Reunion tour

Being back in Sydney was lovely.  The weather was good and the air smelled fresh and sweet.  Walking around the city with Veronica had been a great trip back to my past life in this city. It was nice to see how Sydney looked, but at the same time I only lived in the city itself for a brief time.  There had also been quite a lot of changes to the city centre which made it less like the Sydney I remembered.  The removal of traffic down the middle of George Street was a positive change, but it wasn't the memory of Sydney I had in my mind.  In any event, most of my time had been spent out in Coogee and along the coast.  I wanted to show Veronica a glimpse of the life I once had so I thought a mini reunion tour of my old home was in order.

We woke up mid morning and took the tram towards Coogee.  Taking the tram out towards Coogee was already a strange enough feeling.  I left Sydney around the time when the construction started and so I missed all of the pain suffered by residents.  The tram itself seemed to take a good route, but it was slow.  It took us past Royal Randwick racecourse where we would go for some days out, past UNSW where I did my masters and then past Prince of Wales Hospital where I once ended up.  It was already a nice little tour down memory lane and I pointed out each to Veronica.  She gave me a wry smile each time, as it really wasn't that interesting.  Once we arrived at Randwick junction, we started to walk towards Coogee.  The first stop on the tour I had planned was the Spot.  I spent countless hours lounging around the Spot, usually at my favourite cafe Kurtosh.  We sat down outside at my "usual" table and ordered some coffees and cakes.  Looking out at the familiar view, this felt more like home.

After this break we continued to walk towards the beach.  I took us down the side street rather than down Coogee Bay Road.  This took us directly past my old apartment.  I looked up and pointed at the top floor to Veronica, to this place that I spent so many formative years of my life.  My old housemates were now all gone from Sydney, so there was no link left with the apartment.  It was strange to think that I had now been gone from the apartment as long as I had lived in it.  I had some amazing memories from that time there, there were tough points and disappointments in life then, but living in this locations was always a positive point in life.

We kept walking and we were soon at Coogee beach.  This truly did impress Veronica.  To be only 400m from such an amazing beach was something most dream of and it was the life I used to live daily.  I thought back to the summer days living in Sydney, waking up early for a swim before work and the constant feeling of salt in my hair.  It was very appealing thinking back about it and I started to think about whether returning to Sydney was something I wanted or not.

I took Veronica into the water.  She still didn't like the cold, but she was more willing to jump in now to enjoy the waves.  The Coogee shore break dumped like it always did and Veronica was soon covered in sand.  We stayed in the water for a while before I decided to move us on.  I had been prepping Veronica for a bit of a walk.  Since had the time and we were here, I thought there was no better time than now for us to do the Coogee to Bondi walk.  This walk consistently gets rated at the top tourist attraction and activity to do when visiting Sydney.  It's something that even when I was a local I used to do frequently and it was always worthwhile.  We rounded the Northern parts of Coogee, and I took Veronica out to some of the secret spots I knew to look at the view.  We went down towards Gordon's Bay and decided against a swim there.  We kept walking until we reached my favourite part of the entire Sydney coastline, Clovelly.  After all the recent travel in Europe, I did feel that this really was the most "European" of all the beaches and swimming spots in Sydney.  It was very crowded and I thought back to Capri.  Everyone laid out on the hot concrete and baked.  I jumped into the water and floated for a bit.  The moment I jumped in, I realised I had forgotten to bring any goggles.  It would have been nice to go searching for the blue gropers, but that would have to wait for next trip.

We took a short rest here.  Up at Sea Salt we lounged around with some food and drinks.  I ordered a strawberry milkshake, the last thing I ordered when I was leaving Sydney and hanging out in Clovelly.  It was a taste of childhood, but Veronica was unimpressed by what she thought was milkshake that wasn't thick enough.

We kept on walking.

Each part of the coastline gives spectacular views up and down the coast.  It was hot, but we were lucky to have a strong cool breeze giving us some relief.  We kept stopping frequently as there were views to be seen at most spots.  We got to Waverly Cemetary and I explained to Veronica how we used to have to walk through the cemetary before they built the walkway on the edge of the cliff.  The walkway was a great addition to this walk, but I'll always still remember the strange sights you would see of bikini clad girls wandering through the cemetary.  It was always a strange contrast to see.

After passing by Tamarama and Bronte, we finally reached our final location of Bondi.

I never liked Bondi much when I lived in Coogee, it was always too busy and full of tourists for my liking.  Being here now with Veronica, I could appreciate it from a different perspective.  It was easy to forget just how enormous it is as a beach.  We arrived just as the last heat of the day was fading and so there were already less people on the beach, but it was still full of more than enough people enjoying themselves.  As we walked around, I heard the familiar sounds of a multitude of foreign languages.  Bondi always did attract the travelers from around the world and whilst it created a crowded tourist scene, it also did make for a great mix of cultures and peoples.

We didn't feel like a swim, it was getting a bit cooler now and we were hungry.  Tacos seemed like the best idea here at Bondi and so we walked up to the Northern side of the beach.  There was sat at the window of a restaurant, eating our tacos and drinking our micheladas as we watched the sun slowly setting, throwing a golden orange hue over the beach.  It had been a tiring, but very worthwhile day in Sydney.