BONDI

SUNDAY 13th NOVEMBER

  Not quite such an early start today as we had quite a few bevvies last night!  We headed for Epping and jumped into Jane's car as she has the electronic tag for the motorways, and drove to the sports shop at Macquarie where they exchanged the rugby ball with no problem.  I reckon the previous one was over pumped and that is what caused it to blow.

  Nick, the young Aussie born Sydneyite has never been to Bondi Beach.  He wanted to know what "iconic" meant when Robert described it thus.  Jane had read that there were sand sculptures on display there, so all in all that was to be our destination.  It took about 45 minutes to get there and then a while to park.  We played with the rugby ball on the beach - my spin pass wasn't working as well as I would have liked but I took one superb diving catch from a Robert kick.  The only problem was I then needed his help to get me up on my feet!

It turned out that the sculptures were at the top of the head on the path between Bronte and Bondi - a walk that Bridie, Angela and I had done in April.  Nobody was too keen to walk that far so we just viewed it from afar!

Instead we went for something to eat - Nick had been most concerned to know if they did chicken nuggets in Bondi.  Reassured that they did, that is what he had whilst I went for the Bondi barramundi and chips  (Fish & chips).

Nick was most taken with a cafe named Nick's and insisted on a photo.  After collecting Robert's car in Epping we drove back to Oakhurst.  I must admit I nodded off on the way back, and after our return Robert remarked that my forehead was even browner than before, and he wasn't wrong.  There was a very nice roast beef dinner awaiting us and a leisurly evening ensued.  There still did not appear to be any concrete news on the cause of Peter Roebuck's death at the age of 55 in a hotel room in Capetown, where he had been reporting on the South Africa v Australia cricket series.