Arley's Video Blog #2

Arley is back behind the camera showing off all the highlights from the next leg of our caravanning adventure!

Going Green: The Sunshine Coast Hinterland

Holiday makers could easily while away the days on the waterways or bike tracks in and around the beautiful Sunshine Coast of QLD but a short drive inland and a whole other world of magic awaits. During our time at Caloundra, we took a few trips to discover the beauty of the townships and National parks of The Glass House Mountains, and we were so glad we did!

Growing up with two uncles as National Park rangers, no family holiday was complete unless we had trampled through the bush in some capacity. Whether we were camping in remote National Parks like Humpy Island off the coast of North Queensland, hiking to the top of mountains such as the Bread Knife in the Warrumbungles or exploring the bush and waterways of the Top End, Mum and Dad always chose holidays that helped my brothers and sister and I to appreciate nature and the simplicity of camping instead of booking into a resort for a week (not that they could have afforded it back then with four kids in tow!). It certainly has rubbed off and we want our kids to value time spent in our beautiful National Parks also, and with the silhouette of The Glasshouse Mountains clearly visible even from the coastline at Caloundra, we couldn't help but pack the backpack and suncream and head off to tackle one of these ancient volcanic mounds ourself.

With five kiddies under six between my brother's crew and ours, we chose one of the easiest of the mountains to climb, Mount Ngungun. We were told it is a great beginners walk amongst the fourteen mountains within The Glasshouse Mountain area, which was perfect for little legs! Despite it being a hot day, our gang powered up to the top and the view out over Mount Beerwah and the beautiful farming land beneath was definitely worth the extra cargo when the kids wanted to be carried on top of shoulders and backs.

     
Besides the beautiful National Park, there are so many beautiful little villages nestled in the hills of the Sunshine Coast that really do deserve a visit. Quaint and full of gorgeous cafes, art galleries and gift shops, the kids were kept busy in the pretty town of Maleny with the lovely park right next to a trickling stream which runs through the heart of the town centre, and an ice block helped buy me some time in the amazing book shop too!

But I would leave the kids behind and sneak off to really get the most out of Montville. My beautiful cousin recently spent a few days post-wedding here and it's not hard to see why this pretty little town nestled high up in the hills is a favourite for couples. With chocolate shops, a cheese factory, cute little shops like The Clock Shop and a The Candle Shop, plus tons of great coffee spots and restaurants to choose from, you could easily laze the day away up here! 

And whether you have little ones or you're just a mad crocodile fan, you can't really head up this way without visiting the now world-famous Australia Zoo. Brought into the spotlight by the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, we by-passed this park the last time we were holidaying near-by - it is quite pricey and how many crocs can you see in one day, right? But I must say, after visiting on this trip, we were so impressed by the Zoo - it is set on over 70 acres of bushland and is HUGE, but even more impressive than the sheer size of the place, is the high quality of exhibits, facilities, the staff members and the amazing gardens - we found everything to be of such a high standard that I almost felt a bit sad seeing all the images and footage of Steve everywhere, knowing that he didn't get to see his Zoo in all of its glory today. 

Arley, Sage and Bassie loved the animals, the Safari train ride, the random play equipment and jumping castles scattered all over the park and the big show at the Crocoseum and the only advice I can offer is to pack your own food - $3.50 for a small juice popper was the starting point with things getting more and more expensive from there up make for a very expensive day if you buy lunch out as well! And if you have babies or toddlers, take a stroller because there is plenty of walking to be done!

Family Fun on The Sunshine Coast

Before children, we had only dipped our toe into the waters along the Queensland stretch of The Sunshine Coast. This trip we booked into Caloundra Waterfront Holiday Park so we could really set up our camp and enjoy some family time. Along with my brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, my parents have also joined our crew for a week of fun in the sun and beautiful Caloundra has proved the perfect place for it! 

                                            

Caloundra is the southern-most community on the Sunshine Coast and after almost a week enjoying the sights, it has proved to be a perfect holiday destination to unwind and enjoy all that the area has to offer. Endless bike tracks line the waterways - in fact, there are over 350km worth of quality bike tracks that connect the beaches, nature reserves and parks, and seeing flocks of people of all ages riding all day long is inspiring! Why don't all towns incorporate these amazing bike paths into their town planning which encourage health and fitness, community togetherness as well as environmental responsibility? And the kids certainly did their time hitting the pavement on scooters and bikes each day, wearing out their little legs, in the hope that sleep would come more easily and I'm happy to report that the kids seem to be getting used to their new home away from home and are sleeping much better!

But it's the waterways that are the real main attraction on the Sunshine Coast and Caloundra boasts several beautiful beaches, one after the other, right up the coast to Noosa, making residents and holiday-makers both spoilt for choice when it comes to a morning dip, an easy surf or a float in the warm current in the waters of the ocean inlet that overlooks Bribie Island. The water temperature has hovered around the 25 degree mark all week and has turned our three littlies into little fish, alternating between the ocean and the caravan park pool all day!     

