Eastern Shore Run.../Walk

Most days, part of my regime is to go to the gym, but on this particular day, with the sun shining and a light breeze coming off the water, I could not imagine being stuck in a hot gym, missing the beautiful morning! I filled up my backpack with all of the essentials: sunscreen, ipod, water, granola bar, phone, camera, wallet.

Despite a history of bad knees I set out for a run along the coastline. They call it the "Eastern Shore Walk." Running at a pretty good pace I went by beaches and coves, took a detour through a massive graveyard (not my choice: construction of a new coast boardwalk was underway) and after about 45 minutes got to my final destination: Bondi Beach! The mid-day sun was high in the sky and I was pretty tired, hot and sweaty. I opened my pack and took out the water to rehydrate, ate the granola bar and looked at the glorious expanse of beach in front of me... only to have it dawn on me that I should have brought a bathing suit!!! All that way and I didn't get to enjoy it. I took a quick picture (to prove I had gone all the way to Bondi from Coogee), turned around and headed back the way I had come!

I thought I would run home, but it was not to be. My knees could handle no more by the time I got to the first beach on my journey home, Tamarama. I could still walk, thank goodness! (I hadn't planned on how I would get back in the event of a knee failure). It wasn't such a bad thing, as my knee problemo allowed me the opportunity to "stop and smell the roses," or in this case, the beaches.

Each beach has something different to offer. Bondi Beach (1st & 2nd photo) is huge and busy! There are a lot of tourists and surfers... and as of recently, sharks! The "hit" tv show, "Bondi Rescue," is filmed here, which Kurtis and I are addicted to watching on DVD! They average 2000 rescues a year, and the beach is more or less empty from May to September! Many people coming to the beach are non-swimmers and on top of that, do not understand the dangerous riptide areas. 

I began heading home, past Mackenzies Bay (not so much a beach as a little cove), to Tamarama Beach (my knees didn't make it very far, did they?). The surf at Tamarama is pretty rough, so people don't swim here as much as at the other beaches, making it popular for surfers. There is a cute cafe here and a nice grassy area (perhaps I'll be back for a picnic someday!).

I continued to Bronte Beach, which has a nice sandy area at the water's edge, swimming pool (ocean water filled), and cafe. As I was running by this beach there was a movie or tv show being shot and there were groups of older people standing around pretend fruit stands in old fashioned clothes. I should have been looking for "stars", but I couldn't even look at them in all those hot heavy layers!

Not so far from Bronte I came upon the same cemetary I had passed through on the way. The Waverly Cemetary was established in 1877 and is the resting place of some very famous Australian writers. It is very large, and I have to admit that on the way back I took a shortcut. It may sound gruesome, but it was actually really neat to look at the old tombstones.

Across Shark Point I walked until I reached the next beach, Clovelly (rhymes with "belly"). This beach is unique: a very long and narrow strip of water lined on either side with cement. Sun-worshipers come to lay here on the weekend. At the end is a quaint beach where families set up pup tents to shelter their kids from the sun. (We enjoyed lunch there just this past Sunday at the "Seasalt Cafe" before catching some sun on the cement decks).

Gordan's Bay was to follow on my walk. There is not much of a beach here (lots of debris washes up on the small strip of sand), but the rocks on the sides of the bay are very large and sunbathers can be found on every rock on the weekends. Fishermen also come and fish off the rocks, but from the little fish I have seen in their buckets it really doesn't seem worth it! This is also a very popular place to scuba dive as there is an underwater nature trail that you can follow along the bottom! We have not dived here yet, but last weekend we did go for a snorkel! Just a 10-minute walk from our house, it is an easy place to get to carrying our fins, masks and snorkels! The water is fairly shallow and we saw many different fish, always keeping an eye out for the stinging bluebottle jellyfish! We swam up to some little kids who were also snorkeling and they taught Kurtis a little trick: soon he was holding his breath and swimming under the water to pet a big grouper fish! I preferred to watch from the surface as I found the grouper fish to be a bit skittish for my taste.

Well, back to my walk: Finally I came to "our beach," as we happily call it. Coogee is smaller than Bondi, but bigger than the other beaches and bays (last 2 photos). There is a strip of cafes and restaurants, as well as some backpacker hostels and fancy hotels on the same street as the beach. During the week it is not too busy, but on weekends we usually have a good crowd out of tourists and people coming out from the city to enjoy the sun, water and sand. As fall approaches fewer people are headed to the beach, as the water gets colder, and the days become shorter.

It was a beautiful run/walk, but I was very grateful to be back home where I could finally put on my bathing suit and cool off at "my" beach! Next time I head out for a run in 25 degree heat I will not forget to pack a bathing suit!

Boats Ahoy!

The water is officially our new favourite place, so two weekends ago we headed out early to a little area right across from Darling Harbour, called Lavender Bay, for our first kayak excursion! We found our guide, Patrick, under a bridge where he keeps his kayaks in a large storage unit. Though rain threatened we actually got through the 3 hours without a single drop, and even had a little bit of sunshine.

