Admiring nature’s beauty on the Bondi Coastal Walk

There’s another reason to visit Bondi besides its world-famous beach: the Coastal Walk, a six-kilometer trail that runs between Bondi and Coogee beaches, passing through Tamarama and Bronte beach along the way. For a sand-averse person like myself, it’s an ideal way to enjoy the wonders of this beautiful coastline and feel as relaxed as the beach bums without having to lay amongst the crowd.

We started at Bondi rather than Coogee and made our way through the crowded beach until we reached the trail, by-passing a couple topless sunbathers along the way. Personally I much prefer the views below versus staying at the beach above.

First we passed Bondi Icebergs, a swim club that dates back to the 1920s. Every once in a while a wave would reach up to the lip of the pool and deposit some fresh ocean water into the pools, making me wonder — is swimming in natural saltwater really more enjoyable than swimming in chlorine? (I’ll take the chlorine any day, but hey, to each his own.)

After that, nature took over our entertainment for the afternoon.

One of my favorite finds were these concave walls that lined the trail. Erosion had left some rocks completely smooth and sanded, while others resembled eggshell cartons or large sponges. They were magnificent to behold; a reminder to never underestimate the power of water and nature.

Further along we also found a few baby birds ducking in and out of the water, and beautiful budding flowers dotting the rocks above.

They say you can do the walk in two hours, but it took us nearly that much time just to walk one kilometer, because we kept stopping to watch the waves crest and fall. Watching — and listening — to waves breaking against the rocks into a pool of white foam was utterly hypnotic. I could have sat there for hours, so entranced I wouldn’t have noticed that I was slowly burning my skin off in the hot Australian sun.

We frequently stopped to look at the view behind us. As beautiful as it was ahead, the area we’d just left often looked better from the other side of the trail. If you’re not a fan of constantly looking over your shoulder, I’d recommend starting from Coogee and walking towards Bondi.

Due to our endless stops for wave-gazing and photo taking, we didn’t even make it to Bronte beach, only 1.5 kilometers into the walk. By then we had to call time and return to Sydney, so we turned around and began the walk back to Bondi. But not before taking more photos of where we called it quits, a quiet area full of surfers and the odd fisherman:

It’s hard to convey in photos how inspiring the Coastal Walk is. But seeing the native flora and fauna, watching surfers take on the waves — the same waves that shaped and transformed large cliffs — made me appreciate nature more that day; as well as Bondi, an area I’d written off as just an uninteresting beach.

The best part of the walk, however, was our view of the ocean as we made our way along the trail. Looking out and seeing absolutely nothing but vast and deep blue waters, knowing that they stretched on for another 85,000 miles past the horizon, was a humbling and awesome feeling.