Discover your home town.

Walk around. Walk slowly and walk in places you haven’t been before. Take a different route home, to the shops or to lunch.

Stop. Stop in front of buildings you have always walked past and look up. Notice how the clouds reflect off the glass and how when they race across the sky it makes it feel as though the tallest spires are going to come tumbling down on you. Find high up carvings in churches and window boxes full of flowers.

Look down. Watch your feet as they walk and notice the plaques in the sidewalk. Stop to read them. See the graffiti on the streets and the fish in the water. Notice where dandelions and daisies are springing up.


Take your headphones out. Hear church bells ringing and buskers playing. Sit on the pavement to relax and enjoy the music. Listen to other people’s conversations or the ferries horns or the wind in the trees.


Put your headphones in. Walk around your area with a rock ballad in your ears and watch everyday occurrences become part of an epic music video. Smile, because your world just got more awesome.


Go inside. That cafe, that shop, that art gallery, that church. Is there anything planned for this afternoon? No? Then go in.


Have your coffee in a different spot. Get a takeaway cup and sit at the base of a statue or in a park (hopefully it’s sunny) and watch the world.


Collect paper. Use flyers, magazines and websites to fill your diary with things that are on. If you see someone setting up a marquee or stage, stop to ask them what’s happening.


Go somewhere different. You may have your favourite cafe, bar or restaurant but there are others out there that are just as good and maybe better! Try out a different one each time and what’s the worst that can happen? Treat it as an adventure and review it with yourself afterwards; you will then be a great person to come to for recommendations.


Leave the house with wide eyes and an open mind. You won’t be able to help bumping into wonderful things.

Tourist in my own city - Markets

Sydney city comes alive on a Saturday morning. Young hip things are crawling out of clubs still pulsing with music at the same time as stalls with fresh produce and crafts are quietly blooming into being. As the club goers slink back to bed the markets are just starting to bustle. Food markets such as Eveleigh in Redfern and the Taylor square markets on Oxford St officially begin trading at 8am and craft markets like the Paddington markets also on Oxford St open their doors at 10am.

The Eveleigh markets are located in the old carriage works in Redfern, just south of the Sydney CBD. Corrugated iron walls shelter over 70 stalls selling artesian produce from all over NSW and the ACT, old machinery is scattered between the stalls. On one morning there I sampled apples, sausages, yogurt, port, juice, cheeses, olives, dips, cordials and oils. My breakfast was a bacon and egg roll, a staple of the produce market and I took home a marigold plant for just $1. It is best to turn up earlier in the morning to really see the market at its finest with all the flowers out on display and everyone’s stalls stocked to the brim.

Taylor square markets are quite different. It has closer to 10 or 15 stalls and feels much more like a local community affair. All their produce is sustainable and they are passionate about extolling the virtues of sustainable eating. If you are a local in the Darlinghurst or Kings Cross areas then the Taylor square markets are aimed at you, they don’t have much variety but you can pick up bread, fruit and veg, honey, herbs, meat, flowers and a coffee and feel like you are at a small country town market just a stroll from your house.

Paddington markets are up further on Oxford st, you will find them scattered around a church and the joining school yard. Over 200 stalls are here every Saturday. Mostly crafts, clothes and design stores. Jewellery abounds, as does vintage sunglasses, local designers and their wares, art works and ceramics. There is also a courtyard dedicated to foods and coffee so you can try some sponge cake or Himalayan cuisine in-between stall hopping.

If you are making your way up to Paddington markets I would also recommend stopping by the Paddington Reservoir Gardens located in-between the markets and Hyde Park. It is a section of the cities past that had been buried but has since been dug up and renovated into wonderful sunken gardens; take your camera because you will be inspired to take photographs. It has been described as a combination of the Baths of Caracalla and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Old parts of the cities past water systems poke out from underneath ferns and are reflected in the water feature whilst families have picnics on the lawn framed by large stone arches. It is a tranquil hideaway from the bustle of the city.

Where do you go on a Saturday morning? Are there other markets in the city I should hear about? Let me know!