Easter Holidays: Beach Days

Over the Easter school holidays we had a mix of weather - some rainy days mixed with sunny, warm, very pleasant temperatures. We took advantage of the sunny days to spend some time at the beach. At this stage in our Gold Coast lives, I'm not sure how far into the autumn we will still be swimming at the beach. As I finish off this post, its the end of April, and still warm enough for a beach trip. Not bad considering winter is only a month away!

Mere hours after Bunny and Dave arrived from England than we bundled them (jet-lagged but ready) into the car and headed for Broadbeach. Because our closest beach is still recovering from the March cyclone, Broadbeach, about a 15–20 minute drive away, was the closest beach to us that is nearly back to “normal.” We spent a couple of hours there and everyone took turns paddling in the waves, even Dave surprised us all by joining in! Once they were tired of the water the kids gleefully slid down the steep sand dunes with their body boards. The dunes aren't normally there, these are still leftover from the storm but you can see the beaches gradually being restored to their normal state.

When it was time to head home, the dads and granddads took charge of the kids, so Bunny, Mum, and I made a quick grocery run to get some dinner — after stopping for a cheeky drink at the Surf Club, of course! I’ve really come to appreciate the local surf clubs located in every suburb along the coast: they are unpretentious, reasonably priced, and massive enough that you rarely need a booking. Best of all, they’re right on the water, so you can sip your drink with an unbeatable view of the sea.

The next day we had good weather again, so headed back to Rainbow Bay, which I wrote about in this post. This was a whole day affair, we arrived by about 9:30 am, unpacked our beach tent, and parked ourselves down for the day.

The next sunny day saw us back at Rainbow Bay (as I mentioned in my last post) located at the southern end of the Gold Coast, and on the Queensland/New South Wales border. We arrived around 9:30 am, pitched our beach tent, and settled in for a long, lazy day. With so many adults around, the kids were in constant company, which meant each of us got a little “grown-up” time, whether that was a walk along the shore or sinking into a book under the shade of the tent.

Ella and Ollie and I wandered along the rocks and boardwalk to Greenmount Beach. Their mission? Count every water dragon they could see. They lost count after thirty! I sweetened the deal by promising ice creams once we reached Greenmount—ice cream bribes are totally valid when you are trying to get your kids to walk further on a sunny, hot day. I, of course, also wanted an ice cream!

On Good Friday, our last beach outing took us to Hastings Point in northern New South Wales—just ten minutes south of Rainbow Bay—and it quickly became one of my favourite spots. The sand meets both a river mouth and the open ocean, so you get the best of both worlds: gentle river swimming perfect for paddle boarding, and a glimpse of the surf beyond. There was also a playground which was great. We don't go to playgrounds nearly as much as we used to, but the kids still absolutely love them.

Ella, already quite confident, paddled herself (with Ollie as passenger) around for hours, and eventually Ollie worked up the confidence to give it a go himself.

We spent the morning and early afternoon on the water, exploring the sandbanks and swimming in the shallow water.

In the afternoon we packed up and stopped at a few walks and look outs on our way home. The ocean waves were spectacular and there were many other beaches that we will have to check out on future beach days. (Side note: for some reason Ollie assumed a "meditation pose" while taking photos, which was kind of hilarious.)

We stopped in the nearby town of Kingscliff for dinner at the local pub, and then finished our day with an ice cream - the sign above us says it all!

All in all, these Easter holidays reminded me how lucky we are to live so close to such stunning coastline - I still have to remind myself that we actually live here, we are not just on holiday!