These are a few of my favourite things...

When you live away from home, you come to appreciate all the things that you love about home- Family, friends, food, places... Here are some of our favourite things we got to enjoy during our time back in Sydney.

Ariel Bookshop, The Rocks
Our favourite little bookshop of rickety wooden shelves and a great selection of books.

Inside Ariel Bookstore

Bondi and Bondi Icebergs
Sydney's most popular beach and and the legendary Bondi Icebergs, with its restaurant, cafe, bar and saltwater pool right on the edge of the crashing waves.

Bondi Beach

Bondi Icebergs and pool

Bronte Beach & cafes
Sitting on the footpath, bare foot, coffee in hand at a Bronte cafe with the beach across the road and the sun streaming down, it definitely made us not want to leave Sydney.

Bronte Beach

Brunches
The perfect Sydney brunch- great coffee, great food, great service, lots of fresh air and sunshine. New cafe/restaurant, Rosebud (Rozelle) satisfied our pallet more than once. Toast (Surry Hills) served up unique Mexican-influenced dishes and we love being right by the beach at the Bathers Pavilion (Balmoral). The desserts are still the best in Sydney.

Brunch at Rosebud, Rozelle

Latte at Bathers

Cupcakes
Nothing, not even the Hummingbird Bakery at Portobello Road, beats My Little Cupcake cupcakes. Where else can you say that the cake is just as good as the icing?

Cupcakes. Yum

Dining
One of our favourite Sydney restaurants, Satasia (Balmain), serves up delectable Asian fusion with great service and an awesome salt and pepper seafood dish- mouthwatering.

Salt and pepper seafood at Satasia

Such simple food, yet so good at Arthur's Pizza (Paddington).

Lauren, Cindy and Jenny (L-R) at Arthur's

The restaurant formally known as Una's (Broadway) serves up massive crumbed schnitzels. Schnitzels are hard to find in London.

Herlina and Mel at Unas

Fine Dining
Wildfire, Sydney Harbour as its back drop, lofty ceilings and latticed lights all make for a wonderful fine dining experience and birthday celebration destination.

Dining at Wildfire

Lunches and Yum cha
We have missed pad thai over here. Especially at Stir Crazy Thai (Kirribilli). It certainly beats the "thai food" currently emerging in British pubs. You've also got to love the tiny and crowded Stir Crazy space with the hot and noisy open kitchen.

Lauren and Anna at Stir Crazy Thai

There is yum cha in London, but it's nothing like a Sydney yum cha.

Mel and Herlina at yum cha in Burwood

Minnie (Geoff's dog)
Fuzzy creatures always bring such pleasure.

Minnie

Sydney Harbour
Impossibly beautiful. Especially on a yacht.

A view of Sydney Harbour from the Harbour Bridge

Sailing on Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour Bridge
Walking across the Bridge is such a treat with great views to the east (see picture in section above). I also made a point to capture this plaque which notes the design and construction of the Bridge by a company based in Middlesbourgh, a place in the NE of England that I visited late last year for my research.

Sydney Harbour Bridge plaque

Sydney Harbour Bridge structure