Coastal New South Wales is almost like a foreign country to us because we never visited when I was a child growing up in the neighbouring state of Victoria, and my husband's family was the same. If we wanted a day at the beach or a holiday on the coast we went to one of the numerous sandy beach towns along the south coast of Victoria. And we never saw crowds like this. Sometimes we had the long stretches of sand to ourselves.
One disadvantage of our beach visits was that we didn't have surf lifesavers watching, we didn't have to swim 'inside the flags' (note the red and yellow flag on the left of the first photo), but luckily none of us ever had a mishap in the ocean. This beach is the home of the first lifesaving club, established in 1907.
I've never been to Bondi. Should an Aussie admit to such a thing?
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| Bondi Beach |
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| Bondi Beach and famous Bondi Baths built in 1931. |
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| Bondi Beach |
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| Mission Beach, Queensland. 1990s |
This post is in response to the theme photo, a postcard of Bondi as it used to be. You can see more responses over at Sepia Saturday. Or you could pack your bags and head downunder in time for summer.
I agree Lorraine, Bondi is probably not your style, too crowded and no parking anywhere close these days. I much prefer Hawks Nest, but I wonder how many millions of photos of Bondi have been taken over the years by visitors like the Phelan family?
ReplyDeleteWorking my way through the various Sepia Saturday posts, I have to say that the last image I saw before turning to your blog was of Morecambe. And from there I suddenly switched to Bondi Beach. No contest really.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they went on to the beach but didn't take the camera down so it didn't gt sand in it. The views are from so high up in the first two pictures that I think they might have been taken from a hotel balcony.
ReplyDeleteThe photographer could have been standing on the grassy slope above the beach.
DeleteI must admit the Mission Beach iin Queensland appealed to me far more than the crowded Bondi Beach. There is an air of serenity about it which is so much more attractive.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the serenity folk who prefer the solitary beaches. The party beaches like Bondi seem more frenetic than restful.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how people become like little islands staking out there little piece of sand.
ReplyDeleteThink you have a typo Mum! 80 million visitors a year is a bit much! 😜 also is that Tess, Tom and miles in the last photo?
ReplyDeleteLOL. I don't know what happened there. Even 8 million is a bit much! I've amended the blog after a bit of research. And yes, they're your cousins on the beach in Queensland. They've grown just a bit since then.
DeleteHaha yep 3 million sounds much better! But still way too many people to enjoy the beach!
DeleteBondi is a heckuva big beach! But Mission Beach looks more inviting. Cute picture.
ReplyDeleteReally it's a small beach (by Aussie standards), only about a kilometre long.
DeleteI reckon those photos are 1979-1980 summer based on my knowledge of cars. Also think I might recognise a couple of fellows sitting on the seawall in #3 (one could be me!).
ReplyDeleteI used to work in Maroubra with an Irish mechanic Fintan Phelan in 1987/88. A keen motorcyclist. Any relation?!
We don't know of a Fintan, but the motorcycle bit sounds like fun:)
DeleteWe don't know of a Fintan, but the motorcycle bit sounds like fun:)
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