Double week this time around, as we were away on holidays last week. I uploaded some photos, but was having something of a laptop sabbatical.
Let’s start with the first week. We spent the first couple of days still in Sydney. Wednesday we dropped the car in for a pre-road-trip service. Dad and Puff caught the train into the city. Puff was super excited to get off the train at Museum (his first trip to Museum station).
After a bit of Christmas shopping, we managed to meet up with Mum and look at the DJ’s Christmas windows. We had less success trying to take the kids to a kind of high tea at Westfield Sydney, and walked most of the way across the city to grab some emperor puffs before heading back to pick up the car from the mechanic. Puff insisted on pushing the stroller uphill for a while. What he lacked in steering, he made up for in enthusiasm.
On Thursday, after Puff’s final Kindermusik class for the year, we headed north. We stopped at Hexham service station to give the kids some food, and a chance to play in a little playground. I’ve rarely seen Huff so happy in one of these places, but she had a great time crawling around and following her big brother.
Thursday night we had dinner with old friends and caught up with them, staying up fairly late. The kids slept well, even though we were all in the same room (much to our relief).
Friday we drove to Coffs Harbour. We booked through the wotif app and ended up with a 3br unit to stay overnight: this meant that the kids had their own space, and we had our own space.
The next morning we headed to the Big Banana. It was only a short stay, but Puff said banana at least 100 times in the short space of time. Huff shared a chocolate coated frozen banana with Dad, and Puff ate most of a banana split, and then asked if we could buy him another banana to eat in the car. We also picked up a fridge magnet each to help the kids remember the trip.
At last on Saturday we arrived in the Gold Coast to stay with our friends. Huff was transfixed by their TV, and this indeed seemed a fixture of the stay.
We visited the Grandragon and the Great Grandragon. Though they enjoyed seeing their relatives, the high point may well have been being allowed to play phone games.
Our friends kids H (pictured) and Z (out of frame) were our companions for most of the week. Everyone managed to get along (for the most part) really well.
Very exciting news for Huff, who took her first unassisted steps this week. She is still shy about it, but has replicated the feat many times. She’s also learned to say her name (all the syllables).
Dad wanted to take the family to see some cafes in the gold coast, so on Tuesday we loaded everyone into the car and went looking at some recommended spots.
Another cafe was much better suited to visiting children, giving them a choice of activities to amuse themselves.
One brief instance of disagreement between the kids was over night-time toys. Puff was hiding some of his things in obscure played in his borrowed room. Our host only just found the prize today!
Huff – when she feels like it – can mimic other peoples’ efforts on the harmonica.
On our way home from the Gold Coast we stopped at Tropical Fruit World to buy some fruit. Puff’s favourite was the star fruit: he set up a star fruit ‘shop’ in the skin of the dragon fruit.
We stopped in Nambucca Heads on the way south. Here’s Huff, Puff and Bandit at the V Wall.
Mum and Dad also took the kids to the place where Dad asked Mum out, many years ago. Puff was unimpressed at the lack of fridge magnets, and Huff was asleep!
We continued our tour of big things on the way south – here’s Taree’s Big Oyster.
We made it back to Sydney late on Friday night, which meant that our efforts to have a family breakfast out of the house were met with a lack of enthusiasm.
Some cake pops for dessert after a breakfast for Uncle S’s birthday seemed to brighten Huff’s mood.
Saturday night was our church’s annual Christmas Carol night. There was face painting, so Puff decided to be a green cat.
Puff (front row, centre) did a great job singing in the pageant, though he was shining his torch on the currently-sung word, rather than concentrating on the singing itself.
Overall, this has been the best road trip we’ve taken since becoming parents. The kids slept consistently well, and behaved themselves spectacularly in the car. Looking forward to the next trip!