Sydney, Kids, Food and Travel

Apex Park Playground, Mona Vale – The Northern Beaches’ Best Playgrounds

by Seana Smith on May 24, 2013

in Playgrounds Deluxe, Sydney

What a lovely spot on the Northern Beaches.

If you love the trifecta of playground, beach and cafe, bookmark this spot. Apex Park Playground is just across the road from the beach and surf club, and a lovely cafe called The Bronze Kiosk.

The only drawback of this playground is that it isn’t fully fenced. So if you have galloping toddlers or twins or children with special needs who abscond, it’s not for you.

(And my sympathies as I have had all of the above and get so annoyed when great playgrounds are not fenced.)

Click on this post instead: Sydney’s Best Fenced Playgrounds – North Read more→

Store Beach, Manly by Kayak – Sydney’s Secret Beaches

by Seana Smith on May 23, 2013

in Beaches, Sydney

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Who can resist a secret beach? We’re so lucky to have lots of them here in Sydney.

A big welcome to this blog’s first ever guest post, from the lovely Kim Cotton from Bachelormum Style.

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Flying Into Sydney – Now That’s What I Call A Great View

by Seana Smith on May 22, 2013

in Sydney, Travel

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I’ve been flying in and out of Sydney Airport for a bit over 25 years and it’s something I’m still passionate about.

The first time just blew me away; there were so many beaches, in a city – unheard of! And all the swimming pools!

My absolute fave is when the plane comes in over the Harbour and past the Sydney Harbour Bridge – fantastic!

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Improving My Travel Photography – Panoramic Shots

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Where better to read about photography than on a flight overseas? I had bought a couple of ebooks from Digital Photography School but had never studied them in detail. So I’ve been reading up on photography whenever I’ve been on a plane this year. Click on the photos to see them at double the size.

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Just Another Sunny Suburban Sydney Sunday

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Here’s a post for my Scottish and English family and friends. The weather has been so sunny these past two weeks since we got home from Scotland. I think Sydney’s putting on her best face to make sure we’re happy to be home. The autumn temperatures here can be very balmy and today was [...]

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Thank You To Readers and Giveaway Winner

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who responded to my request for feedback about the weekly emails. Thank you! The vast majority prefer the shorter email with links to the full posts so I have gone back to that. (I hope, anyway.) Apologies to the folks who liked [...]

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Bill Granger’s Chilled Green Soup- In The Thermomix

It’s autumn in Sydney, we’re having gorgeous sunny and warm days but there’s a chilly feel to the mornings and evenings. So it’s not the right season at all to be posting this chilled soup recipe. But let’s not be too predictable in this short life. And who could resist? It’s so green, it’s GOT [...]

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Wannabees Family Play Town – Family Pass Giveaway

Wannabees Family Play Town is one of my twins favourite local play centres, here in Frenchs Forest. It really is a deluxe play centre as it has a strong educational focus and the input of qualified play leaders.

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Self-Care For Mums – Ten Ways to Self Soothe After Stress

I knew full well there would be an emotional hangover after the trip to Scotland. After all that sunshine and rain, all the laughter and tears, my feelings are tender. And getting back into the kids’ school routines was like being hit by a tornado… with extra added jetlag.

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The Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour – Sydney’s Best Cafes For Kids + Teens

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Well, where else would you take a teenager to celebrate a 16th birthday? Teen16 is a mad heavy metal fan, not to mention a mad burger, chips and soft drink fan, so his passion for the Hard Rock Cafe is totally understandable.

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Quick Question For Email Subscribers

Hi there, I just have a quick question and would love to hear from you about it. I’ve always sent out a weekly email to subscribers of the blog. Hello and thank you, all 759 of you!! These email updates used to show an extract of the week’s posts, you could click through to the [...]

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Breakfast For The Jet Lagged…. Sigh…..

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Oh dear, I’ve been up since 3.30am. And worse, when I got downstairs I found Dexbox already up and playing Xbox.

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Wee Pressies From Scotland For You {Giveaway ended}

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We’re back! Just… The flight should touch down at 6am on Monday so I’m scheduling this post before leaving Scotland. It’s always nice to bring a souvenir or two home from your travels, and a few wee presents for family and friends. And this time, I’ve brought some gifts from Bonnie Scotland just for you blog [...]

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Scottish Stories – Sunshine + Rain, Laughter + Tears

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Typical Scottish April weather we’ve been having here. Maybe a wee bit nippier than usual. There’s sunshine when it’s raining, then lowering grey skies, then wee blue patches. Always changeable, very breezy. You need to be prepared for all possibilities, and go nowhere without a waterproof, a hat, scarf and gloves. Life’s like that too, [...]

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Scottish Stories – A Muddy Walk To See The Lambs

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So it struck me as we walked along this muddy farm track, that my wee lass has never really spent much time in mud. What fun she’s missed! A lovely cousin of mine has a house that was originally an old farm steading. We visited one day and went for a walk to see the [...]

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Scottish Stories – The Knitting Knapper Strikes Again

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It was all Minnie The Minx’s idea. She’d seen some knitting needles in a shop and was keen to have a go. AND we were heading to Scotland. Minnie is left-handed and so is my big sister. ‘Aunty Mairi can teach you to knit!’ I said. I like that passing-the-buck school of mothering, don’t you?

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Flower Child – Sweet And Sustainable Baby Shop At Collaroy Plus a Wet/Dry Bag Giveaway

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Hello from the far, far, very far, north of Scotland. We’ve come up to see my sisters and all the cousins for a few days. We’re off to the playground at the beach this arvo, it’s a VERY long way from Collaroy on Sydney’s Northern Beaches where this lovely baby shop is. The wet/dry bag [...]

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Scottish Stories – At Yellowcraig Beach Today

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Well, it’s a long way from Sydney’s beautiful beaches! I heard that my hubby and Teen16 and Rusty Rocket were swimming in the sea yesterday at Jervis Bay. Not us here in Bonnie Scotland. The wind is perishing and the sea would be worse.

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Scottish Stories – On Friendships Old and New

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I ran away from home when I was 16 years old. Well, actually, I got myself a scholarship to a school on the West Coast of Scotland where I boarded for the equivalent of Years 11 and 12. Luckily for me, another new girl started at the same time, and, like me, JV had come [...]

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Sydney’s Best Beachside Cafes – The Deck at Collaroy

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Think of me as this review is posted, I’ll be flying somewhere between here and Glasgow! We absolutely love this cafe. Talk about right on the beach! I took some photos there recently and went back to look at a post I did years ago. It was terrible! Bad photos, no detail. What was I [...]

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