Sydney, day 5

Took the bus to the nearest train station, took the train to Bondi Junction, then took an express bus to Bondi beach. We're good at this public transportation stuff.

Bondi is a famous surfing beach, and it's where the beach volleyball competition was held for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Think Malibu. We walk to the far north end and sit on a bench for a while to read/loll. We climb up some rocks to a promontory looking out into the Tasman. You can see the dark rock cliff in the center of the photo, in the distance. Supposedly, New Zealand is directly east, across the Tasman, but it's 1300 miles away! I used to think New Zealand was right off the coast of Australia, similar to Vancouver Island being off the coast of Washington state, or Long Island off New York. Boy was I wrong.

After our brief venture up the rocks, we return to the sand and walk all the way to the southern end. Here's what Curt's journal says about that afternoon: "We took off our sandals and walked through the last traces of waves washed up on the sandy beach, dodging gleeful children who can't resist the fun of playing in the surf and throwing sand at each other (and us when we get in the line of fire). We walked to the other end and then back to the central shop area as our clothes dried in the sun, having been licked by rogue waves advancing on inattentive strollers."

That evening, we return to our new hotel by bus-train-bus, walk along Brighton's beach and wander past their shops for the necessary fix of coffee (Curt) and ice cream (me). But first we need some dinner, so we decide on a Greek place selling "yeeros" which I guess is a good way to spell gyros if you want to make sure people pronounce it correctly. It is a difficult word to say, and I've heard plenty of Americans call them jyros which makes me cringe. When we were in Greece with the boys in 2005, I remember getting confused at the gyros stand because I ordered 2 gyros which cost 3 euros and "gyros" and "euros" sound the same. Our conversation sounded like something out of Laurel & Hardy's famous comedy routine "Who's on first."
me: 2 gyros, please
Greek man: OK. Here. 3 euros
me: No, I only ordered 2 gyros.
Greek: 2 gyros, 3 euros (I thought he was counting 2 gyros, 3 gyros)
me: But I only wanted 2!
Carlin: Mom. They're €1.50 each. Just give him 3 euros, OK?