Five Lunch Break Adventures to Take in Sydney
Make your lunch hour count.
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During the working week, time away from your desk is a rare and precious commodity. We're all guilty of killing time mindlessly trawling the web, but as excellent as cat GIFs may be there's far more exciting things we could be doing on our coffee break.
Make even the shortest of respites count and carve out time in your day for a bit of adventure, whether it's a morning mission or an after-work moment to blow off steam. Take the break you, as a hardworking human being, deserve.
LEARN TO PAINT AND DRAW
If your 9-to-5 lacks a creative outlet, it's worth checking out the Friday Express Art Class at The Harry Jensen Centre in Millers Point. The class runs from 10.30am to 1.30pm, but you can join in for as long as you want. If you're more of a paint by numbers kind of person, there's the option to be guided through a specific project over a couple of weeks. But, if you consider yourself a budding artistic talent, you can equally go rogue with your own idea. Whichever option you choose, artist Lisa Bergan will instruct on specific skills and techniques. It is a community centre, so you can expect the class to be quite social — and if you're lucky, there may even be a quintessential iced vovo on offer.
ORGANISE A MEETUP
Regardless of how weird and wonderful your interests may be — apparently there's such a thing as extreme ironing — you're likely to find someone on Meetup who shares them. A break from the office is a precious commodity, so you don't want to waste it and do something you think you should (treadmilling) instead of something that genuinely interests you (shooting hoops). The way Meetups work is that you can start your own group or join one of the existing ones listed on the website. Everything is covered, from walking groups, to language Meetups and even a 1300 strong posse of 'baddicts' – badminton addicts.
WORK ON YOUR DOWNWARD DOG AT AN URBAN FARM
A fully functioning organic farm is a surprising find in any major city, let alone one that plays host to lunchtime yoga classes. But if it was going to happen anywhere, what's not surprising is that it happened in Sydney. Pocket City Farms is a not-for-profit that turns neglected land and rooftops into urban farms — with their first completed site being the former and abandoned Camperdown Bowling Club. It's a rare and welcomed opportunity to get some fresh air and a 45-minute nature hit without even leaving the city.
TAKE A GUIDED GALLERY TOUR
Rather than staring at a piece of art pretending you're deep in intelligent thought — we've all done it — join a guided tour and have someone do the thinking for you. Running throughout the day at the MCA and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (as well as many other awesome institutions across the city), volunteer guides will lead you through an exhibition, sharing stories of the artist and giving insight into what the big red canvas really means. At MCA, the tours run for around 45 minutes, so if you have a generous lunch break head up to the rooftop and take in the views. And if you really want to immerse yourself in an artist's work, the MCA cafe serves specials inspired by the exhibitions. As good to look at as it is to eat, they're currently serving Restaurant Kim's version of Korean fried chicken.
TRY NEXT-LEVEL PILATES
Want to try something new to report back to the water cooler about? KX takes pilates to another level, combining high-intensity training with traditional reformer pilates moves. While some pilates classes can seem like an extended stretching session, this definitely isn't one of those. The music is loud and they set a fast pace, so not only are you getting a good workout, you'll feel like you've been able to truly escape. For every move they give beginner to advanced options, but regardless, by the end of the 50-minute session you'll definitely be bypassing the stairs and catching the lift.
