Today we have had a fantastic day at Bondi Beach with plenty of sunshine and beautiful weather. We came to Sydney this morning at 7:30 and went straight to the hostel, Coogee Beach House, where we'll stay these couples of days in Sydney. Maybe it wasn’t the finest hotel so far, but because we only had to pay 1500 crowns for all the nights I think it's worth it. Today after our brekkie we went to Bondi Beach with a bus to check at the well-known beach and surf life. I really don’t like to swim, but when we got into the water it was the perfect temperature. The negative part was that the beach was really crowded, even so early in the morning, but since we had gone directly from the hostel at 8:30, we managed to get some good places.
Bondi Beach is a very popular beach located in the eastern part of Sydney. The beach is shaped like a horseshoe, which was something that both I and AK found very fitting;) The beach is up to 800 meters long! Probably the longest beach I've ever seen in my entire life.
First we participated in a morning course to learn how to surf, something that either I or AK had done before, so it was a story in itself. The lifeguard began to go through the basics how to paddle and get up on the board, then we got to test it for ourselves. I would have liked to practice a little bit more on the beach before jumping into the water, but we did our best. At first we were terribly bad and fell off the damn board a number of times. I really didn’t think it would go, but in a strange way, we managed to catch a few waves and it felt good. We were certainly not the worst in the group, which felt extremely comfortable after the segway experience!
When we had surfed for a while, we decided to sunbathe a little and tried to get some more color. We also swam in the water and it was absolutely wonderful, the water was light blue and we managed to see some fish too! It was a pity we didn’t see the signs of the current as good as the fish because suddenly we became protracted out to the open sea of an underwater current that came from nowhere. We both got very scared and got further and further away from the beach, without being able to swim back. I tried to yell, while AK panicky waved with her arms and it began getting hard to stay at the water surface. We looked panicked at each other and knew that this maybe was the end! I had a hard time breathing because I screamed so much and I started to sink under the water. It was fortunate that AK grabbed my arm otherwise I might have swallowed even more water. Desperately, I tried to cough up the water from my lungs so I could breathe again. After what seemed like an eternity, a lifeguard came with a jet and helped us back to the beach. He explained that it was very important that we read the signs, and after that experience, I can promise that we will read the signs ;)
We completed the amazing day at Bondi, if we disregard our little adventure farther out in the ocean, with food from a cafe before we took the bus back to the hostel. We sat and ate a fantastic meal while the sun went down. // Emma