Day Trip to Caloundra

We decided to take a day trip today, up to the Sunshine Coast to Kings Beach at Caloundra. Beth decided to get up at 6:30am this morning and was demanding an early breakfast, so by the time she had breakfast and Phan and I had got ready, we were all ready to leave by 8:20am. It took just an hour to get to Caloundra, which is about 80-90km north of Brisbane. There were some really weird patches of weather on the way up... it was sunny when we left... then we hit some cloudy parts... then it started raining... then more clouds... then it poured... followed by a heavy sun shower... we were just hoping for good weather when we got to our destination. Beth fell asleep in the car about 15-20 minutes from our destination... poor girl, was bored... she was very well behaved though... quiet for the whole trip.

We arrived at our destination with no problems... (although the GPS did take us on a roundabout route...) As a side note, Queensland is definitely the king of weird and unusual road names/places... we drove down a road called "Sugar Bag Rd" to get to Kings Beach... and we passed a lot of other unusual names like a place called "Beerburrum"... and then a few kms later "Beerwah"... is there a fascination with "Beer" perhaps here in the Sunshine State?

We woke Beth up... who was quite excited at seeing the beach and after changing into our bathers, we headed down to the beach which was already pretty busy at 9:30am. Its a lovely family friend spot at Kings Beach... there's a lifesaver patrolled beach, a free toddler friendly saltwater pool right on the beach front, clean public toilets, park benches and several bbqs right on the beach front, a spouting water feature thing that kids can play and run through, a little playground and all of this within close vicinity to shops and cafes.

Beth and I played in the sand for a little bit while Phan ran back to car to grab a few things we forgot... but playing in the sand only lasted about 5 minutes and then she was desperate to get in the water! So we toddled down to the surf... lots of waves... and she wasn't scared of the waves at all! Absolutely adored having the waves crash down and have water swirl around her. She basically just sat on the shore and let the waves come up to her... She loved it so much... There was just pure joy on her face. At one point, this massive wave came up and crashed down and submerged her head... and all she did was gulp and inhale water through her nose and gasp a little and she went back for more right away! Even though the sun was shining down strongly, it was quite windy... so it didn't take long for Beth to get cold... maybe 15-20 minutes... and then we had to drag her out of the water (much to her dismay) and I wrapped her up in a towel and we sat on the sand and we built sandcastles and knocked them down for a little while. When Beth had sufficiently warmed up again, we ventured into the saltwater pool. It is really perfect for little kids because it has shallow bits... and the deepest part of the pool is 1.5m... but we just went in waist deep and swished Beth around in the water... She loooved the sensation of "swimming" and could have stayed in there all day if she hadn't got cold. It is amazing how tolerant Beth is to the the cold water... because Phan and I both thought the water was really cold when we first got in, but Beth was happy to dive completely in! We are such wusses compared to her!

After our second little dip, we all got changed (not a trivial task, when you have a wriggly child who won't sit still for you to change them!) and then we sat in the shade on grass parklands and had a seafood platter for 2 for lunch. It had 2 of the biggest pieces of dory we have ever seen, a few of calamari, a couple of crumbed prawn cutlets and chips... Mmmm... yum... There is nothing like fish and chips by the beach.. they just compliment each other so perfectly... it is just a such a simply pleasure in life.

After lunch, Beth had warmed up a bit (her lips were no longer blue!) and she was still perky, so I thought we could wander down to the beach again and I coud try and take some photos of Beth playing/walking in the sand... Hmmm... well... as seems to be often the case these days... that didn't quite turn out as we planned. The minute we walked down onto the sand, Beth was lunging towards the beach and didn't want Phan to hold her because she wanted to walk on the sand out to the water! So after a little bit of struggling, we gave in... and our strong willed little girl got her way... We just let her walk and play in the water with all her clothes on! Lucky, like the paranoid mum that i am, I packed 3 changes of clothes with us... so we had already been through 2 sets and I had a spare set left for her to wear on the ride home... So, I chased her on the beach, trying to get some decent shots and I got a couple of great shots... Phan and I got our own clothes wet from chasing her in the water... so we had to sit through the hour drive home in damp clothes... but lucky it was warm and we dried off a bit.

So after that photo shoot on the beach, we headed home... I expected Beth to fall asleep right away... but she stayed awake and chatted for about 15-20 minutes... and then fell asleep... snuggled up with a blanket...

Once we got home, she woke up... but she was still tired, so I put her down to sleep some more in her cot and she fell asleep right away. Phan and I were both pretty tired too... it's amazing how much the beach tires you out!

We had a slow afternoon... not doing much at all... but we headed out to Trang's Restaurant in the West End for an early dinner at 5pm and had pho (beef noodle soup) and com tam dac biet (broken rice with combination of pork chop, shredded pork and egg). Beth had a whole rice bowl of pho... and probably a half bowl worth of rice and pork... and then a whole glass of nuoc dua (coconut juice). Amazing how she fits all that food in her little belly. I was so satisfied and full after dinner... I was so hungry despite the fish and chips we'd had.

Now Phan and I are thinking an early night is in order... we are knackered from today... our first proper family day trip was such great fun... we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Sneak peek of photos to come - here is one of my favourite shots from today...