After what feels like a chaotic first half of the year, Theverymoodyhousehold packed a bag, and migrated north for a glorious 5 days, lodging in the beautiful Springbrook National Park in the Gold Coast Hinterlands. I should clarify – when I say a bag, what I mean is approximately one thousand bags…travelling with kidlets means you must take the entire contents of your house, just in case.

With the only expectation of the time away being to reconnect as a family, our days were filled with unexpected adventures, time together and lots of cuddles.  Although the boys were still awake at the crack of dawn each day, we still had slow starts, not wanting to rush around. There was a lot of tea, toast and television (kidlets) and book reading in front of the fire (adults).

When we felt the need to find a coffee, we’d get moving for the day – on the first day however, we sadly discovered quality of coffee in Springbrook was incredibly average, so had to branch further a field, searching for THAT quality brew. Luckily, our friends in the local area introduced us to some superb cafés around Currumbin and Palm Beach. As such, we ended up heading down the mountain (45min drive) each day to make sure our holiday featured some delicious food and beverages.

Now, the weather up north was just perfection. Cool nights, followed by stunning days – the antithesis of the wet, grey and cold weather that is currently on offer. Think perfect, blue skies; warm sun, slight breeze and you’ll have us. Perfect holiday weather.

One of the bushwalks we completed was the Purling Brook round walk (4km-ish), right in the middle of Springbrook National Park. We hadn’t really planned a long walk, and as such only had limited supplies. Our initial thought had been to walk the easy 300m out to a lookout, but upon arrival at the lookout the stunning waterfall seduced us to see it’s base. Back in our days before children were on the scene, Grimace and I were lucky enough to get to Iguazu Falls in Argentina – seeing the water rush over the edge instantly reminded me of that holiday and the power that a waterfall can hold. Purling Brook waterfall was in no way similar to the size of Iguazu falls, but it was nice to be transported back to that moment in time, and the intensity of my astonishment at the sheer size of the naturally formed attraction; how insignificant our “busy” lives are in comparison to the trillions* of litres that are pushed over the edge of every single waterfall around the world, each second of the day. I am completely liberated by that concept, and standing at the bottom of the giant waterfall at Springbrook brought those feelings flooding back (see what i did there?!). I cherished the opportunity for reflection.

We were incredibly pleased we took the unplanned walk – Giggles Magoo walked over three of the four km’s and the scenery was breathtaking. It was beautifully satisfying to take on the challenge as a family and come through the other side with such lovely memories (and photos). I am determined to channel the experience and be open to more spontaneous activities when the moment allows.

A few other family outings included a visit to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (and the Friday night food markets conveniently right next door to the sanctuary…brilliant concept), spending time with beautiful friends and their family just taking in their relaxed vibes, beach/river/park play around Currumbin/Palm Beach and driving excursions through the countryside taking in the water and mountainous Vistas.

Our trip home turned into a “Jack and Jill” style trail- as it turns out, we were determined to leave something at each of our pitstops. From leaving the family’s entire toiletries bag at the accommodation we’d rented, to leaving a whole heap of items in the hire car, to nearly leaving a child on the plane as co-pilot (see pic below), culminating in the piėce de résistance…leaving Grimace’s work laptop at the airport security gate… of course everything has turned out for the best and what was possible to have returned has been (Giggles Magoo definitely disembarked the plane). Something tells me that we will attempt to find that trail back to the Gold Coast Hinterlands again soon.

Rconnecting as a family unit, learning new things about the boys (Little Mate and the onset of his gorgeous chit chat; Giggles Magoo and his growing self esteem), reintroducing myself to Grimace – all in a beautiful setting. I’d say it was a very beautiful, Moody hinterland xx 

* I have absolutely zero statistics or studies that prove this claim; who doesn’t love a gross exaggeration/made up stat.