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Bondi Beach just has to be one of the best places in the world.  Amazing views, great weather, wonderful people.  And right in the middle of it is the beautiful little Bondi Beach Night Market.  This market has now been running for well over ten years, Waverley Council gave first consent on the 18^th of February 1994.  During the last decade it has remained a popular fixture of the Bondi scene; it is difficult to imagine the beach without it.

This mostly local resident run market sells a wide variety of products including handmade soaps, metalwork items, jewellery, clothes, temporary tattoos and shells six nights a week.  Particularly popular with the local residents is a glass blower.  As well as receiving a great deal of local community support the colourful market also enjoys support from local commercial people.  It’s not surprising - after browsing through the stalls many families end up deciding to have dinner in one of their fabulous restaurants along the beachfront (ok, it does happen the other way around sometimes too!).

Something that local residents may not be aware of is the fact that the democratically run market itself is a non-profit organisation with any money (from stallholder rent payments) not spent on council fees or expenses going to charity.  Over the years the market has given thousands of dollars away to various local charity groups including Waverley Action for Youth Services and Norman Andrews House which directly helps the local poor and homeless through the Chapel by the Sea.

Anybody wanting further trading information can call the recorded message: (02) 8320 2697. 

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It had been a heck of a day at work. You know the kind, the computer had been down for half the day, the boss had been in a mood because his footie team had lost and, by far worst of all, the coffee machine had broken.

I was, therefore, feeling a little fed up as the 380 bus careered on two wheels round that final corner on Bondi Road and the beach came into view. I do love living at the beach though and seeing the silvery sand with a fat moon floating above it started to cheer me up.

Another thing that cheered me up was seeing the Bondi Night Market on the left side of Campbell Parade. The market is such a nice contrast to the life of the sales job in the city. I don’t mean that they don’t work hard, I’m sure that they do. The nice contrast comes from the fact that they have the decency not to wear suits and continually refer to ‘networking’. I decided that I would stop off there and have a bit of a look around.

There was one guy who was making little glass ornaments. He had a crowd of people standing in front of him making the appropriate ‘ooh’, ‘ahh’ and ‘I wish I could do that’ noises. Another guy was making those arty pictures using spray paints that are full of weirdly coloured rainbows and a surprising number of dragons. There was also a good collection of jewellery stalls, smelly soap stalls and a sock stall that I hadn’t seen before.

Dozens of tourists and locals were strolling around the stalls. Everybody seems to love this place; it is just the perfect thing to do on a nice evening. There was a lot of hand holding going on.

I had a bit of a natter with one of the jewellery stall holders. He told me that he had been doing the job for more than ten years. He seemed ridiculously relaxed and happy. I felt more than vaguely jealous of him.

A cheerful lady running another stall was trying to deal with three customers at once, all of whom were determined to try on every single ring that she had.  But she still did her best to chat to me.

The people who had been standing around the ornament maker and the painter started moving on to some of the restaurants up and down the strip. I decided it was time to go home and have my wife tell me that I was working too hard again.

Right at that moment though, I was feeling nicely relaxed.