Nature Break

2020 has really thrown us all a curve ball. In more ways than I can say. People have had a lot of plans rescheduled or just cancelled outright, and we were among them. While we were bearing the changes fairly well, we were also feeling the need for a shake-up of sorts. Steve especially, I think. I've been working from home for seven years now, but he's only been doing it since March, and it can really start to send you a bit mad to see the same four walls every day. 

With the Ekka cancelled and the usual holiday changed to a Friday, we had a bit of a chance for some time away. We hadn't been planning anything, but a week before, we suddenly decided it would be great to do a few bush walks; get out into nature as it were. We wanted to keep things pretty chilled out, not stress about stuff too much, so we just booked a night at an AirBnB down at the coast and figured we could go where ever from there. 

In the end we actually covered a lot of ground, but it didn't feel like too much. We started on the Friday, having breakfast at Macca's and then driving down to the Gold Coast Botanical Gardens for a picnic lunch with my parents who also had Hugo that day too. It wasn't particularly amazing, but it was nice to be somewhere new, see some wildlife, and let the kids run around at a different park. 

Then we went further along over to Springbrook and took the girls on the Twin Falls waterfall hike. The girls loved it. Even saying that feels like an understatement. They thought they were going on the best adventure and were just so happy to be bushwalking along. Rachel ran along like a surefooted deer, giving us quite a few heart attacks when we were close to the edge of a sheer drop. Even when we tried to explain the danger, she was just so unaware and excited about being out in the wild that she didn't really take it in. 

Since they took the Twin Falls walk so easily, we ended up continuing on and doing another loop as well. The fog descended while we were on the Blackfellow Falls loop, so the views disappeared, but it was still fun.

We ended up back out at the Gold Coast for dinner, before we headed to our AirBnB for the night. Not all smooth sailing, as Rachel was car sick on the way, and when we ended up where we wanted to have dinner, they were booked out, but you roll with the punches, wash out the puke and have dinner somewhere else. It’s all good.

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and then set off for Mt Tamborine.

There we did the Cedar Creek Falls circuit, which was pretty short. I think we would have liked to do another longer walk, but it was raining on and off, which kind of dampened the mood. Instead, we did something Steve had spontaneously suggested the day before and took the girls to the Tree Top Challenge at Thunderbird Park.

They have done this before, nearly two years ago when we went camping at Cedar Creek Falls with our friends, the Pans. I didn't blog about it, but it was a lot of fun. The Tree Top Challenge have two areas, a 3 years to 7 years, and an 8 years to adult course. Our girls will be too big for the kids course next year, so we thought we'd let them have another go on it before then.

They had a great time, spending nearly two hours going over and over each of the four courses. The loved the flying foxes at the end, and were not phased by the heights at all. Looking forward to when we can all do a high ropes course, even though that's a few years away yet.

After this, we began our trek home. It wasn't particularly late in the day, but we didn't feel like there was anything else we really wanted to do before going home, and for the girls, nothing could top the Tree Top Challenge. We went home with a stop at Yatala Pies, where we actually just got chips for a snack and a cold pie for dinner.

We made it home by about 3 in the arvo, so Steve and the girls had some chill time on the couch while I got to do all the unpacking and two loads of washing. It sounds bad, but that kind of thing makes me happy. I'm weird; it's ok. That evening, we had our low fuss dinner of pie and salad and relaxed knowing we still had a full day of weekend left before I needed to think about getting the house ready for another week of work.

Our little nature break was unexpected and fun. We did lots, but not too much. At the time, it was just what we needed to shake out of our little bubble of existence and venture into the world again. Now it seems like a pretty distant memory, and I'm glad I'm taking the time to blog about it so that I remember it when I need to.

Hopefully you are able to take a break in our beautiful world too and remember even though it’s 2020, it's not all bad.