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Daydream Island and the Great Barrier Reef

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I am so excited about this post. So much excited about it that honestly I have no idea where to start!

I guess I will start with the Hotel itself… Daydream Island Resort is well, for lack of a better description Motel 6 with Hilton Village grounds and Marriott prices on an island. Although you can tell in recent years that they “tried” to update the “ambiance” by installing modern headboards and a new bathroom counter tops, trust me this was not enough to hide the 1960’s aura that lingers in those rooms and the distinct feeling that the beds where once laid on by your grandmother on her vacation with her family. And please! please! please! don’t get me started on the food. Seriously! For those prices I thought I would get 5 star meals but, well, received Denny’s. And don’t get me wrong Denny’s has it’s time and place. (like at 2a.m. after a night of drinking with your buddies or 11am after drinking with your buddies)  But 5 days straight 3 meals a day was not the time.

But that being said, you cannot top the experience that comes on this magical little Island. After traveling by car, plane, bus and ferry (All of them short enough that right when the troops started to get restless we moved to the next mode of transportation.) We were plain out pooped. Kids add a whole new dimension to traveling for sure!

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But when we saw our first wallaby freely jumping on the lawns and heard the giddy thrills of laughter bounding from the kids, the hectic day of travel seemed all worth while.

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Australia, daydream island, great barrier reef

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23

Apr

2015

Let’s take a drive to Springbrook

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I was getting a little stir crazy being held up in my hotel room with my amazing ocean view (lol). So I decided to take a drive to Springbrook National Park. One of Australia’s many Parks on the heritage list. It’s a fairly short drive from Broadbeach so it was the perfect day trip for me. And Once you start to leave the cities behind the drive to Springbrook is beautiful!

I wanted to see a place nestled in Springbrook called Natural Bridge. The last few miles of my drive before arriving at my destination are so pretty. The tall trees have thinned out a bit and lush green grasslands have taken over. The mountains surround me and it is truly amazing. But the openness of it all is quickly devoured again by trees and I have arrived.

I am welcomed by the sounds of birds and frogs, towering trees and a small saying on a sign in aboriginal “Meenyahgu Yuambeh Dagun” – Welcome to Yagambeh Country. Say that three times! (Shit say it once… Correctly?!) This ancient rainforest was the home to an aboriginal tribe called the Yugambeh.

“Yugambeh Yahnbai gull bahn” -Yugambeh are still here. And It’s weird you can feel it.

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Australia

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26

Mar

2015

A day out and about

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As I woke in the morning I could feel the excitement. Today was the big day! Ok well, not so big, but exciting all the same. I took my oldest to school, outlined the day for my “little” with the baby sitter and I was off.

I jumped in the car, cranked up the radio and sailed down the gold coast highway. It wasn’t even ten in the morning and I had already done two things I don’t normally do on my own, what freedom! Freedom to drive uninterrupted and freedom to burst my eardrums if I wanted to.

The day was hot and humid but I didn’t care. I was on a mission. Heading to Fingal head lighthouse. As I get out of the car I can smell the ocean and with the humidity taste the salt (or was that my sweat). As I wonder down the trails I see a kookaburra sitting on a gum tree and I am reminded of the song that I learned as a kid. Back then I thought it was just a song with a funny bird. But now I get it, they exist (both the bird and the tree). Life really does come full circle, thanks Oprah you are wise.

As I walk down the trail shaded by leaves glowing bright by the sun the path opens up to a beautiful white sand beach as far as the eye can see with the most beautiful green blue water ever. I immediately take off my shoes to feel the soft sand between my toes and begin to look around taking it in, trying to make it all stick to memory.

 

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Australia

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06

Mar

2015

Let me be honest

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Let me be honest. I have become a homebody. Somewhere along the line I got boring. And to tell the truth I am not sure when.

I think maybe it happened shortly after I had my first child. Possibly it was my way of just  surviving, something I did to keep things simple in my increasingly chaotic life. Or maybe it is because I felt that, thats what moms did. Stop living exciting lives and live only for the little ones that had blessed us with their presence.

It started a few months ago, the stagnate feeling started to come over me. I needed something new. The adventurer inside me wanted out. The girl that use to up and go, try new things, wanted freedom again. The old me the one that I tucked away because of kids was increasingly letting her presence be known.

So I did it. I said the words out loud. “I just need a change.”

Everyone knows that old saying “be careful what you ask for.”

Well one short week later the idea of traveling to Australia for my husbands work was put on the table. Now you would think my inner adventurer would jump at this opportunity but I had suppressed her for so long her voice was weak. My inner homebody had more power. I don’t know what I was thinking saying those words out loud for the universe to hear. Was I just hoping that it would present me with a new restaurant to bring the kids? Or maybe a new indoor play yard?

Instead the universe had rose up and presented me with an adventure for me and my family to share together and I am so glad it did. I have only been in Australia for a month and it has already shown and taught me so much.

It has shown me that I can travel with two kids (as long as I pack sufficient snacks and diapers). That sometimes the schedule can be tweaked. Lunch can be moved from noon to twelve-thirty and naps can be thrown out the window. But more importantly. That seeing a new world through two sets of eyes both young and older is… well for lack of better words truly eye opening. That although my adventures have changed from my adventures to our adventures and along with that the way I tackle them, it is still possible. That moms too can be exciting on occasion.

This trip has not only has changed the way I do things now, but hopefully this feeling of excitement and achievement will be something that will shape the way I tackle things in future.

 

Random thoughts

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27

Feb

2015