FULFILLING EVERYDAYS BEYOND HOLIDAYS
As we expected and a bit feared, our every day routine has started to stabilise in Sydney, which is, naturally, much less exciting than a world tour. Weekdays are long and offer limited time to do much else apart from work and maybe a bit of exercise so far, which much resembles to the life we left behind before hitting the road. We have started looking forward to the weekends to discover new corners of the city and fill ourselves with the Australian lifestyle which seems to have small impact on the weekdays.
And then we took a deep breath and realised that it's actually our choice what type of new life we want to create here. It was a recognition like those too-much-used light bulb images when you wonder how could you not think of this before. Along our trip we met so many fellow travelers who dared to make a change and followed their passion and dreams across continents. Having that mindset on the way comes naturally, but now I feel that whether you can keep it up once you're back in your normal life is the real question and it is what makes a difference.
So we decided to do so. We've started building up our new life with elements that have been on our wish list for so long but had been always deprioritised before. These are now parts of our weekdays and weekends as well, so we don't need to wait all week long for those two free days to come. which you then fully fill up with things to do and get exhausted by Monday. These activities give so much energy every day that you end up being much more productive than if you were doing less. If you feel you have similar challenges, I encourage you to take a step back and think about how you could enrich your own everydays. This will help you make your current lifestyle more sustainable. As a few ideas, we've joined a salsa class - so hopefully within reasonable time we will be able to coordinate ourselves on the dance floor when we go out-, we've also found a yoga studio where we go several times a week - which I can't emphasize enough how much positive energy can give you-, and we do lots of social and sport activities with inspiring people, like a catch-up with the local CEMS Alumni community (CEMS is the masters program we did at university), meetups with local female entrepreneurs to share our journeys, playing tennis, swimming in the pool with fascinating views and doing some walks at stunning locations.
After these few background thoughts about what our new life looks like, let us share a few corners that we have recently discovered and added to our list of Sydney must-dos. Last time we wrote about some of the stunning beaches, like Balmoral and Manly, and the zoos in the city, out of which we have visited and had a great time at Feathersdale Park. This time we add to the list Bondi Beach and the Coastal Walkway, the Mosman Headland Park walk along the coast and the whale watching tours around the city, which we have found fascinating.
BEACHES AND COASTAL WALKS
Bondi Beach is surely part of any Sydney visitor's itinerary as it's the most famous one in the city, and is listed in all guidebooks as one of the top highlights. It's a stunning 1.5 km-long curve of golden sand packed with locals and visitors. A wide choice of restaurants and cafes attract both families and friends to gather here and in the neighbour streets at weekends. The Coastal Walkway starts at Bondi and goes all the way to Maroubra along the cliffs via several smaller beaches. It's nice to link up the two for a full day active but also relaxing program.
We started the day with brunch at the Bondi Beach Farmers' Market which is on Campbell Avenue in the courtyard of a primary school. It's one of the recommended markets in the city, and there's a good reason for it. Every weekends about 50 stands sell fresh fruits and vegetables and freshly made food and deserts of a full range of local, Asian and European tastes, catering also for vegetarian and raw diets. A few local entrepreneurs even offer their hand-made products (such as soaps). The grassy courtyard is a picnic area for people eating their food from the stalls on the sun while listening to live guitar music played on the ground. It's clearly a gathering place for locals with a fantastic atmosphere. You don't feel like leaving too quickly.
Within a few steps from the market you'll find Bondi Beach with a long beachfront called Campbell Parade, where you can walk all the way along the coast. Instead of rushing through it, it's worth sitting down on the stairs or for a coffee to admire the view and see the world go by. It's one of the most popular points for surfers, even now in winter. What's more, due to the sunny weather in the last couple of weeks, people even sunbathe on the beach in the "harsh winter month of August". Whether it's just an Australian thing or it is truly so hot, I would say that, in my opinion, on direct sun it's nice and warm but in general it's also windy, especially along the walking path on the cliffs, so I'd rather wait a few more weeks to refresh my suntan. The view over the beach is truly amazing though, whether you go for a swim or not. As an alternative, you can try the swimming pool (and bar) which is located just on the side of the beach which probably has one of the best views over Bondi. It's actually quite common in Sydney to find swimming pools right by the beach with mixed salty water for those who want to exercise.
