Day 13: Tangara to beautiful Cronulla, Boat to Bundeena, Happy times.
Another blissfully hot day had me wanting to go to the coast for a walk along the beach, but having done Bondi and with plans to visit also famous Manly, Balmoral and Bronte beaches also close to the city centre, I decided to opt for something a little further out, and so I went for Cronulla, probably as far south as you can go while still getting away with calling the area Sydney.
This meant popping up to Redfern and transferring to the low-level platforms for the T4 Eastern Suburbs line, where it didn’t take long for a pair of T Sets to slip in. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the Tangara’s windows were (as usual) very dirty, but I actually managed to see out of these ones and the views were really quite nice.
I also settled myself down with my laptop and got busy writing a trip report – I think it was the Bondi one. The Tangaras provide the stopping service for the route, alongside fast OSCARs that work the Intercities down to Kiama as far as Sutherland, where the line branches off towards Cronulla. All in all, the journey took about an hour.
Cronulla station is located on a single track, but due to extreme popularity of the seaside town in the summer, it has been constructed with a platform length of just over the equivalent of 16 Tangara carriages, so that two pairs of T Sets can share it at the same time. The installation of a loop bypassing half of the platform and rejoining it halfway along (like Penryn but a far longer platform) means the two platform halves can work entirely independently from each other. It’s a nice station, and the Tangaras looked good in the sunny weather. You’d never think they date back to the 80s. They’re a similar age to Class 455s but look far more modern – and of course have air con!
A stroll from Cronulla station to the coast is about ten minutes tops and takes you through a lovely main street where I enjoyed a really lovely juice from a beautiful juice bar and farmers market before reaching the sea. Something about Cronulla is that it has absolutely tonnes of beaches, so I didn’t stop at the first – I had a walk for about ¾ mile and I’m so glad I did because it just got nicer the further I went. The main busy beaches were very pretty and had lots of wonderful pools built in the shallow waters of the sea, filled by the seawater and delightfully showered by the monstrous waves every time the tide came in.
But the real stars were the secret, quiet coves tucked away in the more private areas, close to the beautiful seafront houses. How lucky people are to live in such a place. I fell in love with Cronulla instantly, so much that I did not want to choose a single spot to sit down and brave the sea, but rather I kept walking in the sun and blissful heat and took in the charming atmosphere of the town.
Shortly after, I headed back towards the station and passed under the railway to access the sweet little Cronulla Marina, a small but pretty wharf from where I was greeted with a charming green and yellow boat that would take passengers across to Bundeena. I boarded with a very reasonable fare of $8 return and took a seat on the outside deck at the front. I had this to myself and enjoyed an absolutely blissful half-hour’s sail alongside many stunning beaches, past tiny green islands and across to Bundeena.
I know what you’re going to say, and there are reasons for the socks and sliders:
1) I had trainers in my bag and having been on Cronulla beach the sliders were easier to shove back on
2) Without the socks the sliders rub and blister me
3) I couldn’t take that pic without them; I’m 19 and I’m not risking some rando sticking me on Only Fans :P The BBC would never take me on then, and neither will TNF for sports modelling
Well, I don’t
think Bundeena is an island, but a remote tropical island in the middle of nowhere is exactly what it
looked like, and I remember as I stepped off the boat and gazed around I felt almost a little emotional with gratitude, feeling so lucky to be somewhere so incredible. That sounds so swearwording cheesy and corny, and I’m not one to be cringey really, but I can’t explain to you how special it felt. The small yet beautiful beach was all but empty, the sky was blue, the waters calm, and I just felt like I had arrived at my own little Australian paradise. I can tell you now, though I’ll have to return to Cardiff for third year if I want to graduate, should I manage to secure a job at BBC Australia or the ABC then I’d absolutely love to move to Cronulla & Bundeena, or Port Kembla. I’ve been to thirty-two countries, or thirty-four if you count Lanzarote and Fuerteventura as somewhat separate from mainland Spain, and Australia is the first one where I’ve really felt as though I could live there permanently.
Anyway, emotion aside and onto hunger, just above the little lonely pier was a small café and a little supermarket, so a Red Bull was obtained from the latter (ice cold, perfect for such a hot day) and an exceptional fish burger from the former, crispy fresh-caught Australian fish in a toasted bun with lettuce, Spanish onion, cucumber and tartare sauce, served with without-doubt the best fries I’ve ever had. I carried these back to the wharf and ate them on my private little beach, before having a little knee deep paddle in the lusciously clear waters. I spent about an hour and a half just relaxing there for a while, enjoying the privacy and quality ME time before getting the last boat back. I have a mate in Cronulla so we met for the evening and had a chat while he showed me around the other half of the darkened city as night fell, before I headed back to the station and another pair of Tangaras (and a rail replacement bus with a thankfully drug-free driver) took me home.
- Nooo, don’t take me away!!!
Not a very interesting report if you’re most concerned by the trains, but it was a really nice day and I thought it worth telling. I really do recommend a visit to Cronulla for a hot day if you’re in Sydney during summer.
Writing this on a service that I’m not at all happy to be on. Find out more about that in the upcoming Canberra report. Next report (I think): XPT sightings at Hornsby, the Secret Garden & Cockatoo Island. Thanks for reading.
