Last day in Oz

On our last day in Australia, we walked from Bronte beach to Bondi beach. We couldn't have asked for a more amazing day. It was in the low 80's and sunny; the ocean breeze made it perfect! We started the day with a little NFL! Toby's team is the Packers and they were playing the late game on Sunday, which meant 8:30 on Monday morning. The local Sydney station often shows live NFL games. Since I had been following the playoffs that weekend and giving my play by play commentary, I'm pretty sure the group was more than happy to get it straight from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (although I think I may have a real future there).

We trained/bussed out to Bronte.

 

There was a notice board with the temperature of the water. It was 64! Chris and I then remembered that our pool last summer was only 68.

The Australian coastline is so amazing because there are little nooks with beautiful beaches, corralled in by rocky jut outs. It makes for great walking as well. The rocks you can see in that last pic at the top is our destination from here. Around that one is Tamarama beach, then around another is the famous Bondi.

 

 

There were all these fantastic rocks and places to hide under and around them. I was so amazed by the rocks that I took a ton of pictures. I plan to visit Sydney again, and instead of making the walk on the trail, I want to do it directly by the coastline on the rocks. I can't wait!

 

 

This is Tamarama behind Chris.

 

 

 

 

As you might expect, Toby stayed in the shade whenever possible.

 

 

This was our first glimpse at Bondi.

 

This was our ode to Esther pose with attitude.

I crawled down to this spot...

So I could take this picture...

I was just so in awe of the earth on this walk.

 

 

Then there was this guy (the dog). His owner would throw the ball way out in the water and he would swim his hardest against the strong waves and get it, every time!

 

 

I took so many pictures on this walk, that my battery drained to 20%. Then I made Chris take pictures of rocks!

 

 

 

 

Chris took a nice artsy pic.

We also took advantage of his long arms to get a group shot.

There's Bondi in the back.

There was some fancy beach club at Bondi that had this ocean lap pool. You could see the swimmers closest to the the wall get pummeled with the waves and be dazed for a minute before they got back on track.

 

We had a great lunch at a little Italian place just off the beach where the ocean was still in full view. I suppose we were all so happy to be enjoying our last lunch together that no one thought to take any pics, but trust us, it was fantastic!

We finished the walk with some ice cream and grabbed the bus back. Our last trip to the train stop we had gotten to know so well.

 

That evening we took one last walk down to the harbor to watch the bats, say goodbye to the Opera house, and the Harbour Bridge. We took a stroll through Luna park, which we learned the next day had played host to Angelina Jolie and the kids just hours before.

 

 

 

The evening ended a bit melancholy, but that's what happens. Toby and Christine took us to the airport the next day and tearful goodbyes were exchanged. Chris and I had such an amazing time in Australia for so many reasons, the warm weather, the friendly people, the sun (which I will never take for granted ever again), the beautiful scenery, but most of all our friends. They were the best hosts and treated us to a fantastic vacation. We miss them now more than ever and look forward to the day we can meet again. Thanks guys!

 

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