Embracing My Inner-Burb

Despite the lack of family and familiar treasured friendships, Sydney is fast growing all over me. Of late this city has been kissing my skin with early summer sunshine, voluntarily draining my bank account with an abundance of designer sales, feeding my curiosity with knitted treasured laneways and licking my insides with a never-ending array of reasonably priced delicious cuisine and happy hour vinos. I simply cannot say no to her.

I can walk for hours people watching her unique and colourfully diverse residents, with none more wonderful to me than fellow street roamers of the Inner-West. Though bias in my new found budding love of all things King Street (being a lucky skip from her windings in Newtown), I have made efforts to kindle with other burbs. To me, Sydney is dotted with a collection of city-niches that call themselves ‘suburbs’.

Upon arriving in Sydney we wanted to try it all and found ourselves whizzing on spare days to sample-cram Manly, Bondi and the Northern Beaches; as well as bar crawling and café hopping the closer inner izzards of Surry Hills, Paddington, Kings Cross and The Rocks. When extending invites to seasoned Sydney folk, we found that many were none too keen to leave the main street of their niche, citing traffic and parking hassles as too frequently eating into their Sunday coffee sipping routines. Though leaving the car behind to jostle on the CityRail, I now see their fellow point. There is brain-hurting confusingly overwhelming choice. You want to do it all; and now. But can end up over thinking the simplest of sipping tasks and time really is of the essence.

My yesterday involved a King Street breakfast before joining the mass at Newtown Festival. This was my first experience of this locally run event to raise money for the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre. And I loved it. I got lost listening to author Nikki Gemmell talk of her novel Bride Stripped Bare and its follow up With My Body in the Writers’ Tent. I was left in awe of the rocking power and effortless cool of the young four piece, triple j Unearthed sister act, Stonefield, on the Essential Stage and Dubmarine easily set my reggae heart alight to finish the day on the Main Stage. But it was the ease at which this whole event seemingly went about its festival business that I found irresistible. If someone had decided to don a ‘Free Hugs’ T-shirt, this may well have been my time to take them up on their cheesy offer. I was a happy lass.

Newtown: you are my timely essence. For this jiffy I am pleased to selfishly (and predominately) look to you as my crazy out of work saving grace space. I can’t get enough of you. xmuseandskipx

xStonefieldx