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Bondi Junction CityRail then bus #361, #365, #380, #382, #389. Bondi Beach is synonymous with Australian beach culture, and indeed the mile-long curve of golden sand must be one of the best-known beaches in the world. Big, brash and action-packed, the sprawling sandy crescent really is a spectacular sight when you first see it as you swoop down the hill of Bondi Road. Red-tiled houses and apartment buildings crowd in to catch the view, many of them erected in the 1920s when Bondi was a working-class suburb. Although still residential, Bondi is now one of Sydney's trendiest suburbs, with escalating real estate and rental prices, and a thriving cafe and restaurant scene packed out with the young and fashionable - celebrity residents include James Packer, son of media magnate Kerry, and his wide Jodie. Backpackers create another large part of the culture, especially in summer when they turn Christmas Day into a big beach event . Beachfront Campbell Parade is both cosmopolitan and highly commercialized, lined with al fresco cafes, restaurants, fashion and surfwear shops. You'll find the locals' favourite cafes on the side streets: Hall Street , heading gently uphill from Campbell Parade, is Bondi's real nerve centre, with a post office, banks, bakery, supermarkets, an assortment of kosher delis, butchers and other shops that serve the area's Jewish community, cybercafes, laundries, fashion stores, bookshops and some of Bondi's best cafes. Between Campbell Parade and the beach, Bondi Park , always full of sprawling bodies in fine weather, slopes down to the promenade where there are two board ramps for rollerblading and skateboarding. The focus of the promenade is the arcaded, Spanish-style Bondi Pavilion , built in 1928 as a de luxe changing-room complex and now converted to a community centre hosting an array of workshops, classes and events, from drama and comedy to day-time dance parties and an outdoor film festival; it's also home base to January's lively and irreverent Sydney Fringe Festival (programme details on tel 9130 3325 Mon-Fri, tel 9368 1253 Sat & Sun; www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/info/pavilion.htm ). Downstairs in the foyer, photos of Bondi's past are worth checking out, and the adjoining souvenir shop (daily 9.30am-5.30am) is a haven of old-fashioned Bondi imagery. There's also an art gallery (daily 10am-5pm) exhibiting local artists and, outside, some al fresco cafes and restaurants. On Sunday the Bondi Beach markets (10am-5pm) in the grounds of the primary school on the corner of Campbell Parade and Warners Avenue facing the northern end of the beach, focus on fashion and jewellery.
Beached at Bondi, below the lifeguard lookout tower, rents out everything from umbrellas, wetsuits, cozzies and towels to surfboards and body-boards. They also sell hats and sun block and have lockers for valuables.
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