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Pippa Middleton’s surprise Sydney sojourn

Pippa Middleton and James Matthews have taken their love tour Down Under.

Pippa Middleton and James Matthews have taken their love tour Down Under. Photo: Getty

While few details about their wedding have stayed secret — a guest tried to sell the reception menu featuring trout, lamb and cheesecake on eBay — Pippa Middleton and James Matthews have managed a coup by touching down in Sydney as part of their honeymoon.

Middleton said last September she and former pro-racing driver Matthews “do exhaust most people” (their idea of a relaxing weekend involves a triathlon), and they lived up to that reputation on their first day in Sydney.

The couple — who according to various reports, either started their honeymoon in French Polynesia or New Zealand — kicked off their sightseeing on Wednesday with a 5km dawn run that took in the Botanic Gardens, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Steven Beale, from Sydney, told various media outlets he spotted the couple with a third person, reportedly a personal trainer, during their workout: “I walked past her at the foot of the bridge.”

After their run, they headed back to the Park Hyatt hotel, where the manager advised them to look out for the Opera House lit up as part of the Vivid Festival, currently taking place in the harbour city.

The pair then reportedly ordered a room-service breakfast before later leaving the hotel for a waiting water taxi.

Beaming, despite having bare legs on a 14 degree Celsius morning, Middleton — in a striped monochrome dress — held hands with her new husband as they slipped aboard.

The loved-up couple reportedly walked to jetty from the Park Hyatt in the Rocks (where the cheapest room available on Wednesday, a 40sqm City Harbour King, is $884).

Middleton, who won a sports scholarship to her posh English secondary school, didn’t break stride in her lace-up espadrilles while she expertly spun around and climbed backwards down the taxi ladder, without help.

A man who was walking towards Circular Quay and recognised the newlyweds said Pippa was “very happy and smiley” as she stepped aboard, News Corp reported.

“She and the husband waited back a bit, they let a couple they were with who had a baby get on the boat first,” the unnamed man said.

“That’s my closest encounter with royalty.”

Another onlooker said the pair, “looked very much in love and kept giving each other loving glances even whilst talking to friends”.

The Park Hyatt said they had no guests staying with them by the name of either Middleton or Matthews.

While Fantasea Yellow Water Taxis marketing manager Wendy Harch wouldn’t confirm the couple used her company, she admitted, “It’s been an interesting morning,” telling AAP the trip “was all arranged by the hotel concierge”.

Middleton, 33, and financier Matthews, 41, were en route to Rose Bay, where they boarded a sea plane to travel to Ku-ring-gai National Park for lunch.

They dined at the secluded Cottage Point Inn restaurant, where they enjoyed a several courses of modern Australian fare.

Their Sydney sojourn could be good timing, with Prince Harry — a guest at their wedding and brother-in-law of Pippa’s sister Kate — due to launch the countdown to next year’s Invictus Games in the city on June 7.

Prince Harry is also expected to continue on to New Zealand during the tour of the British and Irish Lions rugby team throughout June.

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