I spent more than 1 week in Sydney. I have a friend that lives in the city so I took the chance to have free accommodation. I have spent some days in the city center, but I also had the opportunity to explore its outskirts and some of the most beautiful Sydney beaches like Bondi Beach as well as nature trails and places I had no idea I could find near the city, like the Blue Mountains. I ended up thinking that the city has a lot to offer and good connections to take tourists to see more than the city center. Here are some of the things I have visited while in Sydney besides the Blue Mountains.
Day 1
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach seems to be the most beautiful and popular of Sydney Beaches so I decided to pay a visit. There is a train line going towards it and stopping not that far from the beach itself, but not close enough to reach it on foot. You still have to hop on one of the buses that connect the train station to the beach. They run very frequently so it won’t be a problem. Most of the people on board the train seemed to go to Bondi Beach so I just had to follow them. It was obvious where the bus stop was cause the waiting line was long.
Bondi Beach is beautiful indeed. It has nice shades of blue and a very wide area, but no shade. I managed to stuff my things under a tree, but there aren’t many available haha. For this reason, I didn’t stay on this beach for that long. Also, I am used to way warmer waters of Southeast Asia, so getting in the sea wasn’t that pleasant for me. There was this very big swimming pool right next to the ocean and overlooking Bondi Beach, but staying in a swimming pool wasn’t appealing to me.
Bondi Beach to Bronte coastal walk
The Australian sun is excruciating and laying under it for long was not an option, so I did the walk to the next beaches through the Bondi Beach to Bronte coastal walk. I didn’t do all the length of the trail because there was this beach with some nice natural swimming holes and so I decided to stop there and enjoy much warmer water, yes cause for me, these waters are cold, so a swimming hole was perfect.
This coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama Beach is fairly pleasant. There are beautiful shades of blue on the beaches, some nice rock formations along the way, and a breeze on one’s face that helps support the heat. I found this to be a very nice walk and a nice place to explore in Sydney.
Tamarama Beach
Tamarama Beach was the chosen one to spend the day. The natural swimming holes were perfect and the rocks provided some much-needed shade. I applied sunscreen, but it was not enough. I managed to be as sunburned as possible. I couldn’t stand the sun for a few days after haha. Serious advice, you will need 50 FPS sunscreen to bare this Australian sun.
I decided not to go all the way to Bronte Beach. Not sure why, because usually I have to see every corner haha. So this was a day spent in Sydney. Then I went back to the city center on the train again.
Day 2
Cronulla Beach, Bundeena, and the Wedding Cake Rock trail
I was completely unaware of these places until some Australian friends advised me to visit, and so I did.
Cronulla Beach is accessible by train even though it is far from Sydney city center, the city seems to have pretty good train connections… There were a lot of people in the area around Cronulla Beach and I managed to find a Portuguese restaurant, but it was selling burgers WHAT?!. Burgers are everything but Portuguese haha, but I guess this is to please Australian mouths…
I walked around Cronulla Beach and along the coast towards Blackwood’s beach, a very pleasant walk with beautiful ocean views and blue shades. I walked along until it was time to hop on the ferry to Bundeena at Cronulla’s wharf. There is a public ferry operating almost hourly that costs 8,30 AUD each way, and takes about 20 min to get to Bundeena where a beautiful, quiet beach is located.
Horderns Beach
On the way to Bundeena, the views were nice. Some cool houses by the water.. a very European sight.
Horderns Beach looked like my type of beach as there were no waves haha. The shades of blue were also gorgeous! This is the beach right next to Bundeena Wharf, but I came here to do the coastal trail till the Wedding Cake Rock, and not to lay on the beach.
Wedding Cake Rock trail
To reach the beginning of the trail from the pier it is still quite a walk. Around 30 minutes. It is done through the quietest streets, depleted of people, in a very quiet neighborhood. I saw a bus running, but I had no idea about its schedule so I decided to walk from the wharf to the trail.
Once at the wedding cake trail, there is a water filling station and toilets just at the beginning, you won’t see any facilities any longer so you better take plenty of water with you as the trail doesn’t provide that much shade.
The landscape changes along the way. First, it starts with a burned bush. A wildfire might have taken place not a very long time ago as the trees were clearly burned and black, sad to see.
Then, the trail follows the coastline at all times, with ocean views most of the time. It is a very easy path to do. The height of the cliffs makes the view imponent showing how small we are in comparison to nature and its creations. My favorite part of the trail was the rocks. The rocks here are beautiful, honestly. Very shiny ones with very light tones. But I loved the ones that had some natural patterns drawn on them WOW, so cool! Those natural designs made the rocks even more stunning as they look carefully drawn on the rock, so perfectly shaped. At times it felt like walking on another planet’s surface! Really beautiful!
Then, to end the trek I stopped at the Wedding Cake Rock which was completely fenced with a warning sign stating that the rock could fall at any time. It is not possible to get near it. That is fine, I understand it because obviously, the cracks are huge, it is clear in the picture from above. But making it impossible to see the famous rock doesn’t seem to be the best option. I don’t have to stand on the rock but I would at least like to have a look at it and see why is it called wedding cake rock. My theory is based on the rock’s color and triangular shape. The rock is almost white, a very creamy color, it is also extremely smooth and then has this shape that could be any piece of cake, so guess all those factors led to the name haha not sure maybe there is a story behind it…
The rock is very well protected by the fence, you can’t step close, but I could manage to have a glimpse of it anyway. There is a smaller fence on the side and from there at least you can lay an eye on the famous rock, I mean, it was the reason why I did such a long trip so seeing it is the least haha.
The trail continues and it is possible to go further, but I didn’t. I had to walk all the way back to the pier and that meant more than 5 km ahead of me. Plus I didn’t want to go back to the pier in time for the last boat, cause if I missed it there wasn’t any other option. Therefore, I came back on the 5.30h ferry from Bundeena. It was a tiring day but also worth it. For me, the trail was worth it because of the rock formations and their shapes, not so much because of the views…
And this was another day out of Sydney city center.
Day 3
La Perouse
Another walk that, apparently, Australians like is called La Perouse. It is an area where you can go for a bush walk and escape the city. I have a friend that took me there so I have no idea how easy it is to access by public transportation, but I also would say it is not worth the hassle. It is a bush walk with some ocean and cliff views but nothing stunning. It is probably a good place for people who live in the city and want to escape city life by venturing into the quietness nature provides. We managed to see a wild parrot in a tree and that was the coolest thing haha. There was also a beach along this trail, but I was so burned from the previous day that I couldn’t stand the sun.
On this day we went to another beach but honestly, I don’t remember its name. I had no idea that Sydney has so many beaches! This one I’m mentioning didn’t catch my eye but it is apparently good for snorkeling. I couldn’t stand the sun or the freezing water so I saw nothing haaaa
