Winter School Holidays

We are a few weeks into Term 3 here in Australia, following our three week winter break. I must say, having three weeks off in the middle of the school year is wonderful. You really feel like you've had a good opportunity to shut off from work with that length of time off. 

We stayed at home for these holidays "enjoying our mortgage" as one of my friends very aptly put it! We haven't had a proper holiday since moving here, and up until now I'd been fine with that - the Gold Coast is a tourist destination in itself, and our back garden and pool has such a tropical feel that for a while I felt like I was in a holiday house anyway. But of course, that new house feeling eventually wears off, and when you are at home all day in your own house it is hard not to notice all the jobs you could be doing - laundry, dishes, tidying, gardening... it never ends! Alas, we do not have any travel plans in the works for 2026, however hopefully a few things will materialise in 2027 for us.

But back to our stay at home winter break. The good thing about having moved to the Gold Coast from Melbourne is that a lot of people come here on holiday from Melbourne, and we knew six different families that would be on the coast throughout the three week break. So our holidays were spent catching up with old friends, visiting their various hotels, and of course, having an Englishman in the house, watching the World Cup!

A few highlights from the break.

Catching up with the VBs

Our very good friends Michelle and Steve made a last minute decision to come up to the Gold Coast for 10 days during the first half of the holidays. Woohoo! Michelle and I still keep in touch via phone calls every few weeks, but the kids hadn't seen each other in a year, since they were in the Gold Coast last winter. But as usual, the kids connected immediately and it was as if they had just seen each other a week ago instead of a year ago.

One of my favourite days was going to their holiday apartment in Burleigh for the afternoon. The kids played in the hotel pool (this one had a cold outdoor pool, a warm indoor pool and a spa - so lots to keep the kids entertained) while the four of us adults caught up with a few drinks and nibbles poolside. After that we just hung out in their hotel and watched random TV, played games, and ordered pizzas. It was such a nice, laid back day with old friends.

We also met them one morning to do the Burleigh Heads walk from Burleigh to Tallebudgera, one of my favourite things to do with visitors to the Gold Coast. Also, 'going on a walk/hike' is not a favourite activity of the kids at this stage, so when we can do this with another family there is a lot less moaning as they have friends around.  

Another day we went up the Q1 tower to the SkyPoint Observation Point, where we had lunch and looked for whales in the ocean (which we saw! It's whale watching season here from May - October). This is the only picture I have from that - we are in an era where the kids love to steal my phone and take selfies.

Ella and I met up with Michelle and Gemma one last time they day before they left for a coffee in Burleigh and we said good bye to them - or, see you later, as they regularly visited the Gold Coast even before we moved here, so I'm sure it won't be long until they are up again. I am so glad these two have remained friends!

Ella's Birthday

Ella turned 11 over the school holidays. On her birthday she and Ollie went to a pottery class at Crock'd in Currumbin with Ella's best friend and her little brother. It was a school holiday drop-off class, so Andy and I were able to have a morning coffee at this amazing cafe called Tarte, located on Currumbin Creek. The seating area overlooks the calm water and the food was excellent - we'll definitely be back here!

Ollie hadn't been too keen on attending the pottery class (which is pretty standard for Ollie - he never wants to do anything new) but of course when we picked him up he was calmly sitting at his pottery wheel, totally engaged with the activity. Both kids had a great time, making two pieces, which we now have to find time to go back for painting and glazing.

 

We all went for a play at a nearby park after that and then unfortunately I ended up taking a trip to Urgent Care. The day before I hurt my back and the pain was a lot worse than any other time I've hurt my back. Panadol and Ibuprofen weren't doing anything to help, so off I went in the hopes they could tell me what to do. Answer: take stronger pain medication. It was about a week of back pain for me, and it took me about four weeks to get back into my regular exercise routine. Back pain is no joke!

Luckily Ella's friend was free to come over to our house and play for the afternoon while I was at Urgent Care, so Ella's birthday wasn't totally ruined. We had a simple evening, McDonald's for dinner as requested by Ella (ugh!) and some cake, with our friend Andy who was staying with us at the time and his daughter Pippa.

