Free things to do in Sydney today

Head to the beach to do your Christmas shopping this weekend as this massive two-day market takes over Don Lucas Reserve right by Cronulla’s Wanda Beach. There’ll be more than 150 stalls packed with gorgeous gift ideas and festive foods and wares with a focus on vendors that offer creative and environmentally sustainable alternatives to your usual Christmas retail experience. You’ll find eco goods from #Untrashy, doggy treats and fashion from Eccentric Paws and Charli and Mollie Canine Couture, cupcakes, Christmas cakes and gingerbread houses from Baked Beauties, surfboards from Bay Masonry, potted plants, flowers and Christmas wreaths from Floral Fix and much more from a diverse pick of small and local businesses. The market is the collaboration of Cambridge Markets with the Sutherland Shire Council, Shire Talk, Tynan Motors and The Side Project. Head down between 10am and 4pm on Saturday or Sunday to browse.   

Traditional photos on Santa’s knee are a bit done by now, you know? Move aside Saint Nick, why don’t you get a photo that will really light up your mum’s fridge this year with a gaggle of drag queens at the Imperial Hotel? Families of all kinds are invited into the Impy’s Priscilla’s dining room to pose with their own festively flamboyant brood of ‘Drag Santas’ for a portrait that will certainly spice up the family mantlepiece. The venues industry-renowned queens will be waiting for you underneath the mistletoe including Etcetera Etcetera, Ruby Slippers, Dammit Janet, Riot and Peach Fuzz. You’ll find these photo-ready festive fiends on the ground floor on Saturday and Sunday December 7 and 8, and the following Sunday December 15 between 11am and 1pm. The photos are professionally shot for free and the venue will be collecting donations for the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation. Children are welcome but not mandatory.  

It’s imperative that you do not eat before you visit the Carriageworks Farmers Markets. You’ll want to save maximum belly space for your personal version of The Bachelorette where you decide who gets your dollars and what delicious produce gets to come home with you. Maybe you like something soupy and savoury first thing? In that case go for the pho stand for a traditional Vietnamese start to the day. There’s a bibimbap stall that will even replace the rice with shredded cauliflower if you don’t believe in cheat days, and a classic bacon and egg roll for creatures of habit, from Farmer Rod’s Free Range stall. Once the hounds of your hunger have been quieted it’s time to prepare for your next meal, or seven. Maybe you need the sweet bite of Pickle Hill’s Worcester sauce for the pantry? Or some fresh goat’s curd from Willowbrae? While you’re there you may as well get some smoked salmon, fresh ravioli from Pasta Emilia, free range eggs, a load of beer and barley bread form the Bread and Butter Project, and some jersey milk butter to go on it. Chef Josh Niland of Fish Butchery and Saint Peter in Paddington now has a permanent stall selling inventive seafood using lesser known varieties and flavours. His prawn toast is a certified hangover buster, and the few cooked items sold change with the tide. There are usually take-home packs of fish sausages and Ballina prawns as big as your hand. You can spend a whole lot of money if you want to here, but equally you could just grab a k

Looping around the dandelion fountain in Fitzroy Gardens the Kings Cross markets are a community shopping fave. Though smaller than most Sydney markets, the curated Sunday offerings are diverse enough to ensure you have a gloriously full basket and belly. They also pack up at a hangover friendly 3.30pm, meaning you can scarf a crackling spiked pork pancake and impulse buy a house plant without having to get up at sparrow’s fart.Kings Cross markets recently updated their stalls to better reflect the changing Potts Point community. Posh puppies get a look-in with sachets of dried roo ribs and doggy craft beers (yes, really) from McPets. You can also pick up jars of Zeus’s ambrosial vice from Wanderer Honey, with selections in unusual yellow and amber gradients. Or, spice-up your antipasto plates with almond stuffed olives from the Stubborn Olive – a stall that also gives you $2 off purchases if you reuse your jars. You can also crunch on a four cheese blend toastie on Pioik sourdough from Great Wheels of Cheese.The markets are great for flowers and plants, with several stalls devoted to leafy finds. Massive bunches of blooms in buckets go for pretty cheap and apartment-savvy succulents and hanging plants are de rigueur. The Green Fingers stall has been going for over ten years and is a fab stop for scoring a healthy indoor plant to take home.

Off the main drag, but still central enough to attract the tourists, Manly’s weekend markets brings together organic food stalls with souvenir sellers that makes for an easy one-stop-shop for a bite to eat and a quick browse before you hit the beach. Sydney Road has market stalls on either side, which can get stiflingly busy in summer sunshine. On a Sunday morning you’ll find Patrick’s Farm and Rita’s Farm proudly selling certified organic produce from the Hawkesbury and Wallacia. You can pick up Hass avocados for $3, lush green veggies like broccoli, leeks, fennel and spinach, plus earthy Dutch cream potatoes and butternut, and boxes of free range eggs. Alongside the two main produce stalls at the church end of the street, there are fresh-cut flowers such as flowering gum for $25 and eucalyptus for $12, but also more weathered bunches of roses and dahlias. Chippendale café Brickfields also has a stall selling sourdough loaves, almond croissants and generously sized white Chocolate passionfruit lamingtons. There’s also Brooklyn Boy Bagels and Paddy’s Irish Soda Breads, as well as coffee and Golden Gaytime brookies at Milklab Coffee. When we visit there’s only one ready-to-go food stall selling handmade gnocchi with napolitana sauce and parmesan. Though the food stalls pack up around 2pm, the bulk of the market’s clothing and gift stalls are there till 5pm. The range is hit-and-miss, from backpacker chic yak wool cardigans, natural skincare products and silver jewellery to the

You’ll be stuffing stockings with gorgeous ethically sourced gifts after visiting this feel-good market organised by Willoughby City Council. Trawl through fashion accessories, toys, homewares, beauty products, jewellery, cards and many more handcrafted items that all have a story to tell. You’ll find products like silver jewellery from Eden Ministries, Sri Lankan toys from Apsara, block printed quilts from Kalai, embroidered cushion covers from Global Conduct, Colombian bags and tagua jewellery from Koguis and Panama hats and hammocks from the Toucan Shop. Any gifts that you buy at this market give back to the person who made them, with money going to support economically disadvantaged artisans, farmers and producers.

Bar Pho has been a staple of the weekly produce and snack fare for the past eight years, and the warming basil, beef and star anise-spiked stock makes a solid argument for passing on the usual bacon and egg breakfast. This stall along with Fritter House (try the lion’s share with chipolatas, sour cream, two big corn fritters, bacon and salsa) and the Raclette Shack (oozy cheese-topped potatoes are always a great idea at 10am) make the markets an excellent brunching destination. Grab some grub, BYO picnic mat and sprawl out on the lawn before making your way to the produce section. In summer there’s juicy pineapples, bright peaches and greenery aplenty from Kurrawong Organics, and Mayfarm Flowers always have a great selection of native and tropical blooms to brighten up your home. You’ll also regularly find SOL Cups peddling reusable coffee cups, AB Cheese bringing all the dairy goods, organic nut butters from Chunky Dave and hand carved wood pieces from Byron Bay Chopping Boards. There’s also doggy ‘parking’, live acoustic music and pop-up yoga classes on the lawn. In inclement weather the markets still go ahead, but often with reduced stalls. They also don’t open until 9am, so if you’re an early bird, pop across to the beach first for a walk or swim first. Find more best markets in Sydney.