Bondi Beach and South Head, Sydney

 Bondi Beach and South Head, Sydney 

The weather forecast was rain for the morning. I looked outside and except for a few white clouds, there was a lot of blue sky and sun. The forecast had been wrong before so I ignored it and didn't pack any wet weather gear.

I took the metro part of the way to Bondi and got off at the terminus. It was raining heavily. I had planned to walk but I would get wet through. There was a bus terminus at the station and so I caught a bus. It was my first bus ride in Sydney and I had money in my hands but it was card only.

The driver was late and I was first in the queue and I got the impression that he wanted to get back on schedule and he told me to just get on and said the same to the others behind me and we were away. In Bondi, I got off the bus and ran to the shelter of overhangs above the shops. There was blue sky off to the south so the rain would be passing. I made my way along the front using as much cover as I could to avoid getting wet. 

After visiting Manly Beach on the advice of some locals, I had to check out Bondi Beach and just as they had said, it was a lot more commercial. There was a main road running along the front with a lot of cafes, bars restaurants, backpackers, hotels and surfing gear shops. And not to lose out on the action, there were also a lot of shops selling branded activity oriented equipment. It was like a noisy high street on one side and a sandy beach with crashing waves on the other.

The sand was just as clean as Manly, the waves looked the same but there were a lot more surfers in the water, loud music, tourists, beach bums and the curious like myself. A view looking west.

A view looking east, and unlike yesterday which was a scorcher of a day, it had just stopped raining so it was wet underfoot and overcast. I had spent a week in Sydney and had only one full sunny day, a couple of bright but overcast days and the rest it had rained.

The pavilion on Bondi Beach looking from the landward side. 

I walked from the beach up the Military Road to join the coastal walking path at the Hugh Bamford Reserve. The trail is mostly along the top of the cliffs with views of the ocean off to the right. And there is not a lot of shade. After the rain had stopped, it was a pleasant walk but after the clouds had been blown away, the sun came out and I was walking into the full glare of the sun. The trail followed the edge of the cliff as best it could but sometimes had to duck away along roads to get to the next section of cliff walking.

Most people who walk the whole length start at Watson's Bay and walk south. I didn't overtake anyone going north but I met a lot of people walking south.

A view of a headland along the trail to show the height of the cliffs.

I didn't intend to do the whole trail northwards but only as far as some gun emplacements on South Head in Gap Park before the trail dips down to Watson's Bay. 

There were just two of them and only  made for some small calibre guns. It wasn't as nearly as interesting as yesterdays' visit to the gun emplacements on the North Head.

I passed a plague announcing a grove of trees planted memory of Don Ritchie, a local resident. He has also been called the Angel of the cliffs as Gap Park is as notorious for suicides as Beachy Head. He is accredited with having saved 160 people from committing suicide. He died aged 85 in 2011 and these threes were planted in his memory. 

Not far away is anther memorial for Lieutenant G J Grieve who was a local lad ho volunteered to fight in South Africa during the Boer Wars and was killed aged just 30. 

I doubled back from Gap Park and past the modern Signal station to Macquaires Lighthouse, originally started operating in 1818. A Front view. 

The rear view. This isn't the originally light house as it was not built well and it had to have metal bands place around it to maintain the structurally integrity of the stonework. It was replaced with the current structure seen today in 1883 which is not a replica but is very similar.

The information stone in front of the light house.