 

The benefits of travelling with a crew are many - free kids entertainment as the cousins amused themselves pushing sand pit trucks in the dirt and building roads near our caravan sight, endless bike riding and scootering up and down past our vans, watching an 'outdoor movie' when the kids couldn't swim or ride any longer, racing in and out of each other's caravans, collecting bits and pieces and making up funny games that "aren't for adults." These are memories in the making and ones I hope help build the foundations of solid friendships between siblings and cousins alike. 

(Special note to other parents of young kids: Be warned, our holiday so far hasn't been all smiles and ice-creams!! We've had plenty of tears and tantrums- having to remind our tired toddler to share, our preschooler to find her manners and our school boy that he isn't a teenager yet and can't simply ride his bike whenever and wherever he likes or visit the toilet block on his own...! And often having a ready-made caravan park audience whilst working out the boundaries and rules is tough, but it's also a nice little reminder to be present with our kids and really be in the moment with them, no matter how hard that sometimes is! 

Arley's Video Blog #1

Our eldest son Arley is in Year One at primary school and although we were told by his teachers that taking him out of school for a full term to travel this country of ours wasn't much of a big deal in terms of him missing school work, we are constantly on the lookout for ways to incorporate learning experiences for all of our kids into our time on the road. 

Arley was keen to involve his school mates in our trip and still wanted to present his weekly "news" to his classmates back in Newcastle, so he's been recording little videos along the way. We have shown him how to edit them together using an easy App called Slice, to create his very own little 'news story' to present via YouTube to his class each week. 

Here's his first instalment! 

Arley Hits the Road #1

  

The Goldcoast: Theme Parks and Tired Kids

Driving across the boarder from NSW into QLD is kind of a non-event and the kids were shocked that there was no big flashing sign or welcome balloons or trumpeting fanfare in sight. "Are we in Queensland yet? Are we in Queensland yet?" they kept asking until finally we were and then the reply from the back of the car was, "Oh." Needless to say, arriving at the Broadwater Tourist Park was exciting for other reasons - my brother Damon and his wife Kristie and their two children Araminta and Eli were joining us on holidays for two weeks starting now - cousin time had begun!

                                           

This caravan park is perfect if you want to be right in amongst it all - it's less than 10 minutes from all the theme parks, you can see the roller coaster at Seaworld from across the bay, Harbour Town Shopping Centre and Pacific Fair are a short drive away and so is Cavill Avenue. But it's busy and pretty noisy and not the kind of place you can really enjoy the simple pleasures of 'camping.'

                                              

We took on Seaworld, Movieworld and Wet 'N' Wild with the kids - it kind of reminded me of the routine of school after the third day - get up, pack morning tea, fill drink bottles, make lunches, suncream on, hats on, line up in straight lines for the rides, drag home tired kids, early dinner and to bed. And repeat. But the kids had a ball (Arley and Araminta especially getting gamer and gamer with each day and wanting to hit the roller coasters and speed water slides despite being well under the height limit for most...) and it took us oldies back to when we visited the theme parks as kids all those years back. The tip is to jump online and grab discount three-parks-in-one tickets which mean you can go back and forth as many times as you like, by-pass the initial long line up to get in and do shorter days without feeling like you aren't getting your money worth.

It was nice, too, actually setting up our caravan properly and not having to rush and get packed up and off to the next spot each morning. It takes about half an hour to get all the gear out and the bikes off and the annex up, and with three kids at your feet saying, "Can we go on the jumping pillow pleeeeeease?" over and over again, 'relaxing holiday' isn't the first thing that springs to mind....

And while we're talking about building patience, a word on sleep in these early days of our trip. Throwing a six, four and two-year-old into a small space together and expecting them to nod off easily into the world of dreamy-dream land was never going to happen. I knew that but still, I don't think I'd really prepared myself for the night-time tom-foolery that comes hand-in-hand with three kids, over-tired from big days adventuring, out of their normal routines, on holidays with possibly ice-cream and other some-times treats in their systems, high on life and completely oblivious to the fact that a bunch of grey nomads are already well and truly snoring in their Winnebagos just an arm-stretch away.

We've had to pull out the big guns - there's been plenty of threats about certain children missing out on certain activities the next day if the noise didn't stop. We've warned of confiscating bikes or scooters or hard-earned pocket money. And yes, I admit, in the heat of the wrestling and laughter and singing Peter Coombe's "Spaghetti Bolognese" at an unacceptable bedtime caravan park volume, we have threatened to abort ship altogether and turn this caravan around.... but quite simply, we've come to see that time is the only remedy. Patience and understanding that the kids are getting used to this new setup as much as we are, and a bit of space to settle into a new routine of sorts, is what we've been trying to go with. And it seems to be getting easier each night. Either that or the holiday beverages are numbing the pain!

The North Coast of NSW

Growing up at Hallidays Point, just 20 minutes north of Forster on the mid-north coast of NSW, I've spent my share of time on this part of the world's beautiful beaches and explored the quaint coastal townships that are scattered between Sydney and the QLD boarder. On this road trip, we decided to only take a night or two on our way to sunny Queensland, so we could use our time to discover those places we hadn't been to before.

