Bondi Beach And The Festival of the Winds In Sydney

by JH - Thursday, July 28, 2016

White Pearly Beach.

Mention Sydney and you can't get away without visiting Bondi Beach. Practically a landmark of Sydney, Bondi Beach sees almost an average of 40,000 visitors over a weekend.
If this is not the local's and tourists' most well-loved beach, I don't know what is.
Located nearest from the Sydney city centre (8km) this popular beach is a hop away from the concrete buildings. There are so many things to do at Bondi. Sea sports activities, countless of international dining eateries by the beachfront and seaside residential sites lining the Bondi Beach can be spotted.

What to Wear?

I know it sounds like a 'duh' question.

You see, I was not dressed in my beach-wear best as I was not intending to swim or jump into the waters. The more compelling reason, however, was the HUGE difference in temperatures between the inland city centre part of Sydney — really chilly, windy and gloomy versus that of the beach — warm and sunny!

BAM~instant change in temperature! Such vast change was totally unexpected for us and thus we do look slightly "out of place" from the beach goers.

My advice: Dress for the warm weather or perhaps bring some shorts and t-shirts to change over upon reaching Bondi should you intend to play with the sand and water!

Festival of The Winds

This joyous occasion celebrates the oncoming of Spring in Sydney which sees a conglomerate of kites in various shapes, forms, sizes and colours dancing with or against the wind amongst the clouds in the ocean-blue sky. We were lucky to have bumped into the festival when we visited last year in September. In 2015, the festival took place on 13 September, and on 2014 it took place on the 14th. Remember, the festive happens for just 1 day, on the 2nd Sunday of September! Just so happened we were there at Bondi Beach on that day!
Lucky us!

Mark Down Your Calendar

As a result, we saw another side of Bondi Beach amidst the kites, crowd, festivals, carnivals and celebration! It was awesome and added another colorful side to the beach.

2016 would be the 38th year Festival of the Winds would be running. A celebration of Spring and togetherness, this festival sees the coming together of families and friends reunited by a common goal- to fly and display their master creations high up in the sky. That crowning glory.

Regardless of age, you will be in awe amidst the sea of kites high up in the blue blue sky. Pretty much from anywhere along the beach will enable you to catch a good view of the mass kite displays. From what I read, huge kites are mostly owned by kite enthusiast groups and gigantic ones can cost up to 10 over thousands of dollars in making.

Festival Info: http://www.sydney.com/destinations/sydney/sydney-east/bondi/events/festival-winds

Giant Bubbles

Prams have no place on the white fine sandy beach and have to be parked first.

Such Excitement!

With estimated crowd of over hundred thousand at the festival annually, there were many other activities happening away from the beach.

Be entertained by street performances such as stilt walkers, musical bands and dances. Such a jovial, cherry festival that will leave you smiling happily and leave with a hearty stomach.

And... There were more!

As we walked on we discovered, yes, our favourite — Food!

Even an aerial display was on to liven up the festive. *Hearts*

Hungry?

There were tonnes of food stalls selling all sorts of international snacks. It was awesome!

Bratwurst and Kransky Hotdog

Bratwurst-German traditional mild pork and herb sausages. Ranges from 7- 9.5 AUD and as usual, really humongous, stuffed with lots of ingredients.
How could anyone finish this by oneself. Or was it just us?

Bratwurst — -German traditional mild pork and herb sausage and FrankDog — lean chicken sausage and what have you in 'Bacon and Cheese' and 'Crispy Onions' flavour. So sinfully tasty and satisfying!

The point is- are you drooling already?

Even camels don't shy away

We also tried some really delish Turkish food.

This pancake was filled with spinach and beef.

Stilt Performers... stunning!

"Captain Cook"

Bondi Market

Just a short distance away, head over to the Bondi Beach Public School for the Bondi Market. Only opens every Sunday from 10am- 4pm ( yes, they close early)

A market of everything from vintage, coffee, plants, crafts, take your pick! And yes it is held within the premises of a school and that explains why it is around only on Sundays.

https://www.facebook.com/bondimarkets/