Holiday in Peregian Beach Part 2

Read Part 1 of our Peregian Beach holiday here.

After arriving in Peregian beach on Friday afternoon, we spent the next two days of our Sunshine Coast holiday enjoying the glorious weather, spending time at a few different beaches along the coast, playing at various playgrounds, and sampling the food at local cafés.

Saturday morning we woke to a hot and sunny day, and walked the 10 minutes from our Airbnb to the Peregian Beach Village to get some breakfast. We ate at Periwinkle, one of the restaurants with outdoor seating that looks out onto a huge grassy courtyard where kids can run around while their parents attempt to enjoy a civilised meal. We ordered two crêpes, one savoury and one sweet, to share. We then headed to Peregian Beach, spending time building sandcastles and splashing in the waves. Thoroughly tired out, we took Ella home where she had a monster three hour nap, giving Andy and I some time to just chill out in the sun.

Smiley face babycino at Periwinkle

Fun at Peregian Beach

Once she woke we drove five minutes down the coast to Coolum, where we found a lovely coastal walk with views of Coolum Beach. We finished off our walk with a play at the Coolum foreshore playground and some takeaway pizza, looking over the beach as the sun set.

Coolum coastal walk

On Sunday we visited the Peregian Beach Market, where you can browse a range of crafts, jewellery, clothing, homewares, fresh produce (and more) for sale. I managed to resist buying anything! Next we headed out to Mudjimba beach, about 15 minutes away. One of Andy’s friend’s recommended this beach, but it honestly was like every other beach along the Sunshine coast in my opinion! The main appeal is that it was quieter and less touristy than some of the other beaches. There was a lovely playground on the foreshore that we spent some time at, and a great café called The Island. On the drive back Ella fell asleep and again had a huge nap in the afternoon. When she woke up we took her for a walk to the Peregian Viallage playground and then ate a simple meal of cheese, crackers and salad for dinner at our Airbnb. (We’ve worked out that spending a fortune on a nice meal for dinner is totally not worth it with Ella – it’s just too stressful to keep her happy the whole time, so a picnic or just eating at home is much better for everyone involved.)

Then, the weather turned. The weather reports predicted rain, thunderstorms, and more rain for the last three days of our trip. Is there anything more disappointing than constant rain on your beach holiday?! When we woke Monday morning it was cloudy, but not rainy yet. We headed down to the village to get coffees and let Ella have a run around at the… you guessed it…  playground. She had a great time there – she was able to climb up and go down the slide by herself, so she was happy to amuse herself without much intervention from Andy or me.

We all shared a delicious cacao smoothie bowl from the café Skål, which reminded me of the bowls we ate while in Bali (this one just cost about three times as much!). It did start raining while we were out so we headed back to the Airbnb, and spent some time playing with Ella inside. Luckily the toys in our apartment were a novelty to Ella and kept her amused for a while.

Cacao smoothie bowl from Skål

However, there is only so much small space/indoor action that Ella can handle before she starts to get cranky. Also her nap only lasted about 10 minutes, so she was doubly cranky. After frantically googling “things to do on the Sunshine Coast when it is raining with a toddler” (answer: not much) I found The Ginger Factory, located about 20 minutes away in Yandina. It took a bit of convincing for Andy to agree to go, however the website mentioned a covered play area and a train ride which sounded infinitely more exciting than staying in the beach pad all day in the rain.

The Ginger Factory was possibly the most random, yet unexpectedly entertaining tourist attraction I’ve ever been to. The entertainment factor was clearly heightened as the alternative (rainy, indoor play in tiny apartment) was clearly not an option if we wanted a happy toddler. We first went on the Overboard Boat Ride, which was something like the “It’s a Small World” Disney World ride. The gingerbread man has escaped the clutches of a hungry chef and goes on an adventure around the world. As your boat travels through scenes from different countries and regions you have to try and spot the gingerbread man. Ella loved trying to find him, and was thoroughly entertained for the 10-minute ride. As it was not very busy they let us stay on for a second loop, and I was surprised that she was totally engaged by it the whole time and didn’t get bored.

Looking for the gingerbread man as we sail through Tahiti

The gingerbread man is now in India!

Hello London!

Next we went for a ride on the Ginger Train, a 116 year old ex-sugar cane working train. The 15 minute ride meanders through the Ginger Factory’s grounds and lush sub-tropical forest on the property. This was another winner for Ella.

All aboard the Ginger Train!

Before leaving we had a play in the playground (of course), where Ella surprised us by being able to climb up higher than expected, crawl through tunnels, and even go down a tunnel slide on her own. Our little girl is getting brave!

Covered playground in The Ginger Factory

We stocked up on a few treats from the ginger store on our way out: Ginger Beer & Spiced Rum, ginger Anzac biscuits, and of course a gingerbread man for Ella.

On the way home we stopped in Coolum for some fish and chips. No lovely sunset dinner on the beach this time! It was absolutely pouring with rain, and it didn’t stop all night. All in all though, it was a pretty successful day despite the terrible weather.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our beach holiday!