Sydney 2013: Bondi Beach and Sculptures by the Sea

One thing I learned about beaches in Sydney is that you can be topless. Yep its that important that I’m mentioning it first in this post.

Here was the walk I took:

So I arrived at Bondi Junction via the Metro system. I didn’t know that it was in a different zone than downtown Sydney so make sure to get a ticket directly to Bondi Junction. As I was coming from inside the city and thought it was in the downtown area, I got a ticket for downtown. However, I should have gotten one for Bondi Junction, which would have been more expensive. Luckily the station attendant let me out of the station but I had to get a ticket from Bondi to Downtown after I left the beach.

Below is the bus station that is right above Bondi Junction station. The Bondi Beach buses are to the right. There are two buses that go there directly from this station. There are two separate gates for buses for Bondi Junction.

When I was there, there was a huge line for gate A3. If you see this try for gate A

However, there was no line for gate A and it was the same bus that goes to the Beach so I took that bus instead. I took the 381 bus there.

(On my way back, there was a line but not in the morning as most people were on a different line)

I got off the first stop at Bondi Beach at Hall Street and Campbell Parade.

My relatives told me about sculptures by the sea so I went by to see what exhibits were there. It was south of Bondi Beach. I explored north of the beach first before venturing south.

North of Hall Street was Bondi Pavilion with an information center, a cafe, and a few restaurants.

There are some day lockers here. There were a ton of signs for pickpockets and thieves so make sure to put them in lockers if you want to go into the water.

I stopped at a small restaurant in the pavilion for some fish and chips.

After about a 10 minute wait I got my chips. It was pretty good.

This was at the northern edge of Bondi Beach near Bondi Beach Surf Life Saving Club.

The below pictures were taken at Sam Fiszman Park just north of Bondi Beach.

There was a small playground between the park and Bondi Beach. It is very close to the Bondi Beach Surf Life Saving club.

Here are a few pictures of the beach on my walk south towards Sculptures by the sea.

There was a pool complex just south of Bondi Beach. I can’t remember if you had to pay to get in but you will need your passport or local ID to get in. I am not quite sure why.

I am walking down towards the sculptures by the sea when I encountered the huge crowds here. I went there on a weekday afternoon but it was filled with tourists and students on field trips.

Here is the pictures from my walk south.

Below is the view of Bondi Beach but just further away. You can see the crowds along the coastal walk in the second picture.

There was a large field along the walk with some food stands and place to buy water. It was necessary as it was above 90F that day.

Tamarama Beach

Below was Tamarama Beach, in between Bondi and Bronte Beach. A very small narrow beach with crystal clear water. I saw a good number of people swimming in this bay with some rocks to sit on out on the water.

Bronte Beach

Next was Bronte Beach. There was Bus 361 to take you back to Bondi Junction from here. I kept going south but a good option in case you didn’t want to walk all the way back to Bondi Beach to catch the bus. I got a roundtrip ticket so I could take any bus back to Bondi Junction.

After some stairs and uphill hiking, you can get further south past Bronte Beach.

From here, you can see Clovelly Bowling and Recreation Club.

Once I found the bus stop, I decided to take it back to Bondi Junction. It was leaving in about 10 minutes so I waited in the shade by the bus shelter to go back. You can see that its bus 360 from Clovelly to Bondi Junction.

Here are a few pictures of the immediate area around Bondi Junction.

Below is the view of the bus station from the outside. There are three bus lanes here.

Summary:

It was an interesting walk with a lot of art for this exhibit. The crowds can be a bit much but it wasn’t too bad on a weekday even with all the children around. There were plenty of places to stop and take a picture so that was good. It was a bit hot that day so I was lucky not to be badly sun-burnt.

The total walk was about 5k with some inclines and declines. I was definitely a bit tired after the 5k walk though so it wasn’t an easy stroll. You are walking on the side of a cliff so anticipate ups and downs on the trails. Make sure to have a water bottle handy.