While not as well known as Bondi Beach its neighbour a couple kilometers down the coast, Coogie Beach turned out to be a fabulous gem. And a great place for my kids and I to spend our Christmas vacation 1997.
Getting there was definitely more than half the fun.
We departed Toronto squeezed into economy seats aboard a 747 for the first 10-hour leg to Honolulu. We arrived around 10 pm and found ourselves ‘trapped’ in the in transit lounge for the 3-hour stop over before boarding our flight to Sydney. Challenging to say the least to keep 3 kids (14, 14, 10) amused for 3 hours late at night, jetlagged after one 10-hour flight about to board a second one.
The longest 10 hours of my life.
Back of the bus experience for the flight to Sydney. Seriously…we were 10 rows from the back of the plane, squeezed four-abreast in the center section. Was going to be a long night. Tetris saved the day…night.
We arrived in Sydney to a glorious summer morning. Even though we were traveling in late December, and we had left behind winter in Toronto, they were entering their ‘hot’ season. Glorious!
We made it through morning rush hour traffic jet lagged and all. Our destination: the Holiday Inn, Coogie Beach.
1 kilometre of powdery, white sand hugging a crescent-shaped shoreline. Bluffs at both ends guarding entry. Big whitecap waves crashing ashore. This was going to be excellent.
The running route I found was heaven itself. Two different routes along the shoreline. My favourite was found heading south.
Ran along the boardwalk past the seawater pool up the head of the southern bluff. Then down the dirt trail sharply. Ocean to the left, craggy rocks to the right. Trail meandered along and around wonderful rock outcroppings that revealed new vistas of the ocean around every turn. Up and down constantly. Squeezing past other runners out for their morning run.
Lots of other runners.
“I could live here”
My route took me about 3 kilometres out to a tiny sand beach where I turned around for the trek back to Coogie. Ocean on the right, rocks on the left. Scenery same but different.
Fantastic finish back on the flats of Coogie Beach.
After a shower and change of clothes, breakfast on the outdoor patio of a café on the beach.
Merry Christmas!!!
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