Australia
DATE: Sunday DECEMBER 17 2017
Location:
Noosa - > Hervey Bay (Fraser Island)
Location:
Travel Day. In the morning we headed to the park and Angeliquea and Vinny did yoga while the kids played on the equipment and rode their scooters. After that we headed to the local farmers market to grab a snack and load up on some groceries. One thing we've learned is that having groceries when you arrive to a new home makes things so much easier. Usually we're worn out and just wanna hang at the house so its nice to cook a meal at home and just chill out. It was just a 2.5 hour drive from Noosa to Hervey Bay. It was one of the most beautiful drives we've taken to date. We saw lots of cows, sheep, horses and kangaroos. Fox was definitely tired and grumpy though which can make a pleasant drive change real quick. But we made the best of it. We arrived in Hervey Bay to our Airbnb which is absolutely incredible. The interior design is just our style and we feel at home here. We're looking forward to a fun week of exploring Fraser Island :)
DATE: SATURDAY DECEMBER 16 2017
Location:
Noosa -> Coolum Beach
Notes:
Today we took a quick 15 minute car ride to neighboring Coolum Beach. We head heard there was a skate park there and wanted to check it out. The setup was amazing. There was a playground and skate park right next to the beach. Perfect free all-day entertainment for the family. We hung out there all day and grabbed lunch at Raw Energy which we definitely recommend.
DATE: FRIDAY DECEMBER 15 2017
Location:
Noosa
Weather:
Beautiful Sunny Day
Today was a day off for Ashley. Angeliquea got to do Yoga in the AM while Vinny took the kids on a nature walk in Noosa Woods. Then Breakfast at The Grind Cafe. Grocery Shopping after at Organika and then Foxy home for Nap. Vinny then took Cash and Phoenix to the beach while Angeliquea stayed home with Fox. Once Fox woke up Angeliquea met everyone else at the beach. Dinner at El Capitano. Non-diary ice cream from Ben & Jerry's for dessert. Amazing Day!
DATE: Thursday DECEMBER 14 2017
Location:
Noosa
Weather:
Beautiful Sunny Day
Noosa Skate Park. Lunch at Coconut Heat. Noosa Main Beach in the afternoon. Dinner at Montezuma's.
DATE: WEDNeSday DECEMBER 13 2017
Location:
Noosa
Weather:
Beautiful Sunny Day
Date day for Vinny & Angeliquea. Yoga and then we chose to go surfing. Rented some boards and just chilled out on the beach. Ashley took the kids to a park and the Noosa Skate Park. Ordered a Vegan Pizza in.
DATE: TUESday DECEMBER 11 2017
Location:
Bryon Bay -> Noosa
Weather:
Beautiful Sunny Day
Woke up and did some last minute packing and then hit the road for a 3 1/2 hour drive. We stopped in the gold coast for a doctor's appointment for Angeliquea. This was a follow up appointment from a doctor she had met at the Byron Bay market. Since that appointment she had never felt better so she was excited to go again. The doctor was able to provide even more relief to her in her neck and she is now well on the road to recovery. The location of the appointment was a a place called Eco Village at Currumbin which was a really cool residential development. After that we drove for another hour to Brisbane where we stopped off to let the kids play and also grab some lunch at Cocobliss. The park we played at was so great. It was called Kidspace. It was totally free and definitely recommend it to anyone just passing throug or staying in Brisbane
DATE: MONDAY DECEMBER 10 2017
Location:
Weather:
Sunny Day
Work day for Vinny. Angeliquea took the kids to the beach. Ate at Oxymex.
DATE: SUNDAY DECEMBER 9 2017
Location:
Weather:
Sunny Day
Vinny work day. Angeliquea and Ashley took the kids to the Byron Farm. It was awesome!
DATE: SATURDAY DECEMBER 8 2017
Location:
Weather:
Sunny Day
Beach day. At at Main Street Burger which is amazing.
DATE: MONDAY DECEMBER 4 2017
Location:
Weather:
Partly Cloudy then rained in the afternoon
Today was a work day for Vinny, so after our morning yoga session he headed to a cafe to get some work done while everyone else headed to the main beach in town.
