Hi ladies,
Christmas is almost here and I'm in a pickle. I share custody of my beautiful 6year old daughter but over xmas her father is going away so I'm lucky enough to have her for a few weeks. I work in retail and that means most of the holidays I'll be working & she will be in vacation care. I hate this but I understand it has to be done. She tells me she likes vacation care but if she could choose she would pick to be with me. This breaks my heart. I've managed to get 5-6days off after xmas. I'm so excited and would like to take her somewhere for a few nights. Gives us both something to look forward to when I'm working and she's at vacation care. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of money and the cheap hotels I've stayed at before are all booked out already. The camp sites also seem to book out so fast. She would be beyond excited to go somewhere new & I really want her to have a fun and exciting memory of her xmas with me that isn't the same old thing as any other day.
I live in Brisbane. I don't want to drive all day to get somewhere but I am willing to drive up to 6hours. Does anyone know of somewhere kid friendly/affordable that's available just after xmas?
Thank you!
Where can I take my daughter?
Where can I take my daughter?
Posted in:
Parenthood Guilt
4 Replies
You would have to check availability and if these are open when you're looking to travel but how about heading inland for a bit of exploring? Head to Toowoomba for a visit to the Cobb & Co museum and the Darling Downs Zoo, when you first get to town there's all the trappings of a city for ice-cream treats, you can see a movie (I think The Strand has been refurbished but I go to Grand Central, take a little throw blanket the air con is always COLD) and a bit of a play at Queens Park to wind down after your drive. If you did the zoo for one full day and the museum the next morning you'd only have two nights in a motel. Camp at Bowenville for some fishing and near proximity to the Oakey Air Museum and the Jondaryan Woolshed but you could stay in Toowoomba an extra night if you wanted as Oakey is about 30 minutes away and Jondy maybe 50 minutes in the same direction so you could easily do both in one day/one trip. Camping at Bowenville is convenient but it does plant you pretty much between the two places, if you have to choose just one go to the Woolshed. Then across to Maidenwell where there used to be a big observatory (not sure if it's still operational) but either way there's Coomba Falls which is lovely (bring togs as you can swim), then finish up at the Bunya Mountains where you can continue to camp or see if there's a cabin available. Go the back way into the Bunyas though, first time I went it took longer as I ended up going all the way around to Kingaroy! Supplies for camping can easily be sourced in Toowoomba and Oakey. There's not too much past there though although the Bunyas does have a little store/kiosk.
Find an event thats on and make it around that. Theres a big pool party new years eve for kids and adults somewhere on the gold coast. Find any spot with some nature and new things around it, north or south there are plenty of places it will be amazing fun. Maybe hire a camper that would be super memorable for a kid.
Treasure Island at the gold Coast still had camping sites available last time i checked.
It might be a bit far (8hrs) but Yeppoon is a nice coastal town in Queensland - lots of small affordable hotels - plenty of beaches, shops, 25 minutes from a major city shopping centre plus you could do a day trip to Great Keppel Island