Sculpture by the Sea 2009

Every year around the end of spring or early summer, there is a sculpture exhibition along the beaches from Bondi to Tamarama. These beaches form part of the eastern beaches coastal walk, a scenic walk that I love to go on if the weather is right. This year's Sculpture by the Sea was held from the 29th Oct to the 15th Nov 2009.

I started my walk from Tamarama Beach and worked my way up north. Sculptures of all sizes and designs littered the beach, from skulls made of used Coke bottles to petrol station pumps in the middle of the sand. Note that the two girls sunbathing in the pic above are not part of the exhibition! (It's the structure behind them, see?) But with the weather so nice, I couldn't resist slapping on some sun block and getting a bit of sun myself :)

The pics posted here show just some of the sculptures displayed. There were so many interesting (and weird) stuff to see that I went back another day to look at some of the stuff I missed the first time around.

My favourite sculpture is the one below entitled Arte de las Playas (Art of Beaches) by Alejandro Propato from Argentina. It was a collection of huge coloured flags that whipped and lashed above my head as I stood looking at them. Situated at the top of a hill, this 'sculpture' made use of the strong winds to create interesting shapes in the air. Isn't that just brilliant? :)

Festival of the Winds

Here's an event that took place on Sunday the 13th September 2009. It was a kite flying festival held at Bondi Beach, called the Festival of the Winds. Kites of all shapes and sizes filled the skies.

There were also musicians, kite making workshops, face painting, a kite exhibition and pony rides, among other things.

The weather was also perfect, with blue skies. Too bad so few people turned up at the beach.

Kidding! The beach was unbelievably crowded! It was like sardines in a can, and it's not even summer. Finally, as the setting sun bathed the cliffs in an orange glow, I left the beach and started my walk home.

City 2 Surf 2009

City 2 Surf is a 14km run from the heart of Sydney (near Hyde Park) to the famous Bondi Beach. This year, it was held on the 9th August and 75,000 people participated. Each year, the run starts at 9am and the winners usually take about 40 to 45 minutes to complete the course. But this is also a fun-run so in addition to the serious runners, you also get families participating (complete with babies in strollers), and people with superhero costumes or goofy getups. Winter is coming to an end and people are already spending weekends at the beach.

Throw in another 75,000 people and Bondi Beach was one crowded beach last weekend! Some were there for the run, some were there to watch the Australian Idol singers performing, and others just took the opportunity to make a political statement or two!

Participants also get a participation medal... but this year, they didn't have enough for those who crossed the finish line really late (people were still strolling across the finish line a couple of hours after the start of the run).

I'm thinking this is probably because a) they didn't make medals for everyone b) more than 75,000 people participated in the end or c) 75,000 people participated but some collected more than one medal! How inconsiderate! :)

And I hope no one had an urgent need to go to the toilet because the line was really long!

When I was leaving the area, I saw another long line that streched the entire length of the street.

At first, I thought they were waiting to buy lunch at the shops, but after walking to the very end of the street, I saw that they were waiting for the bus! Good thing I live within walking distance! :)