Sea and Sky

 Day 4 - Tuesday, Dec 23 – The Beach and the Bridge

I've heard it said that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. So too I think that no vacation plan survives contact with the weather. Please allow me to explain.

We had made plans to go to Manly Beach on Christmas Day, which I understand to be quite customary in Australia. However, the forecast for Christmas Day was much cooler weather and a chance of rain. This has been a consistent forecast from a week earlier, and it seems that it is now quite likely to be true. Of course, the weather forecasters are bound to be right once in a while (you know, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn). So, since we didn't have a planned excursion during the 

day (only the harbor bridge climbing in the twilight hours), and since the forecast for today was to have plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-80s, we decided to check out Bondi Beach since that was not on our schedule. What I do not quite understand is what the Aussies consider a hot day. The weather app forecasts a high of 87 degrees F (30 degrees C), which seems to us to be a perfectly normal summer day. However, the Australian Government provides a warning of “Extreme Heat.” Gee … come to Indianapolis in the summer … 87 degrees (30 C) is the average daily high temperature in July. (I looked it up!). 

We arrived at Bondi Beach via Uber a little before 10 AM. It is a beautiful wide swath of beach with plenty of sand and blue ocean surf. We walked along the beach, but honestly, we avoided the far end of the beach where the mass shooting had occurred a week earlier.  

    

Our plan was to walk the trail/path along the Pacific Ocean past several residential areas and other beaches to get to Bronte beach. That walking path was a panorama of beauty along the Pacific shoreline. We stopped and took many pictures and admired many of the houses along the way. It was about two mile walk, and we arrived toasty warm and ready for a swim at the beach. The sandy beach was very nice, and not nearly as large as Bondi Beach or as crowded, so it was easy to find a spot to set up our beach blanket. The water was cold and the waves we're crashing quite thunderously on the beach. Barry and the three boys got into the water and had fun bouncing and body surfing the waves into the beach. Unfortunately, what are the waves slammed Gordon, and he was ready to join Ruby up on the sandy beach making whatever kids make in the sand on the beach.

      

 

 

After an hour or so of sun and fun, which included Ruby wanting to be buried in the sand, Monica had scoped out a nice little restaurant on the road behind the beach - the lazy frog. We had a nice, simple lunch sitting outdoors and enjoying the warm weather in fresh ocean breezes. As a side note, two of the boys ordered the children's hamburger which was delivered on a full-size plate it had to be a 1/3rd pound (150 grams) beef patty on a large brioche bun! It seems that they love their beef in Australia - did I mention the 60 oz (1700 grams) steak that we were offered on our first night of dining at the steakhouse? Also, everything seems to be served with “chips” or as we know them in the US, french fries.

  

We returned to our rooms and got changed out of our swimming gear and decided to take a walk on George St. [Note: the Helfrichs are well-adapted big city folks having been on vacations to NY, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia …]. This seems to be similar to the miracle mile in Chicago or 5th Ave. in New York. There are many upscale jewelry and clothing stores as well as fine dining. As we walked there were Christmas trees and wreaths displayed throughout the downtown area and St. musicians were playing Christmas music. We all agreed that it felt very weird to be walking around in shorts and T-shirts in the warm sunshine in pleasant breeze while hearing Christmas carols about the cold and the snow.

After our explorations up and down George St. and a few side streets as well we went back to the hotel to relax for a brief time before we headed for our planned harbor bridge climb excursion. Now, those outside my family should know that Gordon (10) is quite fearful of heights, and we were not sure how he would do with this adventure. He was clearly nervous and was becoming more pensive as we were suited up and given special gear for making the climb. You are in a harness that is hooked to a continuous cable, And, as you might expect, there are hand rails and guardrails along the entire trek so there is no chance of falling. Nonetheless, there are some steep ladders and walkways to climb through the bridge girders to get to the main arch of the harbor bridge. After 20 minutes of walking on gardeners, climbing steps and ladders, Gordon courageously overcame his fears and began to enjoy the trek and the amazing scenery. He was quite enjoyable for most of our hike. Ruby (8) on the other hand was full of courage and confidence and had no problems enjoying the hike.

We chose to do the twilight hike which began around 7:00 PM, and as we ascended the bridge the sun was setting, albeit behind some obscuring clouds (shucks!), The city lights we're coming to life. There were astounding views as we reached the summit of the bridge, 440 feet above the water, as we look down on the Opera House in various parts of the city skyline. The temperature had cooled notably by the time we were at the summit, and the winds were whipping a good 30 mph. But all of us thoroughly enjoyed the vantage point looking over the harbor and the city in all directions. By the time we finished our return from the summit back to the starting point, and getting disrobed of our harness and other equipment, it was almost 10:00 PM. Thankfully our hotel was less than a 10-minute walk away, and we stopped at a convenience store to get some food before we called it a night.

  

 

 

Everyone agreed that Ruby was the rookie of the year, and that Gordon was the comeback player of the year, so to speak. We are all exhausted from our morning hike along the coast, are lengthy trek up and down George St. and our vigorous climb of over 1400 steps to get to the summit of the harbor bridge. No one had trouble getting ready for bed and a sound night sleep.