Coogee Beach

 Tim and I had brunch with Adam's family in Coogee beach, a suburb of Sydney where Amy and Adam used to live, south of the more well known Bondi beach (locale of one my favorite Aussie shows we get here in Indonesia, Bondi Rescue).  It's a cute little beach town and everyone was out and about enjoying the sunny spring weather (although it was cold enough for me to be shocked at how many people were in the water):

Moon over Coogee...

The Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club (established in 1907) hiding behind the super tall Gymea Lily, a flowering plant native to New South Wales that can grow up to 6 meters tall.

 Tim enjoyed many of Australia's micro-brews, this one aptly named "Angry Man Pale Ale."

Self-portrait in Coogee.

Coogee has these funny pool/baths built into the beach.

Australians didn't play frisbee or paddle ball on the beach, but we did see a game of rugby/footy (I'm hoping Tim will do a guest post on footy vs. rugby vs. Aussie rules football soon) as well as some cricket being played.  We also saw these dudes walking a tightrope, which was pretty cool:

Australia has some crazy trees... in addition to the ubiquitous eucalyptus, there are these funny pine trees with the upward pointing needles and strangely uniform branches.  We thought they kinda look like the cell towers you see in the U.S. sometimes that are shaped like trees.

Above is the view of the beach from the north side, facing towards Amy and Adam's old neighborhood.

Tim and I stumbled upon this small shrine while walking around Coogee. Apparently there was a Virgin Mary siting at Coogee back in 2003... one of the fence posts on a cliff overlooking the beach is said to look like a veiled woman from certain angles, drawing the attention of many and prompting the local Australian media to dub it "Our Lady of the Fence Post" or "Rail Mary."  Ha!