Day 53 Clovelly Beach

Thursday 22 feb

We were based at Maroubra and from there is the coastal walk stretching all the way to Bondi beach. It's quite a way and while we wanted to see the coastline and the beaches we didn't  want to spend all day walking. Each morning the surf lifeguards post a report about the surf, wind, wave and bluebottle jellyfish conditions and there are also cameras up showing the real time conditions.  I'd got used to opening the blinds and seeing 30 or 40 surfers bobbing up and down in the swell every morning but Maroubra is one of the rougher beaches which is great for surf but not so much for snorkelling. I'd researched the beaches though and knew there was a snorkelling trail at Gordon's bay a little further up and only accessible from the coastal walk. Coogee beach and Clovelly beaches were either side of it. The surf report said Maroubra beach was closed due to the dangerous rip conditions (guess the surfers didn't  care as they were still there, but there was definitely  no safe swimming area up) but Coogee and Clovelly were both open.

We took the 353 bus from right outside the apartment which took us the 12 minute ride to Coogee beach for the mighty price of $2.15.

Bench dedicated to painters at Coogee

We walked along past the beach towards the rock baths. There is a shrine to Our Lady against the fence with newspaper reports of people seeing her appear there in 2013. People pray there regularly. Just up behind on the hill is a monument to the Australians killed in the terrorist attack on Bali with photographs, names and ages.

Shrine overlooking Coogee

Rock swimming pool at Coogee

Completely fearless bird on headland

The baths are reached by stone steps into a natural sort of basin, fine at low tide but a bit of a washing machine at high tide. The coastal walk goes up over the hill and at this point we took the longer route scrambling over the rocks close to the fence marking the cliffs ( we realised there was a shorter more direct route coming home later). It did give us a good view down onto the bay before we rejoined the shorter path. It's a steep descent along the path to Gordons Bay and then a steeper climb followed by 59 steps down the far side to reach Clovelly Beach.

Looking along the bays north from Coogee headland

Taking a long cut along the headland.

Gordon's  bay

Clovelly has a cafe, toilets showers and changing rooms. The deep beach is set at the end of a narrow inlet which has had concrete hardstanding put on either side and has rocks partially closing off the end  so the sea acts like a swimming pool. It is definitely  the calmer of the 3 beaches.

Clovelly side of Gordons Bay where the snorkelling/diving trail starts.

Plenty of hardstanding for people to sunbathe on to either side of the inlet at Clovelly

Cafe at Clovelly 

Clovelly bay with rocks partially covering entrance 

Beach end of Clovelly, cafe on the right

Waves got rougher, still very warm even with a cloudy sky

We stopped at the cafe for a much needed drink and a slice of delicious baked lemon cheesecake before going down to the beach.

The water was cool but we got to snorkel and see some fish even though the water wasn't  totally calm and we could see the spray thrown up by the waves crashing onto the rocks at the mouth of the inlet.

We watched, the waves get higher and higher and the sea get rougher. There was even a boy practising surfing using the waves that rolled up along the concrete embankment as it made them fairly regular. It's the first time I've seen the sea come up higher on the beach at low tide then it did at high tide causing a lot of us parked on the sand to hastily have to move backwards.

The sun was hot and we were enjoying the day. We finally moved at tea time to take the walk back along the coastal walkway to Coogee (about 4500 steps each way),and catch the 353.

We had one meal left from our shop on Monday but no dessert and we hadn't  had lunch. We carried on past our stop to the small parade of shops on the other side of Maroubra bay, bought a tub of icecream and walked back to the apartment.