Coogee... It Rhymes With Sludgey (Coogee (Australia))

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Coogee (Australia)
Date:	12/08/09 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Only 20 mins from the city, yet a real beach feel

Disadvantages: More than a few Brits

Though Bondi is better known to foreign tourists, Coogee, another eastern suburb is equally beautiful, and well worth a visit. I lived within sight of this beach for slightly more than 2 months - I was up a hill in a neighbouring suburb, but I lived in a high-rise block - and it didn't lose its charm during that time. The beach is large and sandy and the water is clear and free from fish (including, most of the time, sharks). It's not the busiest place in the area in terms of the number of people or the quantity of things to see and do, but it's a beautiful place to relax, and it's not entirely dead. For example you could...


-- Go for a swim --

As well as the gorgeous beach, Coogee has several sea pools for swimming in, though you may be safer actually in the sea as there are life guards there but not in the pools. One of them, to the north of the bay, has cliffs for jumping off, but is essentially just a small inlet blocked in on 3 sides by rocks. To the south is a small kiddies pool next to the Surf Life Saving Club which only fills up at high tide, and further over the headland is the women and children's pool which is slightly below sea level so always full. Known as 'topless lesbian central' this is in fact a perfectly nice place to go - there are changing facilities and showers, and a large pool with great views. There are also huge rocky areas to stretch out on, making a break from getting sand in your pants, and I often spent weekend afternoons down here reading the paper, soaking up the sun and chilling. I like Coogee because you can choose to soak up the sun in a nice noisy part of a chilled quiet one, and they're not too far apart if you suddenly change your mind.


-- Go for a walk --

The coastal path from Coogee to Bondi in the north and Maroubra in the south offers amazing views. From Coogee to Bondi takes between 90 minutes and 2 hours but is well worth it, and there are lots of places to stop and rest along the way. You pass several small beaches such as Bronte and Clovelly, most of which have cafes or kiosks and sea pools too. When the international festival Sculpture By The Sea is on between Tamarama and Bondi, it makes a visit even more essential. The coast path is easy to find and to follow. Just walk to the north end of the beach (have the sea on your right) and follow the grass up to the headland, then keep going. If at one point you end up walking through Waverley Cemetery you know you're on the right track as the path literally cuts right through it.

www.coastwalk.ismagical.com/
www.sculpturebythesea.com


-- Go for brunch --

Coogee is teeming with pavement cafes and restaurants serving all manner of cuisine, from McDonalds to Gourmet Seafood and Thai and Italian. Gourmet doesn't mean all that much over here with regards to quality - they stick the word into most restaurant names, and we had a Gourmet Burger place down the road - but it does tend to indicate a sit-and-enjoy kind of place rather than an eat-and-run fast food joint. As in most seaside resorts, having a view of the beach is something you'll pay extra for, so the promenade places are slightly more expensive, but even they are not exorbitant. Breakfast menus are available all day and are extensive - from raisin toast to American style pancakes to eggs cooked and served in any number of different ways. On a sunny day there's no better way to spend a few hours than by meeting friends for brunch, and it's something we did quite frequently. I never once tried somewhere I didn't enjoy, but the Coogee Café, on Coogee Bay Road (just up from, um, Coogee Bay) is especially recommended for their pancake concoctions. I love the dentist surgery-like tradition here of having a huge stash of magazines for you to flick through while you eat. We often grabbed a New Idea or Women's Day (kinda like a hybrid of Heat and Closer) to catch up on the essential gossip in between bites.


-- Go for ice cream --

Ice cream is good, especially when the sun's shining and it's 35 C as it was here many days. Coogee has a variety of places serving it up: there's a Baskin Robins tucked away in a convenience store at the south end of the beach where a 2 scoop sundae costs the same as 2 scoops, so you feel obliged to have all the yummy extras, and a branch of Gelatissimo on the main street whose concoctions are pure heaven. Be sure to try a chocolate filled and chocolate-coated wafer roll with your ice cream. Like a flake, but posher. Most cafes also have ice cream selections, with many offering much more than the usual vanilla / chocolate / strawberry. The Italian style pre-formed goodies found on many menus are yum - especially the mint gelato shaped like an apple and coated in dark chocolate. Sounds bizzare, tastes good.

