Coogee Beach & Dundas Dungeon

When I talk about my home in Coogee it makes me sad, unexplainably happy, miss my family there, and swarms me with unforgettable memories.

Coogee Beach...Every single morning I woke up to watch the sun rise over the ocean, everyday I spent walking barefoot through town, and everyday found a reason to lay on the beach. I started my morning runs here, worked out with an Olympic athlete here, spent nights drinking goon on the beach, made life long friends here and had the joy of living here. Coogee stole my heart.

(To take this picture I literally was lying in bed and stuck my hand out the window)

Dundas Dungeon (my home) was 3 bedrooms with a balcony overlooking the ocean. Just a short walk down the street and you were walking on the coast. I lived with 7 people (yes we all shared rooms) from all over the world. They were my family and still are family to me. We traveled together, cooked together, laughed together, slept together and my experience was made better by these people. I found a home in Coogee.

Since getting back I’ve gotten into the habit of visualizing everything I did in Australia to remind myself. I still know Coogee like I just left yesterday. The beach was my reference for everything. Coogee beach sits at the end of Coogee Bay Road as the focal of Coogee. Walking up Coogee Bay Road were shops, restaurants and most important Woolworths where I always got my constant fix of cheap sushi (not recommended). Shoeless and cheap I lived on cheap sushi, rice crackers, peanut butter and frozen veggies. Those were pretty much my staple foods. Avocados were usually a house purchase for family dinners. Eating out was very rare.

Back at the beach, standing on Arden street to the left is Coogee Beach House and Surfside Backpackers. Coogee Beach House is the hostel I stumbled upon when I arrived and Surfside is where a lot of other people I lived with and met started out at. I think it’s time to talk about the beach...the beach that burned me worse than I have ever been burned before.

(Check out that burn...this was my second day there)

The Australian sun is not to be toyed with. Australia is known for having high rates of skin cancer and the reason is because they have the thinnest ozone layer. Australians always wear hats and long sleeves to protect themselves so coming from the US and being all about spending time at the beach I got destroyed. I had no idea about the sun strength in Australia but I learned my lesson fast and from the first week on always had sunscreen with me. I read at Coogee beach, I slept there, I workout out there, it was my home when I didn’t feel like being inside. I spent time at the pool there. Fun fact about Australia almost every beach has a pool because of the safety, or lack there of, of the ocean. The pools are filled by the ocean and are mostly nothing more than a concrete wall put in the water. We spent days on the beach drinking goon and lying until late in the night.

The path that goes along the beach and continues north is the Bondi Coastal Walk. I ran, walked and explored this path almost every single day. That is a conversation for another time.

I loved Coogee and I miss it every single day. We talked about buying our whole house renovating it and all of us living there in the future. It was just daydreaming talk but it’s a dream that I still hold on to.