Date: sunDAY December 3 2017
Location:
Weather:
Partly Cloudy
We hadn't been able to workout as much in Port Macquarie so they were determined to get back into in in Byron. So we helped get the kids ready and fed and then headed to Creature Yoga at 6:30am for a Vinyasa class while Ashley watched them. They have a deal for $50 a month unlimited classes and since we are trying to go everyday while we are in Byron, it made the most sense to buy that package. We loved the class and were glad we opted for the package.
Something we haven't really talked a lot about is Angeliquea's chronic pain. She has been in pain for the past 5+ years now with muscle aches and headaches. We have tried just about everything and at times its gotten better, but nothing has fully healed it. One thing that does help alleviate the pain is stretching (yoga) and massage. So getting her back into the studio was great for her.
After yoga we headed to the Sunday market in town. It was pretty rad. They had all sorts of food, crafts, and lots for the kids. We ate lunch there just hung out for about 5 hours. It was a great way to experience the Byron vibe and culture which felt like a mix between hippie and surf culture. We felt like we fit right in.
After the market we headed home to chillout and clean up before dinner. We had an early dinner at Asia Joes which is a pan-asian style cuisine with a ton of vegan options. We honestly weren't super excited to eat there ONLY because we had been in Thailand for 2 weeks and felt like we got our fill of asian food there, but we were blown away by how good the food was. We definitely recommend it for anyone looking for vegan asian or asian in general as they serve meat too.
Date: SATURDAY December 2 2017
Location:
Port Macquarie -> Coffs Harbour -> Byron Bay
Weather:
Partly cloudy
Today was our second road trip of our Australia adventure. The first leg didn't go well so I think we were all a little nervous about what was to come. In the morning Vinny got a little work in while Angeliquea packed everything up and Ashley took the kids to the park. Cash got some more skate park time and the girls got to play at the playground. We headed out with the plan of eating breakfast in town at Bandwagon (again) and then hitting the road. We stopped off in Coffs Harbour which was about 2 hours north and the halfway point. We found this great little park (Sapphire Beach/Beachstone Cafe Park) that had a "flying fox" as they call it here which we call a zipline. There was also a cafe right at the park which looked amazing but we had already packed our lunch. We played and snacked for about an hour and then got back on the road for another 2 hour drive. Surprisingly the kids did VERY well on the drive. We think that the more they get used to something new the easier it gets. The same thing happened on our flights. The first one was the hardest, and then each time after it got easier. I guess that's true in life too.
We arrived in Byron Bay at about 6:30pm and the plan was to get a quick snack and then get the kids down. We headed to Byron Juice
Activities:
Date: Friday December 1 2017
Location:
Weather:
Sunny Day with some clouds
We headed to the local Koala Hospital. It's a center where they care for koalas and aim to release them once healed. You can tour the property for free and see several koalas and learn about their problems, treatments and the animal in general. We spent about an hour and half there and it was a great little easy and free activity for all the kids. After that we headed back to Town Beach to grab a snack at Salty Crew Kiosk and then head to the skate park.
Date: November 30 2017
Today was one of the best days we've had yet. A few days prior, Angeliquea had spotted a restaurant that we couldn't find on google but looked cool. We drove by and saw the name (Bandwagon) and were able to find them on Facebook. We saw that they were open for breakfast so we went to check them out in the AM. They had several gluten-free and vegan options and the food was phenomenal! We then spent most the day at Town Beach which is the main beach in Port Macquarie. It is honestly one of the best beaches I have ever been to in my entire life for families. The waves were big enough to have some fun on, but not so big it scared away the kids. The beach itself had very soft white sand with almost no seaweed to be found. The shoreline was very gradual and calm so the very little kids had no problem playing in the sand. They even had what we called a natural "kiddie pool" right on the beach that was perfect for Fox. Cash tried surfing and boogie boarding, we build sand castles and just genuinely had a great time. There is also a great snack kiosk right at the beach called Salty Crew Kiosk which served healthy and delicious food. After the beach we headed home to clean up and get ready for the Christmas parade. We headed into town for the parade and decided to go back to Bandwagon for dinner because it was that good. The kids gobbled up their veggie burgers which was great to see. We then headed to the parade. Port Macquarie feels to me like what a classic American town must have felt like back in the the 50s or 60s. Everyone is so friendly and life just seems to be simpler here. The town itself also inhibits that classic/retro feel of the town both by the way its laid out and the buildings themselves. I found myself looking around and saying to myself that this is the type of place I would like to live.
