The sweeping white-sand crescent of Bondi is one of Australia’s most iconic beaches. Reliable waves draw surfers, while nearby, hardy locals swim in the Icebergs ocean pool year-round. Trendy, health-conscious Sydneysiders head to laid-back cafes around Hall Street, while hip backpackers frequent the area’s casual pubs. Walkers and joggers use the clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, with its dramatic scenery.

In 2007 the Guinness World Record for the largest swimsuit photo shoot was set at Bondi Beach, with 1,010 women wearing bikinis taking part.

Tamarama Beach is a small beach between two prominent headlands, with a sand filled valley to the back, surrounded by pleasant parkland and picnic areas. Tamarama is an extremely narrow beach and deceptive for its size. Tamarama Beach is often referred to as Glamarama, owing to the alleged abundance of glamorous people who sunbathe (often topless), on what must be one of the smallest strips of sand in the state. Tamarama Surf Club is located on the northern side, perched up on the headland where it overlooks the entire beach.

Bronte House was designed by the Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis, who set it on the edge of what is now known as Bronte Gully. He obtained the first land grant of 4.9 hectares (12 acres) which was right to the shoreline of Bronte Beach, at the time known as Nelson Bay. Lewis decided to consolidate his holdings including the whole area which formed Bronte Park and sited the house on the estate. Construction began c. 1838, but Lewis sold the house in 1843, under financial duress, for A₤420 when it was still incomplete, to Robert Lowe. Lowe completed the construction of the house in 1845. Described as a “magnificent, mid-Victorian mansion”, the house is a sandstone, one-storey bungalow with verandahs on the west and east sides; and features a service wing that extends to the south, plus two octagonal rooms with cone-shaped roofs.

The garden was neglected over the years, until well-known Sydney restaurant critic, Leo Schofield, became the tenant. Schofield has been credited with restoring the garden. The house is now owned by Waverley Municipal Council and is leased to private tenants.

Waverley Cemetery is sited in an urban setting, against a dramatic natural landscape of the Pacific Ocean with its steep cliffs and the endless horizon, Waverley Cemetery is a picturesque urban burial ground that contains a collection of highly intact funerary monuments and furniture dating from 1877.

Its earliest elements demonstrate the moral standards and religious philosophies of the Australian community in the Victorian period and, through the continuity of the cemetery’s use to the present day and the gradual introduction of alternative funerary designs and interment practices throughout the years, the cemetery demonstrates the cultural diversity and changing social values and attitudes of the Australian people towards death and its commemoration over some 140 years.

Waverley Cemetery contains the graves of many people who shaped Australia. This includes literary figures such as Henry Lawson, (one of Australia’s most famous poets), Jules Archibald, founder of The Bulletin and benefactor of the Archibald Prize, nineteenth century writer Louis Becke, nineteenth century Australian boxing champion Larry Foley, nineteenth century poet Henry Kendall, the American actor William E. Sheridan, poet and author Dorothea Mackellar, and author Ethel Pedley.

The Beach is located on Sydney’s famous Coastal Walkway which stretches from Bondi Beach to Maroubra Beach. Coogee Beach is sheltered by a rocky island called Wedding Cake Island which makes it an ideal swimming beach for families and a calmer option than nearby Maroubra Beach.

At the northern end of the beach are stairs leading from Dolphin Point down to the old Giles baths. This is now an open rock pool carved out of the surrounding rocks. This area is now known as “Dolphin Point”. The doorway and a four-metre high bronze sculpture serve as a memorial to twenty of the Australian victims of the 2002 Bali bombing who were residents of Coogee and its neighbouring suburbs, including six members of the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team.

Coogee has grown from a destination for day trippers in the early 1800’s to one of Sydney’s most frequented beaches. Nearby you’ll find bustling Coogee Bay Road with an assortment of great restaurants, cafes and ice-cream shops.