Sanctuary by the Sea...

So, today I took a 6 km (little less than 4 mile) coastal/cliff walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. There are 2 executives here right now from the US and they mentioned earlier this week that they were thinking about doing this walk this weekend. I have been wanting to do one of these, but was a little hesitant to do one on my own, so I basically invited myself along with them. We then had someone in the office ask us if we were interested in doing something called 'Sculpture by the Sea'. We eventually found out that we were talking about the same thing...the coast walk that we were planning on doing anyway was also playing host to the first weekend of an art fesitval where over 100 sculptures were displayed along the first piece of this walk. So, we joined forces with another few people from the office and we set out for an amazing day out in the Australian sun!

We met for an awesome yum cha (dim sum in the US) lunch and then headed to the starting point...the famous Bondi Beach!

Starting to head up higher and away from the beach...

An example of the sculptures along the way...

Me along the walk...check out all the people! And, it was a bit windy up on these cool cliffs!

I think this was my favorite sculpture along the way...so cute and creative!

Me sitting along a cute little rock wall along the walk...

Stunning view of the eastern beaches of Australia...

This is a shot of Tamarama Beach...smaller than Bondi, but better waves!

These were the types of views we had on the other side...the wildflowers reminded me of Colorado!

Me along the walk as we got to Bronte Beach...

On the other side of Bronte Beach...and this picture shows these cool bath things that each of the beaches had...basically just pools where people could go swim laps and the waves came right up into the pools...so cool!

The cliffs that we were walking along were just amazing!

A picture of Waverley Cemetery coming up...

Looking back at Bondi Beach way off in the distance...we have come a long way...but not done yet!

The cemetery up close...it was beautiful...

This is Gordon's Bay...it was one of the most beautiful parts. It was more just pretty and scenic than an actual swimming beach. This was also towards the end of the walk and there were some absolute killer hills during this part. We were up pretty high when I took this picture, but went all the way down to sea level and then back up to where those houses are on the other side...we were pretty tired after this part!

This last picture isn't great...it was the end of the walk, late in the day, I was tired...but this was our stopping point, Coogee Beach.

I call this post 'Sanctuary by the Sea' because those of you who know me well, know that I don't go to church often...or really, at all. I think I have decided that mountains (like in Colorado) and oceans are some of the things that make me feel closest to God. Seeing the intense power and the expansive beauty of oceans like this just amaze me and always make me think of religion and God. He must be a pretty awesome God to have created these amazing things!

All in all, we saw 5 beaches, 1 beautiful bay, tons of amazing art, lots of different types of stairs to get us up and down the cliffs, an old cemetery, some crabs, lots of cute dogs (including a cute Westie named Stanley), 2 weddings, an airplane writing a marriage proposal in the sky, lots of surfers and a few sunbathers with not enough clothes on, ha! It was an absolutely amazing day and I am so glad that I got to see more of the beauty of Australia!

PS...I also have my first Australian sunburn! You could see the type of shirt I was wearing from the pictures...I basically look like I have a red bib necklace on now, ha ha! I think I will actually have to break down and buy some sunscreen if I want to have a real day on the beach...this Australian sun is strong!