www.gelatissimo.com.au/


-- Go out at night --

As a small place, the nightlife is centred around a few bars, some late opening restaurants and the main hotels. The Coogee Bay Hotel got most of our custom, and is an amazing place with numerous bars, outside seating with a view of the beach just across the road, a nightclub, live bands, pool tables and much more, plus free entry to most bits most of the time. It's a sociable place, frequented by locals as much as backpackers, and drinks prices are reasonable. The Palace Hotel, just along the prom at the north end of the beach, is also worth a visit, if only for the Ikea style pod chairs they have suspended from the ceiling on one of the levels, perfect for swinging the night away in when you're too tired to stand any more. Going out runs on the same age rules as the UK, though ID is essential for everyone regardless of age, and I had to smile *really* nicely the time I left mine at home. ID must have an age / date of birth on - a simple student card is not sufficient, though how many under 18s there are doing post-grad degrees I don't know. Dress codes are relaxed, though some places don't let you in in flipflops - trainers are fine, it's just broken glass they worry about.

www.coogeebayhotel.com.au/
www.beachpalacehotel.com.au/


-- Go shopping --

Though no one could mistake it for a shopping Mecca, Coogee has all the essentials. For groceries, a few minutes up Coogee Bay Road there is a small precinct with a Woolworths Metro in it (over there Woolworths is a supermarket AND it still exists). The same road has a couple of bakeries (mmm, chocolate rope) and some convenience stores, and lots and lots of take aways. There are a handful of boutique-style clothes shops, some surf shops, a few travel agents and estate agents ("Thank you Mr Hooker...") and some random newsagents / stationary / a bit of everything else places. For better shopping, jump on a bus to the monster shopping centre at Bondi Junction, or check out the markets at the north end of Bondi beach on a Sunday.


-- Go and stay there --

Living within walking distance I never tried out the accommodation in Coogee, although there is a reasonable choice considering its small size. In addition to the Bay and Palace Hotels, there are a few smaller B&Bs, and a couple of youth hostels. For longer stays, weekly rents start at about $120 for a room in a shared house or apartment, and are readily available.

www.wizardofoz.com.au/
www.surfsidebackpackers.com.au/


-- Go further afield --

The nearest suburb to Coogee, Randwick, is very different from Coogee. Gone are the beach, the pool and the backpackers, and in their place are an old fashioned, family run cinema (with an amazing selection of food....gelato, cakes, sandwiches, salads, smoothies, chocolate lasagne), a bowling alley, a great pre-loved bookstore, two small shopping centres, a whole road of 'proper' shops (i.e. ones not selling souvenirs) and a funky little dining precinct called The Spot where we ate on a regular basis. Highly recommended come Arthur's and Caffe Ciao for proper food, and Sugar Plum for monster ice cream sundaes (for 6 people to share), waffles and more. Randwick is a 30 min trek up the steep hill or a 5 min / $1.20 bus journey, but going back down you can do it in 15 mins. Yep, the hill is *that* steep. It's worth it though, especially on a Tuesday when it's $8 night at the cinema.

www.ritzcinema.com.au
www.amfbowling.com.au/
www.atthespot.com/
www.sugarplum.com.au
www.randwick.communityguide. com.au


-- Go get there --

Coogee it easily accessible from the city, airport and other suburbs by bus, and many routes terminate on the promenade. Unfortunately there is no train station nearby (I prefer trains to busses... they're confined to tracks so you know where you're going all the time and don't have to bother looking out of the window to make sure the bus driver's not going off somewhere unexpected) - the nearest are Sydney central or Bondi Junction.

www.131500.info/ has a route planner option for planning trips in and around Sydney, or look at www.surfsidebackpackers. com.au/directions.htm
Taxis are also plentiful, especially at night, and some of the drivers are hilarious. One memorable night we had a former Academic Lawyer from Poland who seemed to like to talk about politics and corrupt businessmen. Fascinating.

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Coogee is one thing I really miss from Australia. It's a chilled out place, like Ibiza but with fewer drugs, like Minorca but with better ice cream, with a warm, friendly feel to it. There are a lot of Brits there, both travelling through and settled permanently, but there's a distinctly un-Benidorm-like feel to it - you may get people chatting to you when you're in a shop and pick up a British magazine for a flick through, but you don't get them stuffing fry ups down your throat or wanting to talk about or watch football incessantly.

It's a place as suitable for families as it is for backpackers which is rare in my experience, and is, bearing in mind the likes of Sydney centre, Manly and Bondi, comparatively cheap. It's safe, cheerful and clean, and I couldn't have asked for a better suburb to have at the end of my road for my time in Oz.

$1 = 50p in summer 2009

Summary: Live the Home and Away life, just on the other side of town