The Oz Files, #3

We were pretty tired after two full days of walking around, so instead of going out to the Blue Mountains today, we decided to take it a bit easy. We slept in (until 7:30! Yay!) and had breakfast in the room from the provisions that we got yesterday. The locally-made cheese was merely decent, but the yogurt was a real winner. Any Ozzies who are reading, take note: try Danny's Greek Country-Style Yoghurt. We had the blackberry. It's awesome.

Then we caught a bus out to Bondi Beach, which is Sydney's main surfing spot, with all that that entails --- tanned blonde surfer dudes and dudellas, people walking around in flip-flops or barefoot, cute women walking cute dogs and cute babies, sun, sand, and ice cream. Check it out:

Real live surfer, in mid-winter, catching a curl:

We found a nice cafe just on the beach and worked on relaxing. As should come as a surprise to no one except for us, we're not really all that good at just taking it easy. But a little cappuccino and some trashy novels work wonders. :) Also, there was a film crew in the plaza next to our cafe, shooting a dance sequence for a Bollywood film. It was a little annoying, since the dancer couldn't seem to make it through a take without messing something up, so they had to keep cutting and starting from the beginning. Same thirty seconds of music, over and over and over...But it was fun to watch.

Michael had found an all-vegan (!) pie shop in Bondi using the interwebs, so we headed away from the beach for lunch to check it out. After a nice stroll and a confusing few minutes in which it was determined that the street numbers were not actually in numerical order, we found it: Funky Pies. Here's their menu:

Yes, the menu is on a surfboard. Well come on, what did you expect?

It wasn't exactly pie-and-mash weather, but I guess it was about as pie-and-mash-weather as it's possible to get in Bondi, so we ordered up.

I had the "Funky Chunky," which sound much worse than it tasted. It has shiitake mushrooms and potatoes. Michael had the somewhat less traditional "Spicy Thai Pie," which looks the same on the outside but was filled with TVP and spinach and curry sauce. Mine went better with the gravy and mushy peas, I must say, but they were both really good.

Clearly, that was a lunch that necessitated a stroll, so we went back down to the beach and walked around a bit before catching the bus back to our neighborhood. The rest of the day was pretty chill --- more reading, catching up on email, showers, dinner at a little pizza place on Victoria St. After dinner, we went to the wine shop down the road to get some post-dinner Western Australia red blend. They had an excellent selection and knowledgeable staff, and we ended up with a cab/merlot blend from Voyager Estate. Picked up a pair of wineglasses from Alan, the hotel general manager who has taken a shine to us, and topped off the evening in style. (It doesn't show, does it?)

Tomorrow: Blue Mountains for sure.