The forecast is good so the beach is calling and the hop on hop off bus gives us the opportunity to see the city and areas around it, hear the history and go to Bondi, what is not to like! My hopes were not high as I had heard it was not all it’s cracked up to be and a bit tacky. I think this was a good thing and I really liked it but then who says I am classy! lol 😉

We travel past the Anzac Bridge (ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp), we pass Central Park and go along George St which is the longest street in Sydney, 3 km long. Hyde Park (A lot of familiar names) originally was a horse track and when first established was such a success the first races lasted for 3 days, it is no longer a race course, however remains oval in shape and has an Anzac memorial within the grounds.

We arrive at Bondi which is an aboriginal name meaning water breaking over the rocks and had breakfast enjoying the view. My first omelette of the trip and it didn’t disappoint, Andrea had the sourdough with avocado. Light and tasty.

The people are like sardines between the flags as the riptides are lethal here, the lifeguards have buggy’s and go up and down the beach warning people of the danger they may be putting themselves in and to either move over or get out!

We stayed here for a few hours and then decide to walk to Rose Bay, the map didn’t look far and long story short we were over ambitions and ended up getting the bus to Rose Bay. We had lost our ticket lol! We had the confirmation but no ticket and the driver let us on this morning, the question is will the next one? It turned out it was him and he remembered us, I can’t think why? 😂, all good and off to Rose Bay we went.

We found a really lovely little restaurant and thought we would take a picnic to the beach, however, we ended up just eating it outside and watching the world go by. We shared half a spatchcock chicken, with some tabouli (which I hadn’t had before, loved it!) and a tahini cauliflower salad, it was really delicious. See above.

We are going out for dinner with the group tonight, think it will be a light supper for us! We catch the last bus back and get organised for our night out. Nick’s is booked and whilst the food looked great, some was not as good as it looked. I took pics of everyone’s food (lol I did not eat all of this!) the night was soured by the maitre de, so inflexible and what a nonsense trying to pay the bill, anyway the men were getting nowhere and I asked Derek did he want the big guns to step in, and so it was sorted after I said I wanted it noted that we had and were offering to pay, he was declining and so I assumed we were free to go! This seemed to focus his mind and we settled the bill. He wanted one person to settle a $1250 dollar bill and then us to sort it out amongst ourselves…..eh! No! It was the first time I/we experienced such inflexibility and we were a group booking, I don’t get it! Especially with so much choice and so many amazing restaurant’s.

And, so we say our goodbyes as everyone is going their separate ways, some remain in Sydney for a day or two more, thankfully including my wee chum Andrea!