Parsley Bay

We've spent the day at Parsley Bay on the harbour today. Parsley Bay was named after an edible plant the early settlers found growing there, which looked a bit like parsley and became useful in fighting off scurvy.

It's the second time in a week we've been there and the second time we've found it jam packed full of school kids having a day out playing beach cricket, eating lollies and making loud screeching noises. Today it was a whole school of primary kids, none of whom had any concept of personal space or respect for other people trying to enjoy the beach. Darren thought I was being my usual crabby self at first and started muttering about the beach being there for everyone to enjoy. That was before they started actually running across the towel he was lying on, at which point he started giving them the look.

The thing is, giving an Australian child the look has exactly the desired effect; a swift sheepish apology and ceasing of whatever annoying behaviour was bothering you. They behave exactly how I'd have behaved as a child; like they know the adults are in charge. (Though they do swear quite openly, especially saying bloody hell a lot, loudly, in front of their teachers, who don't bat an eyelid).

I've also noticed that Aussie kids are more helpful and more polite than the children in Britain, for example a few weeks ago I was putting Ella into the car and had the back door open (it swings open like a door) when our bucket fell out and a pair of teenage boys who'd just walked past actually came back and picked it up for me. I mean, can you imagine British teenagers doing that?

Anyway, Parsley Bay's a lovely spot, one of Sydney's best kept secrets they say, which means don't tell the bloody tourists. Apart from the beach (which has a shark net), there's a great playground and a kiosk selling Toby's Estate coffee, ice creams, cakes and hot food. The wooden suspension bridge was built in 1910 to help local pedestrians get across the bay more easily, the bay being in the municipality of Woollahra, where people don't want to risk getting their Jimmy Choos wet on the beach.

It's a lovely old bridge, rather too lovely at times, as one of Ella's favorite Parsley Bay activities is playing trolls on it, which means a game where you have to sneak past her while she pretends to be asleep halfway across. She can play this game for at least half an hour at a time, which quickly becomes a bit of a drag as I'm probably not alone in thinking your average 35 year-old isn't quite as delighted by the repetitive scenario as your average two year old. Still, it's lovely to hear her cackling with laughter.

When we got home we made a Christmas cake, though as we're in Australia it was a swimming pool Christmas cake, easily knocked up by cutting a section out of a rectangular cake and filling it with blue jelly for water and jelly babies for swimmers - the only real effort involved was making up the jelly. Of course, a proper Aussie would have constructed a diving board from a Timtam biscuit as well, but being British I think I got away with it.