Mood: Official uniform of Newtown – Doc Boots and skinny jeans.

It’s been 2 months baby, but I’m back.

Moving countries is exciting, yet disruptive. It’s been difficult finding a spare few hours to write about all the amazing things I’ve seen and experienced, in amongst setting up a new life in a vibrant new city.
But now, after 6 weeks here, I have a head full of inspiration to harness. It’s definitely time to write again.

From here on out I will be Peggy Pearl, the New Zealand girl residing in Australia, writing all things beautiful in Sydney, with a nod to my home city Auckland.

My favourite things so far? The exquisite La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie at the Rocks. I’ve always maintained that macarons make you beautiful from the inside out, and La Renaissance create some of the most authentic ones you’ll find in this little corner of the world. Every morning I walk past La Renaissance and my days are all the sweeter for it.

Moving further into the heart of the city, Ivy Bar (in George St’s Merivale complex) has to be seen to be believed – in no way does the name give any indication to the vast size and scale of this place. Ivy is less a ‘bar’ than a complex of bars, restaurants and cocktail areas. The Ivy Lounge is pitched as a ‘1950s cocktail haven’, while Royal George is Ivy’s gilded answer to a ‘traditional British alehouse’. There are multiple floors, eateries and outdoor areas, the most famous of which is the top floor pool area. Restaurant goers can watch as Sydney’s flashiest partiers kick off their heels and dive in for a paddle after a few too many bellinis. This is people-watching at its finest.

Head west a little and you’re in the heart of gritty, vibrant Newtown. There you’ll find Pretty Dog, one of Sydney’s finest boutiques set in a beautiful terrace house. I was most excited to learn that they are Karen Walker’s biggest stockist outside of New Zealand –can you hear me swoon just a little? KW’s wares hang in good company: Romance Was Born, Lover, Kate Sylvester and Therese Rawsthorne are just some of the many designers Pretty Dog also stock. They’ve also introduced Paul & Joe Sister from France to sit alongside the racks of Antipodean labels – a big favourite of mine ever since I discovered them in Paris several years back.

A little sample of Sydney delights, and a taste of many more things to come.

Bells, whistles and sequins,

Xx PP