Our spirits were not dampened

Our spirits were not dampened, but our clothes were! Today we made the courageous (read as foolhardy?) decision to do the Bondi to Tamarama coast walk and enjoy Sculpture By The Sea, regardless of the weather.  What's a little water? We're waterproof aren't we? And we have an umbrella so what's the problem? So off we lurched, into the misty moistness of a drizzly day. Half way down the street turned around and went back to get the umbrella which had somehow hidden itself just as we were leaving...

Bondi Junction is like a miniature New York city these days, all plate glass and designer shops. So we left immediately and caught a bus to Bondi beach, which was comfortingly as manky as ever, the beachside strip full of young people who should have been in school and the cafes a rather shabby collection. But the lunch and coffee were good. Investigated a shoe shop in case I could buy some more sensible footwear (than my open sandals) but had to reverse rapidly out of the shop once I checked the price tags.  Shabby, yes.  Cheap, no.

This (below) is looking back at the start of the walk. As you can see, it was, how can I say, atmospheric. The sculptures emerging like new dragonflies out of the mist.  Or some similarly wanky metaphor.

Apart from several unfortunate moments where I was drenched by the sheddings off the umbrella as David leaned sideways over something, it was actually very enjoyable and we did the whole thing.  Here is a visual tour of some of our favourites.

 Oops, not a sculpture.  Actually this is a cormorant. Examining us very closely from its nearby rock overlooking the path.

 But this is a sculpture, a beautiful natural sculpture, courtesy of the winds and water on the sandstone. Colours genuine by the way. Not tweaked on Picasa.

Quite taken with this hugely enormous tap set sitting incongruously on the top of the cliff, ready to drip on the ant people walking up the stairs underneath.

These seats were covered in that stuff they make those old banana lounges out of. Not part of the exhibition either, but fun anyway.

Many of the pieces were really beautiful and graceful.

This great little bit of stencil art was ornamenting a dreary blank apartment wall adjacent to the walk.  This photo is for you, Matt (and Noah and Chris and Pam).

This was my favourite, glass incorporating shells, rocks and the view

Some of the pieces were ironic or funny

Tamarama beach had a lot of pieces on the sand, or overlooking the view

This Galapagos tortoise was made of old tyres

This happy lad was incredibly lifelike.  To the right in the distance you can see the orange structure that is the most dazzling fluoro colour imaginable.  Here it is in close up, in real life the colour iridesces and jumps out against the green of the grass in a quite disconcerting way.

This ethereal piece is there and not there, quite lovely.

There were hundreds of works.  These are just a few. It closes on 20 November, so if you haven't seen it, be quick.