Our paddle began with a quick lesson about our gear and how to get in and out of the kayak: both on land and hypothetically if we were to tip in the water (luckily we never had to practice it in real life!). Kayaking gear is pretty simple. We each wore a neoprene bib-like garment, which fit over the hole in the kayak to protect us from getting soaked by waves or from water dripping down the paddle; a life jacket was a must, and finally a paddle. Kayak paddles have two paddles on them, one on each end. Kurtis and I were in one kayak, Patrick and a lady in another, and a young couple in the third kayak. The lady came with her partner, but unfortunately he weighed too much and could not join us. According to Patrick, about 90% of people over 100 kilograms tip over in the water, so he now has a weight restriction.

Patrick is passionate about all things boats - especially boats in Sydney! As we paddled around he told us the story of how the boats were built, who owned them now and how they came to be anchored in Lavender Bay. The boats were really neat to see, even for someone who is not boat crazy, especially from such a unique vantage point. We paddled around a peninsula and into the next bay where our guide wanted to show us something, as long as we promised to keep it a secret...

Well, I am not good at keeping secrets, so I will let you in on it: After pulling up on a tiny beach we climbed up a hill through trees and pine needles, Patrick leading the way. Eventually we came to a large rocky ledge, and to our surprise, Patrick got down on his hands and knees and crawled under it! He invited us to follow, and we did. Underneath the rock, he explained to us the different layers of the earth. One layer was white clay. He told us how the Aboriginals over one hundred years ago would take the white clay in their mouths and mix it with saliva to form a kind of paste. They would then place their hands on a surface, like a rock, and spit out the clay paste at and around their hand. When they were done they would take their hand away, and what was left, was an imprint of their hand. Aboriginal graffiti! The he told us that we could only look, but not touch, as he pointed up in the crevice of the ledge. Sure enough, there were handprints surrounded by white spatters of clay paste! Patrick once brought an Aboriginal leader to the very same place, and the leader authenticated the handprints as being over one hundred years old! It was very cool to be shown such a secret, and while I have shared the story, I will never tell where it was!

Back at the kayaks, we continued our paddle. From this area we had great views of Sydney City, the Sydney Tower, the bridge and the famous Opera House. It was amazing to be out in the middle of Port Jackson, just centimeters from the water. We asked Patrick if he thought a shark would ever attack a kayak. He didn't seem to think so, and we decided not to think about it anymore.

Kayaking is peaceful and relaxing, but quite an arm workout, even with 2 people paddling! There were a few times when we had to paddle though waves, and it required a lot of core stability to keep from tipping over, which was tiring. Needless to say, after the fun, scenic 2-hour paddle, we were ready for a snack and a nap, and that is exactly what we did!

Surfer Dude and Dudette

I have officially fulfilled my dream to surf! A bus and a ferry ride had us back on the beach at Manly, at the Manly Surf School, last Saturday. Ahead of us was a 2 hour surf lesson with 3 very enthusiastic surf instructors, the perfect sized waves, rashguards and sunshine! The boards we used were for beginners (think: training wheels), and were extra large and floaty! We started off with some stretching, followed by some dry land training before we knew it, we were off to catch some waves! The instructors led us to a sandbar which is created by the surf and is a constant to the area. 

On either side of the sandbar are ripcurls, or DANGER! This is where the surf that comes in gets swept back into the deep ocean. If you end up in a rip, you have two choices: let it sweep you out into the ocean and catch a wave back in; or swim tirelessly, going nowhere, and eventually become exhausted and drown. This is the dangerous area of the beach where people are warned not to swim. With our giant "flotation devices" we were ok though. I was caught in a rip for probably 5 minutes before an instructor came over and said, "Hey, you're in a rip! You shouldn't be here!" I thought, "Yes, thank you for the information, I've only been kicking my brains out for the last 5 minutes and have gone nowhere!" Ha! With a little tug he got me out and it was back to the waves.

The instructors helped us with the timing of catching waves, which for me was the most difficult part. I was able to get up quite a few times and ride waves into the shore. It was so exciting! I think I screamed "Woo hoo!" every time I got up. Twice I actually turned my board and rode the wave sideways... it was completely by accident, but it made me feel like a pro! Catching waves on my own was less successful: I only got up twice when I tried to time the waves. It is very difficult to get enough momentum to get slightly ahead of the wave. If you do not have momentum the wave simply goes under you and rolls to shore, leaving you behind. 

Both Kurtis and I felt that we had a very successful experience and can't wait to go again! We were lucky and did not have any scary moments under the water, and no injuries. I am not ready for huge waves quite yet, but I think with some practice we could actually be ok surfers.

Just as a side note, recently in the Sydney area there has been an uncharacteristically high number of shark attacks, mostly on surfers and divers. Scientists say the number of attacks are statistically improbable, causing them to believe that the sharks are changing their eating habits. While this is a little unsettling, there are ways to avoid sharks. First is to swim or surf in areas that are life guarded. They are vigilant for shark fins... do do, do do (I'm attempting the "Jaws" theme). Another is to avoid the water at dawn and dusk, as these are typically the feeding times for sharks. I'll let you know if we encounter one. :)