Later in the holidays Ella had a birthday party with some of her school friends. She wanted to go to Bounce, and I found out that they do 3 hour Friday night sessions which sounded like a good option for older children.  

She also had a few of her friends sleepover one night, and the loveliest thing was the girls making pancakes together in the morning. These are two of Ella's closest friends and they were just great to have sleep over (mainly because they were asleep by about 10pm, which is not too bad for a sleepover!)

Watching the World Cup

With the World Cup being in North America this year, we were pretty lucky that most of the game times were at a reasonable time in the morning here in Australia - 5am or 7am were pretty regular kickoff times. We were lucky to have three teams to cheer for: Canada, Australia and England, but of course England are the only ones that are likely to make it far into the World Cup. 

Being an England supporter is not for the faint-hearted. For a country where football is almost a religion, it's crazy that England haven't won the men's FIFA World Cup since 1966. I always think it's a bit like the Toronto Maple Leafs in Canada. If you knew nothing about hockey, you'd probably assume the team from Toronto would regularly win championships. Instead, despite being one of the biggest and richest clubs in the sport, they haven't lifted the Stanley Cup since 1967. So if you're an England fan, you'll probably find plenty of sympathy from a Leafs supporter.

I absolutely loved watching the World Cup this year, and have watched much more football than I ever have in my life. And of course there was so much hope for the England team this year - it was so exciting to watch them get to the semi-finals, and so devastating when they lost to Argentina after losing a 1-0 lead in the last five minutes of the match. We had people over to watch the Norway match, and Andy went to an English pub in Broadbeach to watch the (very exciting) Mexico game where England advanced to the quarter finals. It was all very fun and I'm kind of sad it's only every four years! (Though, with Ollie and Andy in the house we will start the English Premier League season shortly... though I don't think that will be the same!)

Beach &Marriot Day

One of my favourite days of the holidays came at the end of the second week. We had our guests, Andy and his daughter, staying with us, and another friend of mine, Jo, was up on the Gold Coast with her two kids. Their visits overlapped quite a bit, so our three families ended up spending a lot of time together. The five kids all got along brilliantly, and both Andy and Jo are such easy company.

Their last day on the Gold Coast happened to be a stunning one, with the temperature reaching 25 degrees under a bright blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds. We headed to the beach for the morning, with our Melbourne friends amazed at the "winter" weather.

The ocean drops down to about 21 degrees in the winter, which is cold, but not freezing. The kids spent hours splashing around in the waves together - even Ollie!

Andy and his daughter had to head off to the airport after that, so we went with Jo and her kids back to the Marriott, where they were staying. The Marriott has the best outdoor pool area, with a variety of pools set amongst lush vegetation, white sandy beaches, a swim-up grotto, waterfalls, a small waterslide, and of course the famous saltwater lagoon with tropical fish. The kids played, and played, and played while Andy, Jo and I ordered pitchers of Aperol Spritz. It was such a gorgeous afternoon, we were all so sad to leave that evening, and say goodbye to Jo and her kids. 

Dreamworld

Ok, Dreamworld isn't usually my most favourite destination in the school holidays (too busy for us locals!) but both Jo and Andy wanted to take their kids so we all went as a big group. It worked out quite well because we could split into those who wanted to go on big rides and those who preferred a more 'tame' time at the theme park. Again, the best part about this was how well all five kids got along after only knowing each other for a few days. 

Random Beach visits

And lastly, one of my favourite things about living here on school holidays is no matter the weather, a quick trip to the beach is always a good time. The view is spectacular, and kids running around in fresh air is wonderful. 

Although these holidays were already three weeks ago by the time I'm finally publishing this post, it's been nice to look back on what was a pretty good stay at home holiday. We had a pretty tiring start back to school this term, as both kids and I were sick, which ended up in quite a few days off at home between the four of us. Nothing major, just some bad colds. But we are back in the swing of things now - and only seven weeks to go until our next school holidays!