Bonding with Bondi

SURE the mood in Bondi can be celebrity-obsessed, but Carrie Berdon was determined to get to know Sydney's most famous beach.

TO be honest, I've never been that keen on Bondi.

It can be vain, celebrity-obsessed and the number of bodies on the beach makes me feel like I'm on the Spanish costas.

There are so many wilder, more beautiful beaches - where the surf is just as good - up and down Sydney's coastline. What is it about Bondi?

I was off to find out. With two nights at the Swiss-Grand Resort and Spa Bondi Beach, overlooking the beach on Bondi's main thoroughfare Campbell Parade, I was going to get to know this Sydney darling a little better.

These days - as Bondi Rescue lifeguards well know - up to 40,000 bodies can hit the one-kilometre beach strip in a typical summer weekend.

One of the fastest ways to flee the frenzy is to take the 1.5km coastal walk to Bronte (or the 12km to Maroubra if you have the energy). And we had Julian, Swiss-Grand's concierge and a Bondi local since the 70s, to share some local yarns along the way.

For those who haven't done it, the walk is stunning. And, interestingly, was voted number one thing to do on a first date by a Sydney newspaper a few years ago.

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Just beyond the Icebergs outdoor pool, we came across the makeshift cliff home of a Vietnamese war veteran known as "two-hats Bob".

Bob has become somewhat of a local legend after fighting in court for the right to live on this Bondi cliff ridge. He won, provided he goes to the toilet somewhere else. And with a battered old sofa perched outside his tarpaulin front door, he enjoys the best view in town.

Welcome to Wonderland

Further along above beautiful Tamarama Beach we came across two stumps in the ground that were once poles supporting a cliff-top rollercoaster. This is a throwback to 1906 to 1911 when amusement park Wonderland City was the place to go at weekends, and children took elephant rides along the beach.

What excites Julian most about the walk, though, is the celebrity homes. We passed houses belonging to Sarah and Lachlan Murdoch, model Megan Gale, footy star Wendell Sailor, Mambo founder Dare Jennings, and even the square, grey/blue Bronte cliff-top home where Heath Ledger once lived before the Sydney paparazzi got too much.

At the end of the walk we settled for a cold drink at the small but sharp Swell Cafe behind Bronte beach (where film director Baz Luhrmann used to live upstairs, don't you know?).

Over a pineapple and mint frappe I asked Julian if he ever leaves Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

"Never," he smiled, "why would I?"

That night for dinner we opted for a Bondi feast at Nick's Bondi Beach Pavilion, which consisted of mussels, battered seafood, Greek salad and Nick's famous ribs.

At $25 a pop it's great value but the tiered plates for sharing make for challenging across-the-table conversation.

Catch the sunrise

A view of the beach from your bed is the perfect antidote to sluggish starts and the following morning I made like a local and headed straight out for a run on the sand (yes, it was tough).

It was 7am on a warm and sunny Monday morning and Bondi's cafes, promenade, beach and ocean were already full of healthy types having coffee, working out, surfing or just enjoying the morning.

After breakfast in the Swiss-Grand, Julian decided we had to see more prized real estate and he took us on a drive though Vaucluse. I felt my spritely spirits dampen as we passed some of the most expensive properties in Australia, some reportedly priced at over $50 million.

But I was thankfully rescued by the serene eastern oases of Parsley Bay (with its quaint suspension bridge) and Nielsen Park, the beautiful point between Rose Bay and Watsons Bay, which has its own beach and netted-off swimming area in mirror-like harbour waters.

The beach was shared just by us, a woman and her two kids playing in the sand, and a couple of old men enjoying a morning swim.

I could think of no better way to start the day than this and when one of the men offered me a spare towel, it pained me to say no.

But I had a plane to catch.

Spray-filled seaplane takeoff

Rose Bay was Sydney's first international airport - where seaplanes took off on monumental trips to the North. In 1938 its first flight to London took nine days and took in 31 stops.

We were here to catch the seaplane for the Sydney highlights tour. It was a clear autumn morning with westerly winds and our pilot told us that we should see all the way to the Blue Mountains, 60kms away, today. (In the summer months, it is often too hazy for that.)

After a dramatic, spray-filled takeoff, we were gliding over Sydney heads and heading south towards Bondi before sweeping back over the harbour. The yellow strip that was Bondi beach looked even more enticing from up here. The water gleamed and the CBD looked stunning.

Before long we were back on earth with a bump and standing on the beach in our wetsuits, ready for a surfing lesson with Tania ("TC") and Big Wave Dave of Let's Go Surfing, Bondi's only surf school.

The lesson was more fun than I expected, helped by the water temperature, which was a sweet 21 degrees. Within an hour we had memorised Big Wave's drill ("push up, harbour bridge, back foot, and poww!") and I even managed to stand up on my board.

Dave was excited for me, but apparently I was no special student. He told me he could get 85 per cent of beginners standing on their boards within three hours of tuition.

What better way to recover from a surf lesson than a massage, and I indulged in a Balinese massage at the Samsara Day Spa in the Swiss-Grand. It is truly heavenly (as is the ocean view, if you can keep your eyes open).

Bondi's constant state of development - err, renewal

The Swiss-Grand has always been a place of contention in Bondi. Built around 25 years ago in a bizarre tribute to a Hungarian palace on the River Danube, it's not surprising that it's been met with protests.

These days, business is going well. With many of the Swiss-Grand's 203 rooms overlooking the ocean, it is often full at weekends.

The hotel's restaurant, Epic Brasserie, is a suprisingly lavish treat with tasty and imaginative dishes. Beachgoers too are starting to pay more attention to the Deck Bar as a pleasant outdoor spot for sundowners - and rightly so.

But the place is a little tatty round the edges.

It is once again tagged for redevelopment, this time by Bondi Beachside Pty Ltd, which plans to create a $100 million complex including a boutique hotel, 98 residential apartments, restaurants, cafes, a supermarket and retail outlets.

Developers claim the new facilities, which could still be three or four years away, will benefit the community and will fit in with Bondi's streetscape.

But some locals have mounted protests saying the new development is too big and ugly and a sign in a shop reading "Say no to Swiss-Grand redevelopment" is just one illustration of how strongly most feel about their well-known suburb.

For all its world-wide fame there's a strong sense of community. As I hung out at the beach, I noticed the number of people who stopped to greet each other.

Their own Bondi Pavilion - the community's cultural heart since 1928 - is widely used with art exhibitions, theatre performances, festivals and film screenings.

As for me, maybe I'd find time during the day to have a quick browse at beach-side property prices before returning to my western Sydney office.

The writer was a guest of Accor Hospitality.