finding beauty in the city.

I'm a beach girl at heart. Or a country girl. Living where I do allows me to dip my toes into both. Oh, I've travelled and lived in cities. Big, big cities. There was a time when I liked cities best. The excitement, the crowds, the diversity; the busy-ness; frantic twenty four hour activity...it was fun and wild and crazy. I was in my twenties and the world was all there before me.

Nowadays I prefer quiet solitude, mostly. Birds, waves, the wind. Children running barefoot through the water and bush, the smell of horses and cow dung, open fires. Boots and creeks, sand and salt.

But I do like a trip to the city every now and then. For a long weekend, some culture, a footy game, a late slow dinner. Or in this case, the chance to see a dear friend and her lovely family. 

Before I left, we browsed through The Grounds, of Alexandria. We had a soon-to-be five year old in tow; this was the ideal stop for all of us. There was a small urban farm, a pig called Kevin Bacon, the most beautiful flower shop I have seen in, maybe ever; there was a BBQ deluxe-o bacon and egg roll for my (very mild) hangover, fantastic coffee and salted caramel tarts. And, oh, so much more.

Sydney, you haven't always been my first choice in city breaks. But I think we may become good friends after all.