This restaurant has a lovely setting across the road from Pittwater in Palm Beach. The front is open air and very pleasant. They are rather expensive though, and charged $13 for a house sparkling wine.

Pilu at Freshwater has a fantastic reputation on the Northern Beaches. It is hard to get a table here over the weekends. The location is fantastic, overlooking Freshwater Beach, so a lunch meal is ideal. The restaurant is on the expensive side, but the food is fantastic. The service cannot be faulted either.

This is a small restaurant with not much place to sit, so it is great for take-aways. The lunch bowls are fantastic, at a fantastic price. You can choose your chilli level so it suits everybody. This restaurant is great value.

This Thai restaurant has a great location on Narrabeen lagoon. The decor is very modern and appealing, but they are on the expensive side for Thai. The food was good though.

Ironbark is my favourite pizza restaurant in Manly. It is away from the very busy area of the Corso, which also makes parking easier. They do a fantastic calzone.

This restaurant is upstairs and has an unexpectedly nice outdoor balcony area to sit. The waiter was very friendly and attentive. The food was good, although on the expensive side. Its a great restaurant for Mona Vale though.

I love the semi-permanent labels that Identikid sells. So far, these are the only labels I have found that dont actually melt onto the material. They are extremely cute and can be pulled off the clothes after about 2 years, which is great for second hand clothes, or hand-me-downs. They also have other labels in great colours with cute icons.

I did not know much about this American brand, but the beautiful bright clothes caught my eye as I walked past. Their clothes are just gorgeous, with many items matching perfectly together, including accessories. There was so much choice for boys, which some kids clothes shops lack. Some of the items were a bit expensive, but they had a large sale selection and I picked up some great bargains. I will definitely be visiting that shop again!

These are great, bright labels that the kids love on all their items. Great for school or day care. So far, none of the sticky labels have even started coming lose.

This is a small play centre, but offers great value. If you spend $9 in their cafe, one child gets free entry. So you can order a large coffee and cake or milkshake and entry is free. There is a great ball pit, and a large climbing structure with slides. Great for a rainy day.

Approximate cost: $9