Camping June 2010

**There are PLENTY of photos that I want to add to this post, but Blogger is not being kind. I'll hopefully remember and add them later!

We have just come back from THE best camping trip. Well, we slept in a tent. That is about the only real "camping" thing that we did, it was all a bit luxury to be called roughing it.

~~Our tent~~

~~The luxurious ensuite~~

We stayed here and although it was more expensive than we'd normally like to pay for camping, it was fantastic. There was so much for the kids to do and the facilities where amesome. We were a bit apprehensive about our first winter camping trip, but it was fine and I may even prefer it to summer camping. Maybe. We paid extra and had our own ensuite right beside the tent, and it was so convenient having it so close. The kids could go off to the toilet by them self and it certainly made the night trips quicker in the cold. It also had the added bonus of a heater inside to make getting out of the shower more appealing.

Jen and the kids crammed their tent onto our site for the first 2 nights. The kids all had a great time exploring the park: jumping on the giant pillow, playing mini golf, playing on the playground and scootering around the park. Just as we arrived to set up, there was an excavator clearing the bush on the park boundary, which fascinated the kids and allowed us to quickly set up in peace. I was tossing up whether to cheer the clearing on, or chain myself to a tree though, but having quite contained kids whilst Duane and I fought over the tent set up won in the end.

There was also a heated pool, which only Duane and Grace were brave enough to try. Xav and I spent that afternoon cuddled up in the tent having a sleep together. Bliss.

We were there for 5 nights, and spent most days out and about. The first day we visited Australia zoo, which was a highlight. Jen and her 2 kids were there for that too, and as no-one but me had been there before, it was an exciting adventure. The weather was a bit drizzly, but didn't create too much of a problem. There is so much to see there, and we could have quite easily spent another day and still not seen it all. Definitely somewhere that we will visit many times.

We visited the famous Eumundi markets, although they close quite early (1.30pm) so we only had a few hours to wander around. We then visited Noosa and Coloundra, taking the back roads home to get the scenic tour. Duane also managed to find 2 prize homes to visit, which I pretended to be excited about.

Next day we headed off to the sunshine coast hinterland, with a few stops on the way. First one was the big pineapple, which was slightly disappointing. Lucky we didn't pay anything, as it's really not very exciting. We got to go inside the big pineapple, which was extremely boring and stunk like a Grandmothers house. Next we headed to the Ginger factory, which was only a slight improvement on the previous stop. We had a wander around, took some pics, bought everyone a honey lollipop and headed off for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Now, this was way more up my alley and so much more beautiful!

We drove to Mapleton first, then through to Montville. Both little towns were stunning, with gorgeous sweeping views back to the coast. We only did a few stops though, with Duane and I alternating who got out as the kids had fallen asleep in the car. They woke by the time we got to the picturesque town of Maleny, so we all headed out to wander the streets. I stole some time for myself, loving shop hopping in all the cool, funky stores. I even found a few op-shops to peruse, but didn't score anything. After meeting up with Duane and the kids, we headed to the Maleny Markets where Grace was in awe of all the crystals for sale. She has a real attraction for them, so picked out a few special ones to buy.

For lunch we bought fish n chips and heads to Gardeners Falls for a picnic. It was drizzling, so we started off eating in the Torago but soon enough it fined up and we layed out the picnic rug to finish off. After lunch we headed for a bushwalk in to see the falls. It's a lovely, easy walk only taking about 30 mins there and back. The kids loved it, pretending they were "going on a bear hunt" and jumping in lots of puddles.

The kids enjoyed the walk so much that we headed off for another one the next day. This one was a 40minute rainforest walk, filled with lots of beautiful moss all under a canopy of tall trees. Grace asked about half way through for a photo shoot, although it didn't look right her pulling out her modelling moves in the middle of such a tranquil place. She was fascinated with the moss trailing along the rocks though, and spent ages poking and prodding it. Xav was just happy to be running free and stopped every now and then to twirl and declare how much he loved "bushwalking". I'm so thrilled that they love it, and I've got great plans in my head of family bushwalks and picnics in the Gold Coast hinterland.

This camping trip would have to be one of my favourites so far. It wasn't hot, just perfect for cuddling up in the tent with a hot water bottle. It also lent itself for lovely day rests in the tent, minus the suffocating heat. During the day, the weather was mostly perfect and didn't stop us from doing anything. Our other camping trips have been all about swimming and watersports, but this one wasn't - which was a nice change! And although we were probably our busiest this time, it was still lovely and relaxing.