- Visual Splendour: The sea has a mesmerising quality to it, generating both regular and irregular rhythms. New patterns dance around the froth, different types of waves entertain surfers and the casual observer is kept guessing. How intensely will the waves break on the shore? How many surfers will navigate the water today? How many swimmers will keep within the flags? Will there be any announcements over the loudspeaker? Will the sea invade huge swathes of the pool, or tidily lap at the edges?
- Everything Around It: Trees that remind me of pines line the promenade, offering shade on sunny days. There's a garden running alongside the smooth, carrot-toned stones, competing for the passerby's attention on the other side. Rows of grass spliced between sandy-coloured stone curves remind me vaguely of rice paddies, though the grey statues of war heroes bring me back to white supremacist patriarchy. The birds circle the man-made landscape here, while further uphill it's possible to inhabit blue-and-cream wooden huts.
- Attention to detail: At the southern entrance to Coogee's it's possible to enhance the caffeine content in your body. At the northern entrance, too, but I prefer the pale green structure of Barzura, with its striped umbrellas decorating the pavement. Inside, the acoustics can make it uncomfortably noisy, but the outdoors tables are shady and offer splendid views: it's where everyone wants to be.
- People (and pet) Watching: There's a guy with an image of Jesus on his back, and the word 'Coexist' above it, representing a collection of major world religions in the font. There's women with skin-tight designer sportswear, fluorescent or monochrome, sometimes in pastel. They run or walk, sometimes accompanied and at other times enjoying their solitude with headphones. There's elderly, European-born couples enjoying the sunshine, British and Irish backpackers hanging out in pairs or groups, brown-skinned youth decked out in Tommy Hilfiger, (East) Asian men wearing Superdry tshirts, queer women with neon hair and multiple piercings, alternative types in black or dark clothing, femmes with sunglasses and flowy, floral dresses, Indian couples eating ice cream and much more.
The pets are as varied as their owners, from golden labradors to greyhounds, small dogs which enthuse at each other, and bigger ones that can peer over the promenade's wall if they stand up on their hind legs. I recognise that some people are return visitors simply because their dogs are distinctive.
- Variable: Each visit to Coogee Beach is unique, and there is a lot more I could add, but I have to end this post at some stage.
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