Hi, it’s Adrian Bo here, and a very Happy New Year to you and your family. Today, I’m at Gordons Bay. It’s a beautiful, exclusive, private enclave wedged between Coogee Beach and Clovelly Beach. Gordons Bay was named after Lewis Gordon who, as Head Surveyor for the New South Wales Government, granted himself three parcels of crown land. Gordon called it Cliffbrook. And when it was sold in 1859 to local businessman, John Thompson, it covered more than 14 acres, including Gordons Bay itself. Thompson became the mayor of Randwick in 1873, and some people still refer to Gordons Bay as Thompson’s Bay, or even Thommos. In the modern market, it would be worth over $100 million judging by the recent sale of a five bedroom house on Gordon Avenue for 12,850,000, which yielded the vendors a return of over 100% as they bought the house in 2013 for only $6.3 million.

The buyer was a Sydney local who became the president for the American side of the ever-growing franchise F45 gym business. Gordons Bay, being a fairly protected body of water, benefits from calm conditions, which has given rise to so much fishing in the area including the abundant Tinnie storage at the fishing club on the very small sand beach itself, though a massive storm in 2015 smashed many of those boats. Now the abundance of Blue Groper have made them a protected species here at Gordons Bay, and collecting empty shells has been banned here as well. The relatively harmless Wobbegong sharks are often nestled between the two large boulders down at the Bay. The Gordons Bay Underwater Nature Trail was established in 1991 with concrete filled drums, each weighing about 200 kilogrammes linked by a chain that provide a pathway for divers to navigate through 620 metres underwater, and there are also plaques providing information along the way. On a clear day, it is great for snorkelling, but given there is no lifesaver presence here, you really need to be careful.

In the 1970s, the beach even became popular as a nudist beach. Over the 31 years I’ve been selling real estate in the Eastern Suburbs, I have sold many properties in the Gordons Bay area including 7 at 137 Brook Street, the house at 1 Moore Street, the apartment at 2 at 5 Major Street, plus several apartments on Beach Street with views over Gordons Bay. Also, it was very well publicised, at the time, in 2008 that I sold 27 Moore Street in Coogee to Jennifer Hawkins. And then she reappointed me as her agent to resell it for her in 2012 prior to moving to the Northern Beaches. Since then, I’ve developed a great business relationship with both Jake and Jennifer as they also provided me instructions to sell their Bondi investment unit sometime later in Henderson Street. The Gordons Bay area is very tightly held. For example, on Gordon Avenue, you’ve got 54% of residents who have lived here for over 10 years with the average owner occupier staying for 11 years and 10 months. On Major Street dominated by apartments, the average owner occupier has lived here for 15 years and nine months, on Melrose Parade, 10 years and four months, on Moore Street, 10 years and three months, on Cliffbrook Parade, eight years and five months. These are all way above average numbers for the Coogee, Clovelly, Randwick precinct and the Eastern Suburbs in general. I hope you’ve enjoyed this summary on Gordons Bay, or Thommos as some of you will still like to call it. Let’s hope Sydney manages to shake off COVID-19 for the second time and that 2021 is a prosperous and healthy year for you and your families. Please enjoy the summer, and always remember your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.