So I’m not going to go all out and say I love the beach, but I believe I used to dislike the beach, and now I don’t mind the beach! In fact, I might almost say that I quite like the beach! What a progression! Growing up, we always had holidays on rivers (Pizzeys) or lakes (Cootharaba) and I just never really liked getting sand in everything. I tried my hand at surfing a few times on church camps and a girls-only camp at Uni with my friend Beth, but lakes and rivers are where it’s always been at for me.
Until recently! I think the fact that Marty and his boys LOVE going to the beach, and we have gone with them a lot over the last three years, and I have grown to enjoy it too. And my kids love it so much. Having Marty there to help cart the metric tonne of stuff to and from the beach helps a lot, and having him there to take the kids out in the surf is very helpful indeed.
I had the opportunity to book four nights at a holiday unit complex at Alexandra Headland on the Sunshine Coast, for the first week of school holidays, and I jumped at the chance. Typically, the first week of school holidays is haaarrrrrrrrd work. The kids get on each other’s nerves very quickly and are in a constant state of asking for food and asking what our plans are for the day. I thought that being in a different environment, and being right across the road from our favourite beach might ease us into things. And I was SO right!
We arrived on Monday afternoon, after a session at Bounce and lunch at GYG on the way, and also via Woollies to pick up an online order, then after settling in, the kids hit the pool straight away. This place was EPIC! With a huge, long pool that went the length of the accommodation, that wound through rocks and slides and under bridges, then there was a spa at each end, as well as a heated pool and a slide at each end. We had Thomas with us for Tuesday and Wednesday, and we hit the beach in the morning and either pool or shopping in the afternoon. My kids are at the stage where their ability in the surf aligns quite well with their confidence, so even though I keep them in sight, I don’t panic too much when a big wave comes along. Julius gives me a thumbs-up symbol if he does get dunked, so I never have to worry too much.
We went over to Marty’s for dinner on Monday and Tuesday nights, and Julius and Darby took turns having a sleepover there. It was so lovely being only 23min from Marty for the week! He took Thursday and Friday off, and we visited our friends Mark and Colette on the way to the Ginger Factory on the Thursday. It was a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours.
We enjoyed fish and chips for dinner Thursday, and the kids were very excited to have a night swim in the pools! We took one final trip to the beach on Friday morning, then headed up the highway for lunch with Heath and Maz and the kids before getting home around 4pm.
We loved it so much that on our way out, I booked for the same week next year. I realised quite a while ago that I never blogged about our amazing week up the coast nearly two years ago with our friends Nathan and Cal, and Erica and Cam. I have all the photos ready to share, so I’ll try and get onto that before the end of the year!