BRONTE

TUESDAY 14th DECEMBER

  No, not the sisters, but the name of a beach not far from Bondi.  Mark and I made a relatively early start and caught the fast train into Central where we changed to an Eastern Suburbs train to Bondi Junction.  There a bus took us on to Bronte.  A pleasantly situated location it has a nice beach where we lay soaking in the sun.  I went for a paddle, but the temperature of the water did not encourage me to go in any deeper.  Instead I sat down and watched the surfers who did not seem to stay upright for long. It was good fun watching them disappear under the waves.  (Well I guess little things please little minds!).

  We adjourned for some lunch about 1.30pm and were served up enormous portions of beerburger and muttonburger respectively accompanied by hordes of chips. (I also had a banana milkshake which drew some disparaging comments from my son).  Mark elicited that our waitress was from the Czech Republic, and deemed it correct that we should leave her a tip.  We then returned to the grassy bank that adjoins the beach and took in some more of the sun. By mid afternoon Mark's face was quite red!

Eventually about 3.30pm we decided to wend our way home again, just missing a bus by a few yards.

However it wasn't long until the next one came along.  I had managed to develop a slightly gypy tummy by this stage, but as luck would have it the Gents at Bondi Junction were out of order.  I hung on until Eastwood, where the local hotel provided me with the solace I was looking for!

  I went shopping, purchasing a frying pan, new razor blades, some rolls and a cheap pair of trainers before catching a bus back up the hill to Terry Road.  Mark was definitely quite shining red by the time I returned and confessed he had purchased and applied some after sun.  With the aid of the new frying pan we indulged in a couple of bacon rolls and a cup of tea.  The exposure to the sun left us both a bit exhausted and the evening was spent watching more episodes of Family Guy.  We also watched a bit of TV and it would appear that some woman by the name of Oprah Winfrey is visiting the country and sending the whole country bananas.  This woman seems to be having some sort of love-in with Australia, a more yukkie thing I have yet to see, and it is all plastered over the TV News as if it were a newsworthy item!  The world has truly gone mad.