Woolooglah was our first stop, mostly because of it being a very convenient mid-point to the QLD boarder from Newcastle. Anyone with little ones knows that car trips to the local shops can be testing at times, so strapping the kids into their carseats for hours and hours on end can only result in A) Tears and tantrums from the back seat, or even more likely B) Tears and tantrums from us oldies up front as a result of A). In short, it ain't fun. This long trip, I came overly prepared with enough snacks bulging out of my tote bag shoved at my feet to keep a small army nourished, a bunch of kids audio books from the likes of Julia Donaldson (mostly because I like The Gruffalo's Child even more than my children...), paper, pencils, colouring in books, small toys wrapped in foil so eager hands could unwrap a new "surprise" every once in a while and this time, an impressively stocked party-bag each from our nephew's 6th birthday party the day before and even though I've never been a fan of in-car DVD players, knowing the kms we hoped to drive, this time I surrendered and I must say the USB port meant my eldest could sit in bliss watching his favourite TV show, Mr Bean in uninterrupted peace (yes, you read right, my six year old is obsessed with the original Mr Bean series. HUGE Rowan Atinkson fan, but who isn't, right?).

But all the travelling-with-young-kids tricks in the book can still only get you so far, so this trip we planned to drive shorter distances between stays, to guarantee a better experience for all.

Woolgoolah is a pretty beachside town about 20minutes north of Coffs Harbour - its a great option if you're looking for a more low-key accommodation option than staying right in Coffs. There are two great caravan parks, one literally right on the main beach and the other around the corner on the Woolgoolgah Creek - both are great but we stayed at Woolgoolgah Beach Caravan park which gave us our first real, "Ah, this is why we decided to pack our kids up and hit the road!" moment. After we had set up camp (which truthfully we are still getting the hang of - I'm just glad Luke is doing the caravan reversing and parking because there's always a plethora of caravanning "experts" patrolling the parks with their tinnie or glass of chardy ever ready to give their advice or tips on a newbie's set-up), the kids rode their bikes down to the beach, sun setting and tide on low. Watching the delight on the faces of our three, as they flew on their bikes up and down on the wet, hard sand, we couldn't help but smile and let everything else go and be in that moment also. It's these moments and these memories we so hoped to find.

Our next stop was Lennox Head, a relatively new holiday favourite, after my cousin and her new husband moved there a couple of years back. You really can't beat the laid-back, surfie vibe of this place and the casual-cool that exudes from every local who calls this place home.

You're spoilt for choice with a bunch of amazing cafes and restaurants that successfully mix beachy/hippie/trendy styles to create something that just works (Lennox Gelato & Coffee Co does the best coffee in town BTW), the beaches and tea-tree lake are natural wonders, it's a great alternative to the hustle and bustle of Byron which is just a hop, skip and a jump up the road and for kids, there's a top little playground in the middle of the main street strip, where I did have an encounter with famous local Chris Hemsworth and his three littlies on our last visit (by encounter I mean one of Hemsworth's twins bumped his head on the bubbler where I happened to be standing with my 2-year-old and started bawling and instead of me consoling his poor, blubbering child, I was trying to explain under my breath to my Hollywood oblivious husband who his Thor-look-alike father was...). So there - Lennox Head - two thumbs up! Next stop, Queensland!

Hitting the Road

It's been almost 10 years since my husband Luke and I loaded up our 1976 Kombi camper and hit the road (you can read all about our first epic road trip here www.twotonkinsinakombi.blogspot.com). We experienced the freedom, fun, beauty and adventure that Australia has to offer, as we looped this great land and became slightly addicted to the simple life that going where the wind blows can offer. And we vowed to do it all again one day....

Fast forward a decade and we've packed our bags again, but this time we have a few extra passengers along for the ride and a rig that would make old Jefro the Kombi blush. Our little travellers are our three beautiful kids, Arley, 6, Sage, 4, and Bastian, 2 and we're cruising in a duel cab Ford Ranger ute that easily tows the 17 foot Jayco Expanda caravan that we bought quite spontaneously late last year.

Are we caravanning people? No! Are we heavy, duty Ford ute-driving people? Not at all! Despite being VW-lovers at heart (we kissed goodbye the two splits and multi-van that we left at home to mow the law and feed the rabbit...) the thought of taking off in a vintage-ride, where breaking down along the way is part of the charm, was as far from fun as we could imagine with the kids onboard and a mountain of "stuff" as well.

So we researched a good child-friendly home away from home set-up (sadly no caravan or campervan came with free onboard nanny) and began planning our first holiday. That's when the memories of meeting the white wallaby population on Tasmania's Bruny Island or driving through the amazing Pinnacles near WA's town of Carnarvon or pulling up at the Uluru carpark on Sunrise, seeing the breathtaking colours of the sky transform the natural marvel like nothing else we'd seen before, came flooding back. A few weekend's away in a nearby coastal town a year just wasn't going to cut it.

Instead we sought permission to take our eldest son out of school for a full term and put all of our regular activities and commitments on hold for a full 12 weeks so we can really hit the road and hopefully give our children a taste of what our beautiful country and it's people, animals and places have to offer.

It's time to pack the snack bags, throw in the clothes and food and books and school work and work-work and food and toys and bikes and scooters and did I say food? and hit the road!