Well we had beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games and the ice skating rink in winter for last few years. Now Waverley Council has said it will host the International Beach Polo Tournament at Bondi Beach on 9th May 2015. This one day event is expected to attract around 4000 people and will involve bringing in polo ponies to Bondi Beach and the building of infrastructure to support such an event.

The Council has approved the event “in principle” subject to a few conditions, including the satisfactory submission of a final Event Management Plan (which meets traffic, parking and complying regulatory requirements) at least 16 weeks prior to the event occupation period.

It’s worth noting that this event was not unanimously approved. Four councillors opposed the motion to approve this proposal at the Council’s Operations Committee Meeting held on 1 July 2014.

There has been little press about this proposal, but here is an article written by Emily Contador-Kelsall.

Of course such an idea is completely ludicrous to me – and I suspect to many other locals also. Aren’t there already healthy numbers of tourists in Bondi Beach? Aren’t people all around the world already aware of Brand Bondi?

Yet, for Waverley Council, having Bondi host the International Beach Polo Tournament, [such] a prestigious international sporting event, “will help promote and showcase Bondi Beach to the rest of the world and could bring social, physical and economic benefits to Bondi.”

Really?

I think Sally Betts might need to knock on a few residents’ doors and really gauge how many locals think that attracting another 4000 people to Bondi in one day (together with all the other repercussions that such an event would have on the area) is going to bring them social, physical and economic benefits!

So here we are, in Autumn, all of us wondering where on earth the last few months have gone! Life just seems to get faster and faster as you age.

As for Bondi, it is still as busy as ever, still impossible to find a parking spot on the weekends and still hosting many changes to its landscape.

There is now a proposal being highly publicised by Waverley Council, to significantly change the beachfront area of Bondi.

I won’t go into all these changes here since they are already well-documented online (and in the traditional media), but I just want to say that the proposal is not insignificant; clearly lots of money and energy have already gone into this research and development phase of the proposal.

Flyer from Have Your Say day, 5th May 2013

Apart from the North Bondi Surf Club clubhouse – which is still being built – if all the proposed changes to the Bondi Pavilion and Bondi Park are approved and green lit, they would probably represent the biggest visual changes made to the now famous beachfront area in many years.

Just the other day, Waverley Council held a Have Your Say day at the Pavilion. I went along to ask questions and learn a bit more about what exactly is being proposed. On the face of it, it all sounds OK. But I do think the Council are treading a bit conservatively putting an effort in to manage the spin. They’re being very careful in their choice of language, (and somewhat vague when it comes to logistics and details), regarding the proposed changes, and there are still a number of issues not really being considered. Like…What if you do remove the parking from the beachfront? then you have an underground car park with approximately the same no of spaces, BUT can you imagine the road rage when it would take you one hour to get out the car park on a busy hot summer’s day?? At least when you’re in a traffic jam on the beachfront on such days you get to look at the pretty sights that Bondi has to offer!

There are times you can walk along the promenade in winter and feel a wonderful sense of space being in Bondi, like you are of out town somewhere. It reminds me of times past when there wasn’t a constant flow of backpackers and tourists.

winter's day in Bondi, July 2010, view from South Bondi looking North

Last night I spent about an hour having a walk in the beach area.
Given it was a very cold night, there were very few people around.

This winter though, Bondi will be a bit busier than usual. Or at least, that is the intention…

From the 16th of July, until the 25th July, The Alpine Winter Festival is coming to Bondi Beach and bringing an ice-rink with it. As the Alpine Winter Festival website explains,

“The magnificent Bondi Beach Bergstation has been added as a third venue. What a spectacle it will be. The Alpine village will sit on the edge of Australia’s most famous beach and festival goers will enjoy the blue horizon from the ice or from the comfort of one of the cosy bars.”

Sounds like a nice little novelty idea to help businesses in Bondi during the winter period when the number of people who generally visit the area dies down. I’m sure the ice rink at the beach will entertain many a skater and “festival goer” and keep a bit of a buzz happening in Bondi during the winter.

I’m not certain if this Bondi Beach Bergstation is actually part of the Bondi Winter Magic Festival which made the front page of the Wentworth Courier three weeks ago. Not sure if they are the same festival or two separate events. Whatever the case, it’s clear that there’s a huge push to keep the Bondi economy ticking over when its not summertime.

I’m not really sure what I think about all this…I partly feel a little annoyed about yet another event that wants to keep Bondi on the map as the place where there’s always people and action, rather than just allowing her to have her usual little winter siesta from attention and entertainment. On the other hand, I appreciate that winter festival intiatives like this can help local Bondi businesses survive and cope with the quieter winter months, and that’s a good thing.

Sure, an ice-rink at Bondi in winter, with cosy bars sounds pretty cool (no pun intended) and could be fun but perhaps if Waverley Council also considered relaxing the onslaught of parking officers in Bondi during the winter time, businesses would benefit from people feeling that they could actually park their car in Bondi for an extended period of time and wander around.

I’m interested to see how successful the Bondi Beach Bergstation is and would love anyone who heads over to the Bondi ice rink this winter to write a comment here of their experiences and thoughts on the 2010 Winter Festival at Bondi.

I usually walk towards the promenade from the walk-bridge that is almost opposite where the Diggers once stood (now of course, apartments) – the bridge that leads to the side of the Bondi Surf Club. Now I’m pretty sure I’d walked there only a week ago or so ago, so sometime in the last week or so an incredibly ugly symbol of tourist cow-towing looks like it has sprouted from the pavement beside the bridge. I’m sure Waverley Council must be very proud of this structure but it really annoys me. It is ugly and I believe very unnecessary.

Bondi Beach is not a very big area actually. And all this signposting and touristifying is turning Bondi into a big monopoly board. Surely tourists don’t need to be told that if they look over yonder or walk about 2 minutes ahead they’re going to hit the Bondi “Town Centre!” I know, we have to consider that all-important tourist dollar ,but I think signposts like this are an eyesore and I just don’t see how this adds real value to the Bondi landscape. Given that we live in an age where the internet and information is literally at our fingertips I do wonder why a decision was made to put this thing up.

all for the tourist dollar...and how necessary is this information here, really??

I realise that ranting about this tourist signpost might seem relatively insignificant but it’s just that when you look further up the road and you see the Bondi Hotel contruction site and the rest, it all gets a bit too much!

So late last night I decided to have flick through the latest Wentworth Courier (local newspaper) only to see that in the property section another gorgeous 1930s art deco building (combining retail and residential) is up for sale, in my local neighbourhood. Here we go again…