Bondi Beach (pronounced with a long i) is a hugely popular beach and suburb of Sydney, Australia. It is situated in the Eastern Suburbs, several kilometres from the centre of the city. Large numbers of tourists visit Bondi Beach throughout the year and many British tourists spend Christmas Day there.
Surf LifeSaving Australia has given different hazard ratings to Bondi Beach as at 2004. While the northern end has been rated a gentle 4, the southern side is rated as a 7 (with 10 as the most hazardous) due to a famous rip current known as the "Backpackers Express" (also known as "Bronte Express" because you would supposedly end up at Bronte - two beaches south - if caught in it).
In actual fact there are up to five rip currents operating along the beach, the Backpackers' Express being the one closest to the designated swimming area. The beach has an underwater shark net in place sporadically during the swimming season. It is removed for repairs in the winter and is redeployed again in the summer.
Bondi Beach hosted the beach volleyball competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Bondi Beach is the end point of the City to Surf Fun Run. The run is held each year in August. Until the mid 1990s the run was held in October, late spring, until the number of heat-related deaths forced organisers to rethink the event. The race attracts over 60,000 entrants who complete the 14 km run from the central business district of Sydney to Bondi Beach.
HISTORY OF BONDI BEACH
Bondi Beach was a working class suburb throughout most of the twentieth century. Bondi Beach and the Eastern Suburbs also became home for many mainly Jewish migrants as people fled war and the Holocaust from Poland, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Germany. This can be noted by the synagogues, kosher butchers and the Hakoah Club, one of the Sydney Jewish Community's most important establishments.
During the 1970s and 80s it was renowned for its immigrant New Zealander population. The Bondi Astra hotel, now an apartment complex, was notorious as a place to buy illegal late-night liquor and heroin. A major factor in Bondi's seedy image was the fact that Sydney's Water Board maintained an untreated sewage outlet not far from the north end of the beach. The sewage outlet was closed in the mid 1990s when a deep water ocean outfall was built.
In recent decades Bondi has become gentrified and is home to many famous Australians such as media baron James Packer. War correspondent, film-maker and playwright John Pilger was born in Bondi Beach.
BONDI JUNCTION
Bondi Junction is a suburb of Sydney, Australia, about 5 kilometres east of the central business district. It is located immediately west of Bondi Beach. It is a largely commercial area which has undergone many renovations and changes since the late 20th century.
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BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY
Surf LifeSaving Australia has given different hazard ratings to Bondi Beach as at 2004. While the northern end has been rated a gentle 4, the southern side is rated as a 7 (with 10 as the most hazardous) due to a famous rip current known as the "Backpackers Express" (also known as "Bronte Express" because you would supposedly end up at Bronte - two beaches south - if caught in it).
HISTORY OF BONDI BEACH
