Submitted by Emily Levin on the 2017 spring semester program in Sydney, Australia…
The coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi was one of the most incredible walks I have done here in Australia. We started out at Coogee Beach with a swim in the water and then started walking up the rocks. The first thing we saw was a memorial for 5 baseball players who had all died in a tragic accident in Denpasar, Bali in 2002. I thought it was really amazing to see all of the fresh flowers that had clearly been placed there recently and the notes from people who were complete strangers. Something I have noticed here in Australia, is that they are a very close knit community and people who are strangers to one another are much more friendly and loving than you would expect.
As we continued our walk, we came along a bay which you could automatically tell was the locals spot. There were no life guards and everyone was in the bay on floating rafts drinking beer. It was interesting to see people in the bay with drinks, as this is not something that would be accepted in the United States. Although, everyone seemed to have bottles and cans of beverages, there was no littering on the beaches. As someone who lives in a beach town in the United States, littering on the beaches is a major issue. I feel as though the people here in Australia have a better understanding of what is right and wrong with many things, littering just being one of them. Our next stop along the walk was Bronte Beach where we swam in a salt water pool that spilled over into the ocean. The view was amazing and we even saw someone surfing extremely far out, riding the waves that were crashing off of the rocks far out in the ocean. We finished our walk at Bondi Beach where we hopped on a bus at a bus station back to our apartment. While in line for the bus, we met a couple that were locals and started talking to them about the public transportation system. They told us that they didn’t even have cars and that most people in Sydney just use public transportation. As someone who relies heavily on a car for transportation at home, I found this very interesting.