Bondi Beach

I’ve sunburned many, many times in my life.  I burned my cleavage in Hawaii, scorched a strip of my midsection in St. Thomas, fried my entire back on a mountaintop in Vail, and created an odd red and white stripe pattern down the back of my legs in Mexico.  The worst sunburn of my life came from surfing in Panama, where, despite slathering myself in SPF 70, I sustained a horrific burn up the back of both legs and my bum.  And those are just the more memorable instances.

Because of these sunburns, I’m not much for laying around in the sun.  It’s taken years for me to learn that I don’t tan – I scorch.  So the beach has little interest for me these days, since I spend most of the time there trying to manufacture shade or keep myself immersed in the water to avoid the sun.  Fortunately, John is equally prone to sunburn and just as averse to spending hours at the beach.  It works for us.

Why, then, did we spend an afternoon at Bondi Beach?  Because the beaches in Australia are famously wonderful, with soft white sand, consistent rolling waves, and clear blue water.  I wanted to see an Australian beach, and with its proximity to the city Bondi seemed like the best one to visit.

Fortunately, the day we visited there was quite a bit of cloud cover to provide a little relief from the sun.  But the water was freezing cold, and honestly, terrifying.  The ocean at Bondi Beach is full of blue bottle jellyfish and blue octopus (both of which can and do sting), the tide is so strong they designate only a small area as safe to swim in (though heavily patrolled by lifeguards), and there are helicopters occasionally flying overhead to check for sharks (because, yes, they do show up here.)  All of those factors were enough to keep me out of the water and on dry land.

Terrifying sea creatures and sunburns aside, Bondi is an exquisite beach.  On hot summer days, the sand is full of bikini clad sunbathers, and the water is full of surfers.  If I was a sun worshipping beach lover, Bondi would be an excellent place to go.  As it was, after just an hour or so sitting on the beach (fully clothed and coated in sunblock, mind you) we still ended up with minor sunburns on our faces.

No matter how alluring it sounds (and I do still convince myself it’s alluring from time to time), a day sitting on the beach is no longer my idea of a relaxing time.  Maybe its a shift that comes with age, or the accumulative effect of too many sunburns, but I much prefer the shade and serenity of a mountain lake.   All in all this is a good thing for me, seeing as I live in a landlocked state full of mountains and lakes.  But until we return to Colorado, I’ll hope to enjoy our occasional beach visits from a well shaded balcony, where I can enjoy the sound of the ocean and keep my pasty white skin sunburn free.