Great Southern

The Cult of Bondi: From Icebaths to Icehouse

This week we continue to navigate the Cult of Bondi, but we’ve moved on from icebaths. The theme for this week is all things southern. I live in the Great Southern Land immortalised by Ira Davies and his band Icehouse in the 80's. I found myself at Bondi feeling like I was indeed "standing at the limit of an endless ocean", the opening line of their song, because there was one hell of a southerly wind hurtling through the sand canyons and wave channels of this iconic beach.

It was non trivial riding down on my bike. As I got closer to the beach the wind buffeted more and more insistently and I had to lean into its strength. Coming out of the side streets and onto Campbell Parade the first thing I noticed in the lightening sky was the stark red of a sail. I did an internal fist pump, knowing there was at least a kitesurfer I could shoot. Turns out he was the only person riding the waves. I'm sharing two shots here, the first with him heading in a southerly direction along the beach and the second him getting air with the Ben Buckler headland in the background.

The Southerly Buster is a big part of our summer weather patterns here in Sydney and invariably after a scorching hot day sometime later in the evening the temperature will drop ten degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a strong wind will come rushing in from the south. With it can come a couple of overcast and even drizzly days before the next heat spike. This is summer, and we love it!

The strong wind kicked up a lot of moisture and dust into the air resulting in a spectacular sunrise. I captured it from behind the lifeguard shack at the southern end of the beach.

The windy conditions did not deter the fitness folks who were out in force as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon.

A brave swimmer briefly taking on the might of the swirling ocean.

And then, the shot of the day for me. Bondi Icebergs with a wave smashing over its ocean facing side, while a dawn swimmer contemplates life. I’ve earmarked this particular photo for printing in large frame format as it will look amazing hanging on a home or office wall.