Day 23: Nerdy Tourist Meets Bondi

Today was one of those days where you sit back at the end of it thinking "and it was good." I got up late this morning and went to Brunch at Hoochie's with Amber, a girl I met at Hillsong. We met up with one of her roommates and their other friend who happens to model for Estee Lauder in Malaysia, or somewhere in Asia. I had a delicious breakfast bruschetta and a pot of peppermint tea that was all charged to my u-card account. And that's why Hoochie's is fabulous. I liked the girls all very much. At last I had the "omg let's be besties" feeling and Amber ended up accompanying myself, Helen, and the twins to Bondi Beach for the afternoon. We caught the train at Redfern station, marking my second ride on the sweet city rail double decker trains, my first in the daylight. Once at Bondi Junction we went back to Eastern so Ted could retrieve his parent's credit card that he forgot to bring with him on Wednesday night. Then we headed to the beach and met up with Dawn, a girl I made good friends with last night, and her friend.

The coast is absolutely stunning. Its a series of cliffs punctuated by beautiful beaches nestled in amongst the rocks. I've never seen the ocean look the way it does here. The waves are huge, the water is shockingly blue and crystal clear; but not like the Carribean, its a much deeper blue. It was a chilly day to be at the beach and the water was really cold but there were still a smattering of surfers taking on the waves. Live surfing was a cool sight to behold. Occasionally low flying helicopters would pass overhead scanning the water for sharks. I, the nerdy tourist, was in my element snapping many pictures of water and stuff.

The plan was to walk the coast trail from Bondi to Coogee so we set off over the cliffs. The group was stopping about every 10 yards or so to take pictures with the lovely back drops and when we got to the next beach on the trail I was freezing and realized it was 4:30 meaning it would be dark in an hour. Amber and I considered this and the remaining distance to Coogee and decided it would probably be best to just go lay on the beach in front of us instead of continuing on. We broke off from the group and did just that. Then we headed back into Bondi for some pizza and warmth.

Amber is from England and she's been in Sydney two and a half years as she's a full degree study abroad student and she knows the area pretty well. She kept telling me about this amazing gelatto place on King that has Ferrero Rocher, Toblerone etc flavors that they make themselves. Omg Ferrero Rocher gelatto!? Naturally we ended up there after getting back to Newtown. Amber has a passion for eating much like I do. She also lives in the village but in one of the 3 story 5 bedroom apartments that is very cool. The majority of her roommates are Australian and as such their apartment is much more homey than majority international kid apartments. They can afford to stock their apartments properly with tv's, dvd players, bedding, food, etc as they won't be packing up and moving back to wherever in 4 months. So we went back to her place and watched Juno with her roommate that had brunch with us earlier. I finally got my chill, relaxing, fun night that I have been wanting all week. Not that this week hasn't been heaps fun, but I've kinda been wanting a break.

I also talked to her about wanting to go to Frasier Island for my birthday and she totally wants to do it! SA-WEEEET! So we're going to the travel agent Monday to check it out and hopefully book. AHHGG how amazing!?!

So that was my awesome day. I will now be getting in my awesome bed and get some awesome sleep. In the morning I'm waking up at 8:30 as Austin has found a way to hopefully rig up a skype camera at Willy and Melissa's wedding so I can see my dear friends get hitched. I'm really sad I can't be there in person, but its pretty cool that I'll be there via skype!