Let’s face it, it wouldn't be Christmas in Australia without fresh seafood. While Londoners and New Yorkers may have snow, cosy pubs and carolers, us Sydneysiders have glorious golden beaches, 35-degree heat and just-caught seafood. From freshly shucked oysters and a whole trout cooked on the barbeque, to grilled salmon and prawn and mango salad, an Aussie Christmas seafood feast is hard to top.
It’s great news then that Sydney Fish Market’s 36-Hour Seafood Marathon returns for its 28th year, giving you extra time to get your hands on the best locally sourced seafood, no matter what time of the day you need to rock up. This year, they’re expecting to sell more than 350 tonnes of seafood, including a whopping 120 tonnes of prawns and almost 70,000 dozen oysters.
The 36-hour marathon will kick off at 5am on Friday, December 23 and finish at 5pm on Saturday, December 24. Insider tip: The quietest visiting times are generally between 5-9am and 4-6pm on the 23rd or from 2-4am on the 24th.
As well as fresh seafood, there’s a butcher, deli, greengrocer, bakery and bottle shop on site, so you can do all your festive food and beverage shopping in one go. You can eat on the run too with hot and cold seafood available to enjoy on the boardwalk or in the arcade.
Pack the kids along for the ride, as Santa will be dropping in from 9am to noon on both days.
Sydney Fish Market is expecting more than 100,000 customers at this year’s marathon, but don’t let that scare you off as extra parking is available across the water at Sydney Secondary College. It’s a flat rate of $8 so you can take your sweet, sweet time. We’ll see you in the line for those fresh prawns…