We were sitting outside talking about travel one January evening when I convinced my husband that with a couple of weeks before school resumes we should travel somewhere. Without thinking, we jumped on Stayz.com.au, searched the listings in Burley Heads on the Gold Coast and promptly booked accommodation for a week. You can’t be more spontaneous than that with two young kids, surely!
Due to my complete lack of planning, we decided to drive from Sydney to Queensland with a one night stopover in Coffs Harbour. We hastily created an itinerary: arrive and rest followed by an exploration of the 3 main theme parks: Seaworld, Movie World and Wet n Wild. Perfect for the kids, right? We would fill in the time between excursions with swimming: at the pool, at the beach, perhaps in a creek? We were all excited! Bring on Hollywood on the Gold Coast.
Both my children are fantastic travellers. They love driving anywhere and are content with playing a few road games, listening and singing along to the radio and colouring. So the trip up was easy. I think our success lies in the production of goodie bags pre-trip which we gift them before we leave. It keeps them entertained and we are all happy. Plus there was much to see on the way and we made sure to make frequent stops.
I have added the task of keeping a journal or record book of our travels which Sunshine and Striker have both taken to with gusto, recording their adventures and collecting moments to stick inside it. One day they will appreciate the books and look back on their trips. We are contemplating moving to a digital format, but I am a little reluctant to move away from the pen.
My husband caught wind of a car show in Ballina so we added that to our itinerary for our second day of travel. Toranas, Monaros and all things car where something the family were looking forward to exploring. We also discovered Amaze ‘n’ Place in Alstonville which was a spot perfect to visit with the kids on the way up (which we have covered in a full post).
Having stayed in the Gold Coast a number of times previously (the Q1 and The Towers of Chevron Renaissance are past choices) we were keen to shy away from the bright lights and seedy night life and try a more family friendly environment. Burley Heads was our choice. We even had our own pool!
We were ready for adventure!
Oh my goodness the Big Banana! Such memories.