Waves straight off the Antarctic - Bondi Beach and Icebergs Club

I like to consider myself brave but ye gods the water was cold off the South Pacific today. Straight up from Antarctica - and I had promised mysefl a swim in the sea while I was in Australia. Manly and St Kilda were far too cold but I took the plunge and spend the day at the famous Bondi Icbergs club a swimming pool built on the coast where the waves wash over bringing them the icy tang of the South Pole.

What was Bondi Beach like? Yeah, good - I'd give it top marks. It will never top Copacabana as my favourite beach in the world but I wanted to see Australian beach culture. I was surprised how far out from the CBD it is. But I've had a fun day. Care and attention has been paid to Bondi. Its been given a lick of paint and the graffitti has been painted over and like alot of Sydney has been turned into "frapuccino heaven".

This white art deco clubhouse has a sapphire pool which extends into the ocean. The waves hit this wall and explode into the air filling the swimming pool with their spray. The whole thing is stunning painted arctic white and the pool being cobalt blue. I had to give it a try.

I got up reasonably early and took the train to Circular Quay from Newtown. Then the 380 bus from Alfred Street. The weather is beginning to warm up. The mornings are cold but is somewhat warm by midday. We pulled up at Bondi Junction and I stupidly got off thinking the beach must be nearby. After all you wouldn't have a major shopping centre too far from the beach would you? Big mistake. I got horribly lost and had to ask directions. A nearby postman said it was a forty minute walk downhill. I should have stayed on the 380 to the end of the line.

So I walked downhill in the heat through expensive suburbia. It took me forty minutes to reach Hall Street. I noticed it was quite an area for international backpackers with British pubs and Irish shops. Then Hall Street opens up into Campbell Parade and the vast beach. The whole bay is about 3km wide and the sand is the colour of snow while the water a deep blue. The headland is covered in red roofed houses making the whole scene Meditterranean.

I lay on the beach for a while enjoying a rest then walked up the trail to the south to the headland walk. I watched the surfers carry their boards down to the waves and the families enjoying the first warm sun of summer. The walk to Coogee is very beautiful as if the Bondi Icebergs Club. This white art deco clubhouse  has a sapphire pool which extends into the ocean. The waves hit this wall and explode into the air filling the swimming pool with their spray. The whole thing is stunning painted arctic white and the pool being cobalt blue. I had to give it a try.

$4 got me admittance and I had brought my swim things.The main pool was beautiful, so brilliantly white it looked like the penguin enclosure at London Zoo. And this has to be the freshest seawater I have ever encountered and the water looked as pure as Evian. There were some very hardy swimmers here and I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing and watching the spray hit the wall.

Then back to Campbell Parade and a bus back to Sydney. Wonderful day.