Walking along the coast on the Coastal Walk is a popular activity - we've seen many joggers, families and groups too. The view is stunning along the path, and you see several smaller bays with sandy beaches, like Bronte, Clovelly and Coogee with people playing sand volleyball and making barbeque (barbie as we've heard it called locally...). The beaches are all well-equiped with facilities for visitors, you'll find cafes, barbeque tables, benches for rest, volleyball poles and restrooms at each beach, and even some information signs for tourists about the history of the places. It's a nice couple of hours' walk, but it's worth resting at points to just take in what you see or eventually to swim when the weather allows it. From Coogee you can catch a bus back to the city. We loved this walk and decided to do it soon with a "barbie" set on board. We've heard about the local specialty 'roo burgers that are best when fried only for a few minutes as a steak on the bbq - maybe we need to forget about how cute kangaroos can be and give this a try.
Another spectacular walking path is in Mosman stretching from the Taronga Zoo up to the Headland Park and Balmoral Beach. Szilveszter did this while I was working one of the weekends, and he was very impressed. This is a more natural and less popular path than the Coastal Way from Bondi with secluded little bays and more forest instead of cliffs on the way. It's a good half a day's trip with plenty of opportunity to swim, relax and enjoy the nature.
HUMPBACK WHALE WATCHING
Not much after our arrival we heard about the seasonal migration of humpback whales that is a must-see phenomenon. They swim to the North this time of the year to warmer waters and come back later, in around November, with their calves. As our tour guide explained, it's harder to see them on their way back as the whales get much more protective of their babies and avoid people. We went on a whale-watching tour from Darling Harbour, a laid back recreational harbour in the city with restaurants and a few tourist attractions. The tour took us all the way out of the Sydney harbour to the open ocean, so we passed by some of the most scenic points of the city with views on the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, the City with its skyscrapers and the Northern shore with lovely small bays and boats. Further out in the Harbour, there was also a dense wave of sailors, followed by another group of small boats and sailors who were after the same whale-watching experience as us. So actually a group of boats were trying to catch a glimpse of the whales on the open water.
Our captain was in walkie-talkie connection with another boat, and we tried to update each other on some animals in sight to then rush to the point and try to see them for a few seconds. From the 3.5 hours tour we saw whales maybe for 1 minute in total and spent the rest of the time scanning the ocean surface. This made us realise that all those pictures you see with the whale jumping out of the water must be the result of relentless hours with the camera ready at hand. We saw the backs and fins of a few larger ones, but they didn't show too much of themselves until almost the last moment when our captain had already announced that we were about to return. Then, within the fraction of a moment a large whale jumped out of the water, flipped around to show himself from all angles like a polevaulter and fell back in the water next to a smaller boat where everyone must have been terrified for a minute to get a new passenger on the deck. Everything took only a few seconds, and I only noticed it all happening when a few of our passengers turned in the right direction. It was fantastic to see him or maybe her even just for a second, but I regretted that we could not take a picture of the jump, only the bubbly water where it arrived back into the water. It was fascinating to see such a huge creature who clearly played a game with all the boats waiting breathlessly for such a view. If you come here when you can see it, don't miss the chance! But check out the many available options to get vouchers for discounted tickets.
Our pictures (1-2) and one we borrowed that shows what we saw (3) - maybe next time we'll catch the moment
Now, that the winter is coming to the end we hope to be able to spend much time outside. In the upcoming few weeks some further walks are in the pipeline with some cultural activities too. We'll have our camera sharpened for these!