It's 8:20PM and our family is 40% asleep in the Ibis Budget at Brisbane Airport. Aurora is reading Revolting Rhymes in the top bunk, Tova and Sophia are spread-eagled toe-to-toe in the bottom bunk, and Tamar is deep into a fiendish logic problem about cavemen. I'm reflecting on the lovely week we just spent exploring the Sunshine Coast, and the mellow, inconsequential lessons we learned...
...Nice Airbnbs are nice. In Yaroomba we hit the Airbnb jackpot. As we arrived late and smelly, we were greeted with flickering, fragrant vanilla-scented candles. We soaked gratefully in the outdoor hot tub (Tova literally hooted with pleasure). Our bed was festooned with muslin hangings and had a ludicrous number of pillows. The towels were folded into seashells, each containing a bar of fancy chocolate. The kitchen was so well-stocked that Aurora grated our cheese into five different textures. The beach was four blocks away. It was amazing.
...Playing Follow The Leader barefoot on wet oceanside rocks is a great idea. Aurora and Sophia whiled away two blissful hours at Point Arkwright scrambling on rocks. They discovered slimy sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, a giant tooth and two shy crabs. They also discovered Follow The Leader, which combined the dangerous with the ridiculous. Sophia's move of choice was to scream as loudly as she could. Aurora hurt herself twenty times (we kept count).
...The Australian 4x4 culture is like a parallel universe. Our ferry to Moreton Island was full of massive, vaguely paramilitary 4x4s crammed with kit: 24s of Corona, spearfishing gear, utes and sunburned children. The ferry itself was wallpapered with ads for roof racks, suspensions, studded tires and snorkels (the truck kind.) Although I'm not that fond of small-town Quebecois who obsess over snowmobiles, country music and cheese curds, I quite like these leathery, jovial Queensland adventurers.
... Nobody regrets going camping. If you add up mosquitoes, marshmallow s'mores, peeing in the sawgrass, falling asleep to the gentle endless sound of the Pacific, playing UNO until the rain lets up, sleeping in even more contorted positions than usual, running down fifty-foot sand dunes, making a giant sand castle with one girl while the others have tantrums and throw themselves dramatically upon the sand, drinking cocoa with the kookaburras, and reading by headlamp until your eyes burn, you definitely come out ahead.
Though we're returning from constant sunshine and 21 degrees to Canberra's drizzle and highs of 12, it'll take awhile for the glow to fade - and we'll surely be back to this beautiful corner of the world one day.
...Nice Airbnbs are nice. In Yaroomba we hit the Airbnb jackpot. As we arrived late and smelly, we were greeted with flickering, fragrant vanilla-scented candles. We soaked gratefully in the outdoor hot tub (Tova literally hooted with pleasure). Our bed was festooned with muslin hangings and had a ludicrous number of pillows. The towels were folded into seashells, each containing a bar of fancy chocolate. The kitchen was so well-stocked that Aurora grated our cheese into five different textures. The beach was four blocks away. It was amazing.
...Playing Follow The Leader barefoot on wet oceanside rocks is a great idea. Aurora and Sophia whiled away two blissful hours at Point Arkwright scrambling on rocks. They discovered slimy sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, a giant tooth and two shy crabs. They also discovered Follow The Leader, which combined the dangerous with the ridiculous. Sophia's move of choice was to scream as loudly as she could. Aurora hurt herself twenty times (we kept count).
...The Australian 4x4 culture is like a parallel universe. Our ferry to Moreton Island was full of massive, vaguely paramilitary 4x4s crammed with kit: 24s of Corona, spearfishing gear, utes and sunburned children. The ferry itself was wallpapered with ads for roof racks, suspensions, studded tires and snorkels (the truck kind.) Although I'm not that fond of small-town Quebecois who obsess over snowmobiles, country music and cheese curds, I quite like these leathery, jovial Queensland adventurers.
... Nobody regrets going camping. If you add up mosquitoes, marshmallow s'mores, peeing in the sawgrass, falling asleep to the gentle endless sound of the Pacific, playing UNO until the rain lets up, sleeping in even more contorted positions than usual, running down fifty-foot sand dunes, making a giant sand castle with one girl while the others have tantrums and throw themselves dramatically upon the sand, drinking cocoa with the kookaburras, and reading by headlamp until your eyes burn, you definitely come out ahead.
Though we're returning from constant sunshine and 21 degrees to Canberra's drizzle and highs of 12, it'll take awhile for the glow to fade - and we'll surely be back to this beautiful corner of the world one day.
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| The Glass House Mountains |
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| Atop Mt. Coolum |
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| She figured out she's big enough to sit in the front seat |
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| I wish they would do this to me... |
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| Even the koala has a poker face... |
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