Look – there’s no queue at Adriano’s!” We raced across the road, newly signed up house keys in hand, not quite believing that we were able to walk straight into Adriano Zumbo’s super-popular patisserie on a Saturday morning. Thanks to the television program ‘Masterchef Australia’ this tiny shop in Balmain, Sydney usually has people queuing along the pavement to buy a delicious hand-made cake, tart, slice, pastry or loaf of bread. We chose three lemon tarts: “The most popular cake in the shop”  and one passionfruit tart: “A little bite of sunshine,” the enthusiastic bloke behind the counter assured us. They were perfect to take to our friends’ place for dinner.

JP, our good friend and a French chef, was cooking us paella to welcome us to the inner west suburb of Balmain.

When I first moved from New Zealand to Australia I assumed that hopping across ‘the ditch’ (Tasman Sea) would be just like moving to another part of New Zealand. How wrong I was. Australia is bigger, brighter and bolder – the multi-coloured birds squawk louder, the television reporters like to chase their reluctant interviewees down the street shouting things like “You can run but ya can’t hide, mate” and the prawns are enormous.

After four and a half years back in New Zealand we have skipped over the ditch yet again – this time to Sydney. It’s great to be in an Aussie supermarket again – like coming home! That warm weather up north means I can buy fresh local mangoes and melons – delicious. In New Zealand I tried to buy only Kiwi grown produce but now I’m in Australia it will be only Aussie-grown for me.

Today we took the light rail tram to Sydney’s Fish Markets. We followed the signs but could just as easily have followed our noses. Over the concrete floors we splashed past bright blue spanner crabs, gigantic snapper, boxes of sardines so fresh they looked as though they might jump out, piles of squirmy octopus, and bright red crayfish. An Asian man gently prodded a pile of whole fish, carefully selecting the freshest one.

What I didn’t realise was that you can eat there. With this discovery I hastily discarded the original idea to buy fish and cook it for dinner. Why risk setting off the smoke alarm by cooking in the apartment’s not non-stick fry-pan? I did that last time we stayed here – and that alarm is very loud! So we ordered a piece of grilled snapper, a piece of grilled gem-fish and four prawns on a skewer, sat down with our plastic forks and had fish for morning tea.

Our fish eating wasn’t yet over for the day. After more exploring and lots of walking we headed back to the Vietnamese cafe next to our apartment for the most enormous prawn and egg spring rolls. These are the healthy, not deep fried, type and I am inspired to try making them. All the ingredients are at the Asian supermarket across the road but I don’t have a recipe.

“Hello, you want sit here for nice dinner?” Two young Thai men beckon us towards large low tables where holiday-makers recline on triangular cushions as they eat dinner. We had already eaten there, under the stars with the waves lapping literally at our feet. Amazing setting, OK food.

Tonight we are flip-flopping in our jandals down Koh Samed beach, around the rocks, through to the next beach to Jeps Bungalows. The food here is fantastic. The menu offers every cuisine but we turn straight to the Thai dishes. What shall we eat tonight?

When I first visited Thailand in 1989 there were no fast food chains – and no overweight Thai people. Twenty years later there are loads of fast food chains and many overweight Thais. It’s a tragedy that the worst of our western food habits has infiltrated this amazing culture.