An eventful weekend.

The Queen's birthday long weekend was fast-paced and full of fun. A friend from Scots, Claire, came to stay with my family and I, so we made an effort to pack as much into those four days as possible.

Friday evening consisted of a drinks party at my house, mainly for all of my Mum's friends, but there was good food and wine, and we stayed there until about 8.30pm, when we ventured to Neutral Bay to a friend's gathering. The crowd we were with were really nice, though not necessarily people I usually hang out with. They were into alternative music and had lots of tattoos and piercings, but it was fun getting out of my normal social groups and I met some new people.

Saturday Claire and I woke up and went for a run along Manly beach, which was a great start to the day. We then decided we would do something a little bit different, so we drove to Glebe and had a really lovely time walking around Glebe's markets, looking at the amazing stalls with hand-made jewelry and uniquely designed clothing, though there was also lots of bric-a-brac. Gypsy Kings-esque music played as we had our lunch on the grass in the markets, and it was a very cool way to spend our afternoon. We had coffee in a very chic little cafe, and next door to it was the most incredible patisserie I've seen (apart from those in France).

Sunday we walked my dog and, on four hours sleep, we were pretty exhausted. We watched a really great british movie, An Education, which I would thoroughly recommend. We cooked dinner for my family: chilli, garlic and spinach prawn tagliatelle, followed by an apricot crumble. Yum. An early night followed, as we had a very early morning the next day.

Monday morning saw Claire and I waking up at 3.20am so as to travel to Darling Harbour to watch the Socceroos vs. Germany in the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The above photo shows the crowds that were around us! The atmosphere was very exciting and there were 25,000 people there, although it was such a disappointing game and the temperature was extremely cold. We returned home by 7.30am, had a bit of a nap, and then at about midday we went for a beautiful walk from Harbord Diggers to Curl Curl, and back again.

It was a jam-packed weekend but it was lots of fun and I'm glad we were able to explore Sydney a little bit as, generally, when I am home I don't make much effort to get out of my area and explore other places.