We spent two weeks in Sydney, recovering from our travels and catching up on work. We had a little trouble finding a good place to stay in Sydney. It’s a city of more than 5 million people, and the housing costs downtown were fairly steep for our stripped-down travel budget. Fortunately, we found a well-priced place further outside of town near Bondi Beach. Basically, so we *had* to stay at the beach for two weeks. Needs must.

Plus, Julie’s long been a fan of the reality TV program Bondi Beach Rescue, so I spent the next 10+ days worrying that she’d throw herself into the water just to get hauled back to shore by a hunky Aussie.

Bondi is a crazy, wonderful place. The beautiful sand brings the sunbathers, while the waves bring the surfers. While on a work call one day, Julie spotted a shark. A few minutes later, the lifeguards advised the swimmers of the issue, stopping short of telling folks to get out of the water. Everyone shrugged and kept swimming and surfing.

Four things stood out to us in our time here. The first was the profusion of tiny bathing suits (“bathers” to the locals).

Thongs on the beach, walking around town, and in grocery stores. Quite a few of the men wore what Americans would call “speedos.” The Aussies call them “budgie smugglers.” A budgie is a nickname for a small bird. You can figure out the rest.

The second major feature of our time at the beach was the cliffside walk. Sydney’s coastline alternates between high headlands and low beaches. From Bondi, there was a walk that stretched south for about 3.5 miles. We walked this path numerous times as it wound through through the rocks.

From the path, we could look down on beaches and rock pools, including one rocky flat that the locals use as a seaside dog park.

The dogs were having a ball, running around the rocks and jumping in the water. A few days later, we passed the same spot at high tide with a strong wind, and it looked treacherous. No doggie paddling today!

Every year, there is an art exhibit along the coastal path called “Sculptures by the Sea,” and this year’s exhibit opened during our 2-week stay.

We enjoyed watching the artists assemble their works over the course of a few days. Some of the works were on the cliffs, while others were on the beaches.

As we walked on the path, we also enjoyed the third major feature of our time here: whales. Each year, Humpback whales migrate along the east coast of Australia two and from the Great Barrier Reef. From the cliffs, we often saw their sprays puffing into the air and could see their backs rolling out of the water.

Further out, we saw whales breaching, creating huge splashes. Our first whale sighting was probably our best. We were walking on the cliff path one evening, and Julie spotted what she thought was a porpoise below us in the water. When it resurfaced we realized it was a baby whale — probably about 10 feet long — with its mother. We didn’t get our phones out until the pair had swum further away, where the baby rolled in the waves with floppy fins before disappearing beneath the water.

The final major theme of our time staying in Bondi was the most obvious: the beaches. Most days we walked along one beach or another. Our last full day we hatched a plan to swim in the six beaches we’d passed in our cliff-side walks.

Our plan was to walk to the furthest beach and then beach hop on our way back home. We started with Coogie Beach, which was more than an hour’s walk away.

It was a good thing we’d walked for so long, as the water was a little chilly. It’s still spring in Sydney, and the water is still heating up. After our quick dip, we put on our thongs and headed to the next beach. (Not those kind of thongs. “Thongs” is what the locals call flip flops.) Our next beach was the tiny Gordon’s Bay.

It’s a beautiful rocky cove, complete with an underwater “nature trail” for scuba divers.

Our next beach was our favorite — Clovelly Beach.

This narrow inlet is lined by stone on both sides that have been expanded with concrete to create swimming wharves on either side.

Some swimmers used the long channel for laps. Others snorkeled to see tropical fish.

Bronte Beach was next, where we swam in a small pool sheltered by rocks.

Our fifth beach was tiny Tamarama.

I had a great time getting washed about in the bigger waves of this beach. Julie’s not such a fan of waves, but was a good sport.

After Tamarama, we walked the cliff path back to the much bigger Bondi Beach, where we hopped in the water one last time.

The beaches of Sydney are simply delightful, and we’ve immensely enjoyed spending a couple of weeks here. Next time we come, I’m getting some budgie smugglers.

-Will