Arcadia Australia

With so much to do in Sydney, it’s hard to know where to start and what to look up that won’t direct you straight to the tourist hot spots. As a postgraduate student at the University of Sydney, I need time to relax and enjoy as much as my harbourside hometown has to offer during my weekends. So here is a typical Sunday for me…

7am

I love Sunday morning surf sessions with some of my mates. I know getting up this early isn’t the most ideal thing to do on one’s weekend but it’s a great way to beat the crowds, find your perfect surf spot and most importantly, lock in a good parking spot! As my mates and I vary in surfing abilities, it’s not too hard to find a section of the beach that caters to all of us. And of course, we like to end it with a “party wave” where all of us catch the same wave in to shore to finish it off before we head for a breakfast feed at one of the beachside cafes.

9am

Seeing as a couple of my surfing mates are vegan or vego (aka vegetarian), we usually have a go-to vegetarian café at each beach we surf at and with over 100 beaches in Sydney, we mix up our surfing location each weekend. Some of our go-to vegetarian cafes are Pilgrims Café in Cronulla, Earth to Table in Bondi and Bare Naked Bowls in Manly.

11:30am

Sydney is market crazy – with almost each suburb hosting their own market specialising in everything from local food to fashion and design. As I occasionally volunteer with OzHarvest, I’ll sometimes volunteer 2-3 hours of my day to help out at their stall at a different market every other weekend. It’s a great way to meet people, check out a new part of town, as well as spread awareness for a great cause – in OzHarvest’s case, food rescue in Australia. I also like to grab lunch at the market as each one always has amazing food made from local produce on offer.

2:30pm

If you’re a female soccer player in Australia, you’ll know that Sundays are game days for the girls. So I take this time of the day to rest and relax before kick off.

4pm

Game time! If we have an away game, we usually carpool but if it’s a home game, most of the girls live in the area so we’ll meet at the field for our warm up before kick off. As soccer has recently taken over Netball as Australia’s number sport for females, there are countless clubs to play for regardless of your skill level. Joining a soccer team in Sydney also showcases the diversity in the city – my team alone is made up of 5 Aussies, 4 Americans, 3 Brits, 2 Europeans, 1 New Zealander and 1 Canadian. Kick off varies for each team in each district but ours is usually towards the end of the day.

7pm

Won or lose (preferably win), my teammates and I like to have dinner together at a local restaurant that our soccer club is sponsored by. It’s a great way to bond after a hard fought game and also feed our faces after running around for 90 minutes! Joining a sports team is the easiest way to make friends in Sydney with 68% of people between 18-24 years of age participating in sporting activity in Australia and 32% indicating that they participated for social reasons, according to the Australian Sports Commission!

If sport is not your thing, there are plenty of other ways to get involved within the community. Whether your interests lie within the arts, music, technology, or another area, Sydney will have something for you!