented in Vincentia.  It was a slighly smaller place with only 2 bdrms.  It was still plenty big enough as Tilman was sleeping in his travel crib beside mom the whole trip anyway.  We didn't have a pool this time but we were just a few meters from the beach.

There were lots of big windows to take in the sunshine or watch the storms!

Nice modern & bright kitchen

 

Tilman crawling around, just looking cute :)

The entry ways were open 2 story frosted windows

Main bedroom

lighted stairway that was really the only danger so it was always blocked off from baby access

 

Our last beach day at Hyam's Beach :(

It was a super windy day - too windy for our beach tent.  Thankfully it wasn't too hot out. 

Actually there was quite a difference in temperature between the 2 main regions we stayed in.  The Noosa area was very tropical with even the low temperatures in the mid-twenties but with high humidity, it still felt like over 30 degrees.  The Jervis Bay area wasn't as tropical feeling with lows in the mid-teens and highs in the mid-twenties.  Still warm enough to hang at the beach though!

  You can see just how long the beach is here.  I put Tilman in his carrier and took a long walk all the way to the end so that he could have a nap.  There is an Australian naval base at the far end of the beach which was very cool.

They were doing some drills or something at the naval base & had the helicopter out.  We even saw them drop a bunch of soldiers into the ocean!



Tilman certainly learned to love the sand

There is a small stream flowing into the ocean at Hyam's. Kalyssa loved it & kept trying to go snorkeling in it.

Tiny little sea urchins that showed up on the beach

Soaking in the last few hours

We really loved our time in the Jervis Bay area.  It is a pretty quiet place with not a lot of tourists but had so much to offer.  When driving around the countryside, it reminded us of the Okanagan with the wineries, peaches etc on the rolling hills.

Moona Moona Creek tidal pools

We heard about Moona Moona Creek on the day we arrived in the area. It was reputed to be a great place for the kids as there were lots of clear, shallow, fresh water tidal pools at high tide at the mouth of the river.  With high tide falling mid-afternoon during our second week, we figured it was a good time to check it out.

 Its funny how dependant you become on tides during a vacation like this - we always looked up the tidal times in the morning to plan our day.  Low tides are the funnest while at the beach so when they don't fall mid-day, it was awesome to have this option which was super fun for everyone!

The water was so calm - perfect for the kids.



It was an amazing day in a beautiful place and there was hardly anyone else there!



It was like a pool & beach all in one for Kalyssa - she was in absolute heaven!

 

 

Tilman was pretty excited about it too!

The water was so clear - it was perfect really!

 

 

Tilman loved floating around in the warm water

Kalyssa was keen to guide her brother along

 

They had so much fun floating around together!

As the tide pulled out, the sand formations were very cool

The area changed by the minute - which made it extra fun for us all!

We did a lot of playing in the newly created sand islands

 

Kalyssa & Tilman played so great in the sand.

Such an awesome experience!!