We went with Bill and Brenda, who collected us from Darling Harbour, and we drove south across the city taking in a few sights along the way. The coastal paths are magnificent.
I was pondering aloud that we had got burned very easily on our boat trip on Darling Harbour, and glad that we had some factor 30 and a tube of factor 50 for the beach. Bill explained that although the temperature was only 24'-25' on the beach, the reason we burn so readily is because of the hole in the ozone layer over Australia. I had not realised that the ozone hole was located over here and the effect is the intensity of solar radiation that gets through. This explains the high frequency of skin cancer and other cancers in Australia and New Zealand, and the need for much greater factor sunscreen, or much shorter times in the sun.
On Bondi beach we hired a beach umbrella, which had a thermal silver coating on the inside to completely protect against the UV radiation, and we slapped on the factor 30.
It was fantastic to swim in the sea with large breakers, and the beach is zoned for surfers and for swimmers in distinct areas. Bondi beach is the most well known beach, but there are plenty of other nice places to swim besides this.
After an exhilarating swim we went for a walk on the coastal path and a drink in the exclusive members only bar the Bondi iceberg. They make all visitors members for the day and scan a driver's licence, or since we did not have ours on us, a scanned copy of home address and signature.
If you plan on staying at Bondi beach for a bit longer and are keen on swimming, I'd recommend a swim in the salt water laned pool here.
After a very pleasant walk along the cliffs, with fantastic wind erosion in the rocks, we drove back to Beaumont Hills across the iconic Sydney harbour bridge.
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