My last full day in Sydney and it was another hot one, or at least, shaping up to be so I headed over to Manly Beach.

A few people had told me that they would be surprised if I filled a week here but between beaches, art galleries and museums (many of them free), afternoon tea and two shows at the Opera House… I’ve struggled to fit it all in.

This is a great city to visit.

So, I went from Opera’s Greatest Hits and the light show of the sails last night…

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…with an even better seat than I had on Friday… honestly, the lady at the Box Office has been a star…

… to a morning at Manly Beach.

What I have discovered in Sydney is that all of the beaches look exactly the same to me.

I’ve posted photos of Bondi, Bronte, Coogee and Manly and frankly I’m not sure if I’ve posted the right photo for the right beach.

Though, I could have just been to one beach and taken four photos from different angles for all most people would know.

Basically, Sydney beaches… golden sands, blue waters. Occasionally good waves.

What I really enjoy are the ocean pools, ideal if you don’t want to be decapitated by a surf board.

The ocean pool isn’t as pretty as the McIver Pool at Coogee Beach in my opinion but the kids at the far end of the pool were having a great time waiting for the waves to knock them into the water.

I worked up an appetite after my swim and called into a cafe on the main street overlooking the beach.

“What’s a ‘jaffle‘?” I asked after reading the menu.

A toasted sandwich but, Australians don’t do more toasties… they’ll fill them with anything and I had a Manly Mexican.

Chillied beef, mushrooms, beans, peppers, with melted cheese, grilled into a sandwich and topped with guacamole and chipotle sauce.

At 13AUD, it was delicious and, while I have tended to focus on the cakes, I feel compelled to point out the strengths of the savoury comfort eating on offer here.

I though the Americans had this covered and, to be fair, I have yet to find a country that can beat them at breakfast.

I went to New England and lost weight, which is not how most dieting/weight loss stories begin.

It was the breakfasts. I didn’t go for the syrup and sugar covered offerings I went for the vast burritos and enchiladas.

As a child I was raised to clear my plate and did so throughout New England, often being congratulated for a ‘good jaahb’… I then wouldn’t eat again for another 24 hours as I was so full.

At lunchtime and dinner time I would question myself as to whether I thought it was time for a meal because I was actually hungry or whether it was the traditional time of day to eat.

Now, Australia definitely trails behind North America in the breakfast stakes, but what this country can do with pies and pastries is astonishing.

You’re going to have to take my word for it because I haven’t taken photographs of every pie or pastry marvel that I have seen.

For example… the sausage, egg and bacon roll…a sausage roll, sausage wrapped in pastry with the addition of bacon and an egg baked into it.

Like the Tasmanian Tiger, I present no evidence of its existence.

However, here is a curried egg, mango and spinach toastie which was delicious… though I would say that the smattering of tomatoes and salad leaves that accompanied fell far short of being an actual salad, despite what the menu claimed.

And it was called a toastie not a jaffle.

Tasmania, so far, has the pastry crown.

I spotted Shepherd’s Pie, with actual mashed potatoe topping baked into a pastry case and I regret that I never sampled the curried scallop pie but I did spot this…

…cheese and bacon baked into the crust of a beef pie. Beef chunks in a thick gravy. I can’t comment on this because it was another one I witnessed rather than tasted.

This won, in my opinion… because not only was I impressed by the sight and the idea of it, I actually put my money where my mouth was and bought one.

Cauliflower cheese pie.

I already love cauliflower cheese and now they put it into a pie? The calories probably don’t bear thinking about but, (well, you’ve seen how many cakes I eat) comfort eating is about the taste.

I’m telling you, comfort eating? The Australians have cracked it.