CRONULLA

FRIDAY 24th FEBRUARY

  Another early morning start, I was ready and raring to go at 7.25am.  Robert dropped me off at Mount Druitt and I caught a train into Town Hall within minutes of arriving at the station.  It was a good hour's journey into town and I then searched for a while to find the right platform for Cronulla (it was the blue line marked Illawara that I wanted but it took a while to deduce that fact!).  This was about another hour long journey and I dozed off before reaching my destination.  I woke up with a start to find the train completely empty, but thankfully stationary.  I divided off with some alacrity and to my relief found I was on Cronulla station.  (In case you cannot reconcile my timings with the time on the clock - no it isn't broken, I

took the picture on the way back).  I followed my nose and headed on down the main drag in the hope that it would lead me to the beach.  However the road went on and on, but nevertheless I persevered, and

eventually came across an establishment that claimed to serve the best brekkies in town.

I decided to give it a go and after ordering a flat white coffee and brekkers, I grabbed a copy of the Telegraph from the rack, and noted that the water temperature was allegedly 23 degrees.  The breakfast when it came consisted of two fried eggs, five rashers of bacon, six slices of toast, a fried tomato and mushrooms.  It set me up for the day.

                                (My partially eaten breakfast)

  Once I had consumed my repaste and read the paper from cover to cover, I carried on beachward.

And sure enough I eventually got there.  Hanging my sandals from my shoulder bag I proceeded to walk down the beach, which seemed to stretch endlessly off to the left.  The airport was over the lefthand arm of the bay and a number of planes came in as I strolled along the edge of the water, dipping my toes (and occasionally ankles and calves when a big wave came thundering in) in the 23 degree sea.  It felt cold at first but after a while was quite pleasant, but I don't think it was warm enough to have tempted me in to swim even if I had had some bathers with me, which I didn't.

Anyway the surfboarders seemed to be enjoying themselves, oblivious to the temperature of the water.  Once I had gone a fair way I found a convenient sand dune on which to stretch out, and with the skies having clouded over a bit, I allowed myself to drift off for a bit of a zzzz, lulled to sleep by the soporific sound of the waves breaking on the shore.  I woke up just short of the hour mark, and gathered myself together and started back, once again skipping along the edge of the incoming waves, well perhaps wading would be more accurate!  I got back to the road leading to the station and indulged in an apple and passionfruit smoothie, and then continued my trek towards the station.  I paused at a bookshop opposite the station but then decided not to go in and instead carried on to the station.  There was a train on platform 2 bound for Bondi which was the train I needed, and it departed within 30 seconds of my clambering aboard - just as well I didn't pop into the bookshop.  I thought I would get of at Wynyard, but the station after Town Hall wasn't Wynyard but Martin Place.  I had to wait 15 minutes for a train back to Town Hall where I got off and walked through the QVB

building, which according to Alan is somewhere Bridie wants to go as well as Darling Harbour.  I walked down to King Street and turned left and there was Red Eye.  I had a look through the secondhand section and found several items that caught my red eyes!

  After a fifteen minute wait at Wynyard I caught an express train back to Mount Druitt which only stopped at Redfern, Parramatta, Blacktown and Doonside.  I phoned Robert when leaving Blacktown and he told me he would be 20 minutes.  He was as good as his word, and told me I had interrupted his Friday evening drink with Jeannette, but had decided to pick me up and bring me over to the pub.  I bought myself a drink and it was the cheapest one yet in Australia at $2.60 - apparently 5-6pm is happy hour.  I was so taken that I went back and bought a round before we reached 6pm.  We also decided to dine there and my Mexican pizza defeated me, and I bought a slice home with me.