Hello! I’m SarahKate, and I’m thrilled to share with you our version of a typical Saturday on Sydney’s Northern Beaches! My husband and I are from the USA, and we lived in Sydney for more than 9 years. We adore Sydney… the beaches, the friendly people, the incredible food, and did I mention the beaches? Our daughter, Little Miss G, was born in Sydney and she’s a true water baby at heart! We are keen travelers, crazy about good fresh food and we’re both amateur photographers. Welcome to our Saturday!
7am
Little Miss G is a fairly early riser, so we’re usually up by 7am. My hubby will make G a piece of Vegemite toast while I grab a quick shower, then I get myself and G dressed while he showers. We’re out the door by 8am heading towards our home-away-from-home… Bacino Cafe on Sydney Road in Balgowlah.
Not only does Bacino have the nicest baristas, tasty perigino breakfast sandwiches and a sun-drenched little dining space, but they have the BEST coffee on the Northern Beaches. Sydney-siders take their coffee very seriously.
We are at Bacino almost every Saturday morning. Hubby and I have coffees, yoghurt and muesli or a breakfast sandwich, and Little Miss G colours happily with her pencils whilst sipping her weekly treat, a strawberry milkshake, and eating half of our breakfasts!
9am
If the weather is nice it’s hard to resist being outside in Sydney. There’s something so refreshing about the ocean air and the blue skies. We’ll often order another coffee to take away and leave Bacino to head to the second half of the Spit to Manly walk.
The Spit to Manly walk is a famous coastal walk along Middle Harbour. We can join the path fairly near our apartment. We’ll usually bring our Baby Jogger City Mini GT pram for Little Miss G, but she almost never uses it! She’d much rather push her own baby dolls in a little mini pram! The path is an easy walk and passes several great, quiet little beaches. Our favourite is Fairlight Beach and we usually stop there to let G play in the sand and collect shells.
We take our time on this walk, letting G explore. It usually takes us about an hour and a half to finish the walk with G in tow.
12pm
After breakfast at Bacino, hubby and I don’t usually want much for lunch. But, G needs to eat around 12pm or 12.30pm. So, since our walk has taken us to Manly, we’ll often grab some sushi or a salad from Banana Leaf Salads to eat down by the water. Manly Beach has tons of benches and stairs that are perfect to sit on with a quick lunch. If we’ve planned ahead, we’ll tuck a blanket and some beach toys into the pram and sit on the sand to eat and let Little Miss G play for a bit.
1pm-4pm
Little Miss G has never been a great napper and now, at 3 years old, there is zero chance of her having an afternoon snooze. Instead, we’ll let her play on the playground in the middle of the Corso in Manly, then grab a bus back up the hill to our little neighbourhood.
We’ll usually get off the bus a few stops early to pop to the grocery store for dinner supplies. Our grocery store has tiny kid-sized shopping carts, which drive me crazy but which G just adores. We’ll usually let her push the cart as we grab things for a BBQ dinner. Then we walk back home with the groceries in the pram and Little Miss G walking alongside us.
Once home, we’ll give G a bit of down time with books or colouring whilst the grown ups do a few chores and start dinner prep. Around 4pm we’ll often head back outside to the tiny park beside our apartment to let G play. Sometimes our neighbours will join us for a glass of wine in the park whilst all the kids burn off the last of their energy. Then we’re all in by 5pm to start dinner.
6pm
We BBQ a lot! A typical Saturday dinner might be lamb skewers, pita breads, a big salad and homemade dips, or a whole fish with rice noodles… something light with lots of veggies that the whole family can eat.
G has her bath around 7pm, then several books, lots of cuddles and lights out by 8pm. If it’s summer my hubby and I will have all the doors and windows open for a breeze and we’ll have a drink on the balcony once G is asleep.
Another dreamy Saturday in Sydney!
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