Hanging Out & Hanging Ten at Bondi Beach

This morning we started the day by having breakfast at a cute cafe around the corner from our hotel.  Will is the ultimate travel researcher and found a place that sold Kaya Toast.  Kaya Toast is a common breakfast dish in Singapore but we first tried it in L.A. at a restaurant by Susan Feniger six years ago.  Since then we've only been able to find it at one other place and that's in Denver so we were excited to try it here in Sydney.  While this cafe definitely didn't have the presentation of a celebrity chef, it was still delicious!  yum!

Bondi Beach is an iconic beach and Australian landmark so not only did we have to go there, we had to surf (or attempt to learn to surf)!  While I have taken a lesson once in Peru with my brother, Will had never tried it so we were both very new to the sport.  We headed over to the beach in an Uber for a 9:00am lesson with Let's Go Surfing (https://letsgosurfing.com.au/).  Walking to the surfing school, it was pretty chilly so I have to admit I was concerned about the temperature but we quickly got suited up in wetsuits so I figured we'd be fine.  When we walked over to the beach, walking on the sand was freezing since the sun wasn't out yet.  We began the first part of lesson on the sand practicing postures on the board.  Then we were out on the water!  Luckily, the water was actually pretty warm and there was hardly a "Wow that's cold!" moment as we walked right in.  There was one instructor to 5 students and we immediately practiced getting on waves that he pushed us out on.  We basically were practicing how to get up and Will got up on his first try!  Woohoo for him!  I got up the second time but was 50/50 for all the future ones.  I had a much easier time getting on the board in Peru but the waves here were definitely a little bigger and less steady.  After practicing a bit, we took a break on the sand before going back into the water to try to catch our own waves.  Neither Will or I quite got the hang of being able to pick out which waves to paddle out and get on before they died out but it was fun trying!

After our surfing class, we did a quick clothing change and hung around Bondi.  It was the most beautiful, sunny, warm day!  Lots of surfers were in the water and there were tons of people on the sand and on the lawn sitting around and having a picnic.  There were also a bunch of people hiking from Cogee but we skipped that because my foot was hurting!  Instead, we went to an adorable farmers market and got a dim sum snack and then just walked around the cute little shops!  Afterwards, we went to Bill's restaurant for an Aussie brunch!  It was delicious!

Then we headed back to our hotel to take a shower.  It was our last evening and so we were going to go to dinner, get dessert and then get back and pack.  For dinner we got Italian at Fratelli Fresh and the reason Will had picked this place was because they were known for their banoffee torte.- He's such a good researcher!  I LOVED banoffee pie in London and since then it's been almost impossible to find again.  I was a little nervous it wasn't going to live up to my expectations but it did.  It was DELICIOUS!  I debated getting a second slice to-go to eat in the hotel room while we were packing but I decided that that was gluttonous.  I later regretted not getting it though.  Plus we got a second dessert already by getting a milk tea at Cha-Time which is officially Will's favorite bubble tea place now. :)  He's going to miss it terribly.

double fisting! (one of them was mine)

Now we are back at the hotel and getting packed up and ready to go home.  Tomorrow morning we'll head to the airport where we'll fly to San Francisco for a layover before heading home.  We've loved Australia and New Zealand but we're ready to get home to our sweet pug!