Location:
Day of The Week:
Thursday
Weather:
Rained slightly in the AM and then a sunny Day with some clouds
Activities:
Town Beach
Port Macquarie Christmas Parade
Food:
Breakfast: Bandwagon
Lunch: Packed a Lunch
Snack: Snacks from Salty Crew Kiosk
Dinner: Bandwagon
Date: November 29 2017
Today we checked out the local skate park and Cash never wanted to leave. We ended up spending about 5 hours there. We found a great Mexican restaurant called Luna Bonita. The kids loved their veggie tacos and burritos and so did we. That night was date night so Angeliquea and I dropped off the kids at home and then snuck out for dinner. We ended up going back to Luna Bonita because we liked it so much. Angeliquea and I then ran a few errands and just walked around the town talking about our plans for the coming weeks.
Location:
Day of The Week:
Wednesday
Weather:
Sunny Day with some clouds
Activities:
Town Beach Skate Park
Food:
Breakfast: Ate at Home
Lunch: Luna Bonita
Dinner: Luna Bonita
Date: 28.11.17
Location: Port Macquarie
Day of The Week: Tuesday
Weather: Sunny Day
First day in Port Macquarie. Tuesday's are a day that I work all day long. In the morning we all got in the van and drove a short 5 minute drive from our AirBnb into town to grab breakfast at The Happy Pickle. They had some great vegan options and we definitely recommend it. After breakfast I split off from the family and got some work done at a local cafe that had good WiFi....
Food:
Ken Little's
The Happy Pickle
Date: 27.11.17
Location: Road Trip From Sydney to Port Macquarie
Day of The Week: Monday
Weather: Cloudy Day, little bit of rain
We picked a good day for a travel day. We didn't feel like we were missing too much with the colder weather. I definitely would have liked to stay in Sydney for a few more days t explore a little more, but at the same time was looking forward to seeing what's next. We had a 4.5 hour drive from Sydney to Port Macquarie that ended up being closer to 6 hours with all the pit stops and traffic. It was a little rough with the kids but could have been worse. The worst part about the whole drive was that we got in a minor car accident :/. I was driving and admittedly, hadn't fully gotten my bearings of being on the other side of the vehicle. I was driving too far into the left lane and ended up hitting the back of a bus going about 15 mph. No one was hurt at all, except for my ego. I pride myself on being a great driver, but when you're sitting on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road, its like being 16 all over again. My left and right spacial awareness was completely off. So dealing with the rental car repair is going to be a bit of a headache, but at the end of the day you just have to roll with it and move on.
Other than that, it was a nice drive and we made it to Port Macquarie just fine. Our Airbnb is absolutely amazing and definitely our most favorite one yet. We'll make sure to share more of it with you via our YouTube video.
Date: 26.11.17
Location: Coogee Beach, Australia
Day of The Week: Sunday
Weather: Beautiful Sunny Day
Today we ran some errands, grocery shopped, mostly essentials. Australia is definitely not cheap. Things seem to be about 15-20% more than they would be back in the states, but I must say the food quality is top notch. There are also a ton of vegan options everywhere you go, not just at certain spots so its been very easy to stay on diet here. Because it is more expensive, our game-plan has been to do mostly all free activities and spend our budget on food. Australia is a very easy place to accomplish this because there are so many great parks and beaches. We also caved and bought the kids some scooters today which turned out to be a HUGE win. We recognize that we may not have these scooters for the entire trip, but seeing their joy and happiness riding them was worth it. You can tell that it was something they were really missing, especially Cash. Its interesting the see the different needs of the children based on thier ages. In this stage, each child really has their own independent needs and at times it can be difficult to find one activity that can meet the needs of a 18 month old, 3.5 year old and a 6 year old. But it always comes back to keeping it simple. The simpler the activity the more it seems to appeal to all of them. Hikes, beaches, exploring something new seems to do the trick. Don't get me wrong, we do recognize that at times, one of us parents needs to spend time with just one of them to stimulate them in the way they need, but we're always trying to find that balance between the family unit and the individual. We're definitely not perfect, but we are very aware of it and strive to give them all what they need.
Sydney has been great so far, and we are very excited to continue our journey up the east coast to see the rest.