Monday morning, we decided to walk on the cliff side to see the sunrise on Bondi Beach. We had to depart our hotel at 5 am to take public transport and to make it to the beach before 6:13 am. It was very interesting to see the city in the early morning without the hundreds of people who walk the streets during the day. Once we got to the beach, we saw so many running clubs and people doing yoga. It was so peaceful and it was a good reminder to stay grounded. We sat up by the rocks and watched the sun rise out from behind the clouds. Afterwards, we got breakfast by the beach and then went for a swim in the crystal blue waters. The beach was empty and, especially for Bondi, this was shocking. The waves weren’t as big but the current was definitely stronger at this time of day. This experience is one of my favorite things i’ve done in Sydney so far!
On Friday, we did a group trip to Melbourne to see another part of the vast Australian continent. When we first arrived, I realized how green the city was, more than Sydney. Even though Sydney was the older city, I enjoyed all of the historic monuments and decorative, Victorian architecture more than the buildings on the Rocks district. We got a mini tour from the bus driver and she gave us a lot of fun facts about the city. When we got to the hotel, we got to see the view from the balcony of the 27th floor and it was absolutely stunning. We could see all of the landmarks from so high up and saw the sunset over the entire city. We grabbed dinner at an Asian Fusion Tapas restaurant and then called it a night for our early 7am wakeup for the bus tour.
Saturday we did a bus tour of the Great Ocean Road along the coastline of Melbourne. The guide gave us a lot of information and he knew a lot about the history of every place we stopped on. We even got to see wild Koalas on the side of the road while we were driving by. I wasn’t sure what to expect when getting on the bus in the morning but I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful sights. We stopped at locations like Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles. These cliff sides were eroded over time with the wind and waves to reveal the rock formations. We got to see a lot of different places for a short amount of time in one trip, but I would love to stop on the beaches one day and spend weeks exploring all the Melbourne coast has to offer.
