Sydney Sojourn

I’ve just returned from spending Christmas with my family in Canberra, taking a week off at Bondi Beach on the way down to have a play with the camera.

Bronte: It’s 5.30am at Bronte rock-pool and the regulars have already begun their laps. The wind appears to have exhausted itself after two days of storms; the air is brisk and salty. Towels and keys are left beside the railing above the pool as the swimmers scamper down the path and step gingerly into the water. At the closest end, by the entrance ladder, a small group of bathers stands shoulder-high, happily chatting as they watch the sun rise. In front of them, golden plumes of water burst upward in defiance of the sea-wall before dropping into thin ribbons of foam that scurry across the pool’s surface. Up and back go the swimmers – the coloured caps of the breaststrokers bobbing along the water in a straight line like an ocean net being retrieved in choppy seas.

If I lived in Bronte, this would be where I’d start each day. It’s my favourite of the Sydney rock pools (below).

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Iconic Bondi Beach

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The best $12 you can spend on Sydney Harbour.

There’s no better introduction to Sydney Harbour than to buy a $12 ticket and jump on the Balmain Ferry on a clear day for the one hour round-trip. Beginning it’s service at 7am, it leaves bustling Circular Quay half-hourly and travels out past the Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge and across to Lunar Park, before skirting Barangaroo and returning the way it came. Sadly, plans are afoot to retire the classic old fleet of green and yellow ferry’s that have traversed thé Harbour for more than 75 years – though I read the harbour authority may keep at least one of them in service to take tourists around the harbour.

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To view more photographs in my Photo library from my Sydney sojourn, click here.