Barrenjoey Penninsula

Another deliciously sunny Sunday morning and Batman started the day like a bear with a sore head. I was considering getting up at five o'clock to watch the rugby myself, but as I don't understand the rules there wasn't much point. And when I did get up, there was no need to ask who'd won because the defeat was written all over his face and not even breakfast on the barbeque could perk him up.

We headed over the harbour to the northern beaches today; the temperature already standing at 30 degrees by half past nine. The funny thing is, either the sea breeze means it doesn't feel like 30 degrees, or else our thermostats are well and truly buggered up onto some sort of Aussie setting, in which case we're going to be doubly freezing cold come January.

You might remember that the most northerly of the northern beaches is Palm Beach, which is where they film Home and Away. Palm Beach sits on the eastern side of the Barrenjoey Penninsula, an odd-shaped spur of land at the entrance to Broken Bay. You can see the long stretch of sand at Palm Beach on the right hand side of the Penninsula in the picture - most of the filming locations for the show are towards the northern end of the beach.

At the head of the penninsula there's the Barrenjoey lighthouse and a golf course, then coming back down the western side there's a couple more beaches, though these face across Pittwater rather than across the Pacific, so they're perfect for small children because there's no surf (and as they face west, they get the sun all afternoon, which is a rarity because most Sydney beaches face east; fine in the morning but good only for a suntan on your back in the afternoon). Behind the beach the road climbs along the hills and as you get a glimpse of the view some of the residents have from their plate glass windows, you can't help wondering who these people are and how they got here (and given the home visit in Bronte, whether they're happy).

From the western side of the penninsula, you can catch a ferry across to Kuring-Gai Chase National Park, take a boat up the Hawkesbury River or even a sea plane back to Sydney Harbour if you've got the cash (and plenty of people around here do). We've considered the seaplane option, just for the novelty of it. I mean, you'd have to look the part; all white linen with a sort of nautical knit draped casually across your shoulders, but even if I owned such an outfit I'd never be able to stay clean and even if I could, we could never afford the return journey. The prospect of travelling back to Sydney on a bus sort of ruins the whole effect.

Anyway, the Barrenjoey Penninsula is one of my favorite spots around Sydney, not just because of the west-facing beach but because of the little shops along Barrenjoey Road, which includes a lovely cafe where they draw a leaf shape in the froth on the top of your skinny flat white (for those Sydneysiders truly obsessed with coffee) and the only shop in the whole of Australia stocking Brigitte Singh bags; a French designer who relocated to India and now makes all this stuff that's a blend of Indian and Provencal block printing; a sort of fabric heaven.

And then there's the other shops; a whole string of the most poncy shops you can imagine; the Palm Beach Wine Shop (also stocking posh crisps) and Palm Beach Couture (horrific nautical teeshirts and sequinned blouses in headache colours) and a couple of house style shops manned by their lady owners, ladies who spend six months of the year searching Europe and Asia for objets d'art yet somehow manage to get it all dreadfully wrong and cram their shops with all sorts of tat that just doesn't blend into any sort of theme, the prices on the little white tags seemingly plucked randomnly from the air.

The thing about these shops is that they're obviously just some sort of hobby for the wives of the rich, a tax fiddle probably. And when you walk in, you're usually the only customer in the shop, which gives the hideous spiders who work there ample opportunity to weigh you up before deciding whether you're worth bothering with. I walked into one of these webs today and found myself being followed around the racks of floaty linen and belts until I came to a halt in front of some eye-catching tapestried handbags.

"Oh, lovely bags" I commented to the owner, who didn't reply, despite having followed me so closely I could smell (and identify) her perfume. The little white tag read $700, reduced to $600, probably because they don't get any actual customers.

"Do they have a shoulder strap?" I asked, unhooking the clasp on top to look inside. I had no intention of parting with $600 but the problem with browsing in posh shops is you need some sort of recovery plan when you spot the price ticket. You need to look like you might part with $600.

"No" she replied sharply. "They're doctors' bags. Doctors' bag don't have shoulder straps"

"Oh, a doctor's bag" I replied. "For medical equipment then. Or can they be used as handbags?"

She scowled back at me.

"And where do you source them?" I asked

"I'm sorry, I don't know"

"Oh, sorry, I thought it was your shop"

"Yes, it is my shop"

"But you don't know where you get these handbags from? I mean, are they from overseas? India or somewhere like that?"

"Look, a woman who makes them came in and I said I'd sell them so now I've got four or five in different designs. Are you interested in buying them?"

"I might be" I replied. "But I'm not sure which one I like best. I think I'll get my husband and ask his opinion"

And that sewed up the recovery plan. I might part with $600 and I might not, but if I asked my husband's opinion, you can guess what the answer would be.