With a title like that, what are you imagining? Beer and bacon butties? Blokes and blinis? Well, I hate to disappoint but Manly is a place in this case, not an adjective. I know, I know..sorry! But it’s a great place. A perfect place, you could say, to spend a summery Sunday. Most of Sydney seems to agree with me – Manly was packed to the gills this weekend. The sun draws the crowd and the crowd is pretty gorgeous, which draws even more crowds.

We started our day pretty early as per usual. Walking down the beach, in the bright morning light, the amount of people enjoying the beach and the rays was inspiring. That is what I love about Sydney – sun and sea are its very best features and the locals don’t take one lick of either for granted.

We stumbled across a beachside cafe that had a view of the pines and the sea, room enough for B1 to wriggle and scramble and make a mess, and loads of delicious brunch food. Yes, please! It is called The Rope and Anchor, part of Hotel Steyne, with old beams, exposed brick and industrial lights. Likey.

B1 was absolutely busting to dash out to the sand but her mean Mama made her have breakfast first. She smashed a banana smoothie to appease me.

Matt did, in fact, have quite a manly brunch – ham and egg wrap with hollandaise dipping sauce. He was making those noises that you make when your mouth is full and your taste-buds impressed. Something like: “Arrrgghh, oh wow, hmmm, gaarrrhhh, so good..”

I had the bircher muesli with hulking great spoonfuls of greek yoghurt. It was lovely. Check out that pretty plate! I had a quick thought while I looked at our meals side by side – Matt always gets something savoury, with egg, and I always get something sweet or sweetish, with lots of carbs. How about you and yours? I’m always giving Matt eye-rolls for being a creature of habit but I think I might be too. I shouldn’t be such a meanie to him really, he is always wrangling the babettes while I swan about ooh-ing and ahh-ing and taking photos.

Is there nothing better than a Sunday brunch? It used to be all about sharing the newspaper in happy silence, now it’s about stuffing bits of muffin into little mouths, picking bits of muffin off the floor, asking for a takeaway bag for leftover muffin and apologising for the muffin mess that remains! But it’s still a great meal out and a wonderful way to start the day. Especially when you’re in a beautiful place and the sun is shining and the surf is crashing. I’d take that any Sunday. Wouldn’t you?