Bondi Beach is a sandy curve of beach in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, to the south of Sydney Harbour. It's home to many who look good in a bathing costume (and many who perhaps once did), and is one of the most widely known Australian icons along with the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Ayres Rock / Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, the Roxy Theatre in Leeton and the Werribee K-Mart in Victoria. The beach faces south east so a shot of sunrise directly over the beach? Probably ain't gonna happen, but I'm not sure about the position of the sun mid-summer.

Contrary to popular opinion, most Australians don't live within walking distance of a beach (see Eric Bana's film Love The Beast), and I'm rarely at the beach due to a combined lack of opportunity and a healthy respect for what UV radiation can do to the skin. Also, Bondi is a beach to get to with no direct train service and relatively limited parking (unless you get there before dawn as I tend to do).

I'd guess that I've been to Bondi not more than a dozen times. In 2004 I went there for a photo course with my then-new EOS 300D (the last few shots in this gallery, which is ordered newest to oldest now), but didn't return for 5 and a half years until I tried to do a PAD shot on Australia Day and was stymied by the overcast weather. The middle (somewhat grey) bunch of images are from that shoot.

The most recent was on the Anzac Day holiday in April. That day was considerably more like the weather that I'd envisaged on Australia Day.

***** PLEASE SELECT "ORIGINAL" SIZE ON THE FIRST PHOTO THAT YOU OPEN TO SEE THE IMAGES WITHOUT DISTORTION. *****