Brazilian Coogee

It’s taken me a while to get this post up, but here it is.

About three weekends ago we were in Coogee taking a walk along the cliffs. On my way back down, we could hear the drumming coming from the back of the beach, on the grassy area. People were playing soccer and having picnics and the like but by far the main attraction was a Brazilian drumming group called, I think, Brazilian Rhythm.

They consisted of a number of men and one woman and they certainly got some people in the crowd dancing. They played tightly and were having a great time.

Below: see the Brazilian version of Shakin’ your booty.

You can hear and see on the video below:

Before the great wall

Before the great wall, originally uploaded by smallfox2.

At Bondi Beach as the sun was on its way down. It was a warm day, warmer than we’ve had so far this summer which has started unusually cool. This time of year there is a holiday feel starting to creep in and everybody here looks very relaxed.

Bondi as the sun goes

Bondi as the sun goes , originally uploaded by smallfox2.

Not quite sunset yet, North Bondi takes some of the sun and fires it at my lens.

South Coast

South Coast, originally uploaded by smallfox2.

Looking at Austinmer beach and cliffs on the South Coast of New South Wales.

Sea Anemone

Sea Anemone, originally uploaded by smallfox2.

Spotted under the cliffs at Austinmer. There were a few of them, much to my surprise, where a couple of hours later these rock pools were under water from the rising tide.

Australia Day at the Beach

Australia Day at the Beach, originally uploaded by smallfox2.

It was hot and humid and the perfect weather for being at the beach and not somewhere else.

Australia Day at the beach – Austinmer

We spent Australia Day this year (January 26th) at Austinmer, on the south coast of New South Wales, below Sydney. It was warm to hot as we drove along and then we crested the hills and the comparitive coolness was like a breath of fresh air – well, it was.

As we drove back down the tree covered hills again, I at first thought that it was very odd that I could see nothing beyond the trees. It soon enough occurred to me that it was a mist or fog that was preventing me from seeing further. When we got down there, trying to find a place to set up amongst the crowd, I was amazed at just how thick the mist was, and it was kind of surreal to see people swimming with this mist about because I normally associate swimming at the beach with hot, sunny days. Well, it was quite hot, very muggy, and the water proved to be the best place to be, though the flags were narrowly placed so everyone was in a sort of queue. Swimming wasn’t much of an option – everyone just played in the waves.

If you ever get a chance, the south coast of New South Wales is a beautiful place to spend your time. The ‘mountains’ (in Australia, we don’t have much in the way of mountains, so we call big rocky hills mountains) come down to the sea, they are covered in trees and each cove has a small village-like settlement. As you can see from these pics, it is something (excuse me but I was just interrupted by a large Orchard Swallowtail butterfly in my home and had to help it out to safety) of a wonderland of nature!