Another beach today, but this time, it’s the big dog: Meghan and Harry went to the famous Bondi Beach, which embarrassingly I first learned of in college when Apple came out with the first iMac in Bondi Blue. Thanks, Steve Jobs!

Meghan busted out a sundress — and stripes, finally! — by Aussie designer Martin Grant, listed on Moda Operandi as “no longer available” but also shipping in December, so… I feel like, take to eBay this winter if you want to find one. Spiritually, the neckline evokes the square-necked striped dress by Altuzarra that she wore back in April, and I wish it had done so in length as well: Jessica (ours) got the beach wedges she so craved — these are $120 from Castañer — and I think that might be largely because the sundress is so overlong that Meghan needed a high shoe so that she didn’t trample it. Even that only partially worked, because it was still in the way when she navigated stairs. They should’ve hemmed it, possibly to mid-shin, or ankle length for safe beach sitting as commenter TheBestJasmine pointed out. Walking on the beach in something long is just going to lead to dragging tons of sand around with you, or force her to hike it up (which you’ll see she does). That’s a misfire. They had to know she’d get handed a ton of stuff to carry, like flowers and gifts, so she’d need her hands free; filling them up with her skirt is not productive.

But Martin Grant must be weeping with joy. This is the third time Meghan has worn him in four days — although, yes, the other two times were actually one trenchcoat which she repeated, but still; he is practically a supporting character in this narrative. I’m enjoying wondering what other Aussie designers will come up. Sass & Bide still seems to be around. Harper’s Australia did a whole piece a month ago on designers we should know, and there’s one on there called Anna Quan who does blazers and “structured pieces,” so maybe one of her jackets will make it. WHO KNOWS. It shall all unfold in the fullness of time.

The itinerary: In keeping with the KP royals’ commitment to mental health causes, Meghan and Harry met with OneWave, which seeks to help people who are struggling by bringing them into the surfing world and the sense of community and support it fosters. (The founder named it after the one wave he caught after getting out of an in-patient program, a ride which made him truly smile for the first time in a long while.) “Fluro Friday” is something OneWave has spread to other cities and countries, where everyone shows up in crazy outfits and surfs and does yoga, and spends time talking candidly on the beach together, just getting loose. Like Burning Man on boards. You can tell Harry actually quite liked it, in this clip of him talking really eagerly.

Also:

She also told someone that being pregnant (when back in the UK) had felt like having jet lag without the traveling, which made me laugh. Harry also collected one more present on the way out:

Omid wondered, and I do too, what the significance of the carrots might be.


Good health vibes? Or an Anne of Green Gables reference? Just give them the DVD of the Megan Follows movie!

Later, Harry is climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge with the PM and some Invictus competitors to plant the Invictus Flag — I REALLY want to do this, y’all; it looks incredible — and then are chatting up the Leader of the Opposition at Admiralty House (where they’re staying) and the PM at Kirribilli House, which is next door I think or thereabouts, and is the secondary residence afforded the prime ministers (whose primary house is in Canberra). Interestingly, the last PM, Malcolm Turnbull, used it only for official stuff and instead lived in a schmancy waterfront place that was “agreeably close to [his] grandson.” I wonder if that means the dude two PMs ago who spent all that renovation money didn’t do a very nice job. Perhaps he HATED the expensive new rug. The Queen can relate.

[Photos: Matt Baron/Rex/Shutterstock]