24 Hrs in Byron Bay

I was annoyed that we hadn't been on holiday in over a year.
Nowhere on the Easter Holidays, nowhere on Christmas, nowhere in September Spring holiday...
The Mr was away for work so I took a quick solo holiday with the girls.
I have never done this before so I was actually anxious! Can you believe it? Gah.

We arrived around 3pm Monday and left just after 3pm Tuesday. All up it was only 24 hrs!
But we achieved alot in 24 hrs. Byron Bay is the perfect spot for that.

We stayed at Discovery Parks Byron Bay . Mainly because it was cheap and slept 6. Got a cabin.
The girls loved it (kids don't often need fancy. Its lovely that they think anything is awesome ha.)
They were a bit devastated that we were only doing a short stay and it was a bit too cold to utilise the 2 pools and splash pad. They did dip their toes in. The jumping pillow did get a bit of a work out though. Town was only a short drive. Park had some old parts, but some lovely new bits. Reasonable.

We jumped on the jumping pillow, put our bags in unpacked and jumped in the car to beat the sun so we could watch the sunset while up at the lighthouse. Byron Roads are a bit small so traffic is always interesting. We got a park in the second carpark on the way down luckily. Then ran up that hill. We saw so many Whales splashes! The girls didn't believe me at first when I said look a whale! Wish we had binoculars but we sat and watched whale splashes for quite some time. So fun to think that just a little ways away are a bunch of whales having a grand old time.

^Next to our restaurant for dinner. Fun.

Next day we woke and headed off to macadamia castle for pancakes for breakfast. Yum.
Then the scenic route up to Minyon Falls. Road had some potholes and dirt for the last few km but we made it! I'm always surprised to see buses at these types of places. I feel scared enough in a car let alone a bus going up tiny roads. Minyon falls is about a 100 m drop. If we had time I would have loved to walk to the bottom. Next time!

^sneaky photo bomber fingers

The night before we went to main beach in the dark after our dinner. I promised we would go back to the beach. I wanted to try another one (insert sads from the kid who wanted to go back to the beach playground.) I missed the first turn off to the other beach and we ended up 6km out of town at Broken Head. Turned out to be awesome as we had the beach to ourselves except for some surfers floating on boards out to sea. score! Two of the girls got into the water. Winter or not nothing was stopping them.

 ^^ Panorama - Byron Lighthouse headland this end. Broken Head the other end.

 ^^ Heart rock. Byron beaches are just sand - clear of most debris. Lucky to find this one.

Towelled off, stopped by the Farm and headed back home via Ikea (of course!)
And that was our 24 hours in Byron Bay.

Camping {Bestbrook Mountain Retreat}

Since two family members recently did a long distance walking and basic camping trip and probably couldn't face another so soon we decided to Glamp for ease and comfort.

We booked a cabin and horseriding at Bestbrook mountain retreat

 Bestbrook Mountain Retreat - Maryvale.

Pro's
Lovely people. Those running the animal feeding, damper making, horse lessons etc were very friendly and approachable and kind to the children and adults alike.

There is a small restaurant there if you forget something/ too tired to cook. We had hot chips twice!

Cabins were well appointed. We forgot clingwrap for a picnic and matches and cooking oil - all there. Every cooking item needed - provided. Had electric frypan, saucepans, slowcooker, bbq etc.
Beds were comfy with good quality sheets and doonas.

Horseriding available for extra cost.

Free daily animal feeding and damper making class.
We got to keep the fresh eggs the kids collected daily. YUM.

Campfires allowed in firepits. {A must for our family}

A creek to muck around in. Sadly wasnt very much water in though.


We took a scenic drive to Queen Mary Falls. This was great - the falls are close to the road and only a short walk to view.

A cattle dog adopted our family. He followed us up a mountain trail walk and stuck by our side and stopped when we stopped then came back to our cabin and dutifully sat outside the entire night. He didnt bark or do anything but let the kids love on him and sit silently by us. I asked the employees and they said that dog always finds one family out of all the campers each week and will choose them and stick to them. It was lovely.


Cons

Lots of horses around. IF you dont like horse poo beware!

Camground was a lot more hilly than I expected from perusing website.
Bring bikes for kids to get up and down to animals and main house.
Be prepared to walk alot or drive your car back and forth.

Campsite was a bit too close to the highway for my liking.
Our spot was just far enough away but could still hear traffic occassionally.

Cabins are what I would describe as 1960's scout camp. So definitely an old feel.
Felt they were a tad more expensive than the budget I would prefer, but had everything you need.

Not much shower/toilet amenities for those camping.
There is some but bit of a walk depending where you are camping.

^^ After a 1km steep climb up a dirt road you come to a couch and lookout :) Much appreciated lol

Animal Feeding

Near by locations - Queen Mary Falls.

Horseriding. Kids must do a lesson before being able to do a trail ride. So you have to pay twice :)
Our kids first time on horses. The teachers and horses were gentle and kind.

Other camping reviews:

Wivenhoe Dam
Neurum creek
Flanagans Reserve
Elanda Point
Somerset Park
Sharp Park Riverbend

Sydney {Part 2}

 ^^ On the Ferry

^^ To Taronga Zoo

^^Which has amazing views in every direction

 ^^Cause she has always loved reptiles

^^the lady sitting next to me had a bird steal 20 cents from her as part of the bird show

^^Bird Show Doves

 ^^Seriously the kangaroo's looked dead. Not interested in anything at all.

 ^^ I loved the trees everywhere... Maple?

 ^^Bye Bye Hotel room. Best Beds I've slept in - Sofitel Melbourne and Sydney. Lovely!

 ^^ Elevator Selfies

^^ Powerhouse. Long Walk to get there. Kids are free!

^^There was a wiggles exhibit. Dorothys house.

 ^^ Cool Yule. Which was to start a few days after we left :(

 ^^ The library in Customs house has a scale model of Sydney under the floor. It was very cool.  We were so tired from walking, I googled to find a library to hang in to wait for the MR to finish work.

 Bye Bye Lobby. Waiting for our taxi.

^^ Arrive in a train, leave in a plane. Sounds good to me.

So happy we got to join the Mr on a work trip. Very happy to be able to take the children out of our state (they haven't been far). Would even say I was happy I took a 14 hour train journey to be able to do so. Also happy to take the children on their second plane trip and finally a plane with individual tv screens!! I had the most tired achy legs from all the walking. So did the kids. I told them this holiday would not be like beach holidays or camping with lots of lazying and swimming. I said this is pure siteseeing and walking walking walking NO COMPLAINING! (they did a little, but I was pretty impressed with how well they held up) I said you can rest AFTER the holiday!

We were able to walk the entire sydney cbd, opera house, botantic gardens, art gallery, sydney tower, darling harbour, powerhouse museum, ferry, taronga zoo, modern art gallery, the rocks, stare at old buildings and plaques.

The only downside was as often happens with me-food was a bit of a let down (for starters nothing is open mon, tues, wed night in the cdb) and a family of six can't eat out at expensive restaurants 3 times a day. Ouch. We sightsee till we're exhausted then happen to not be near anything yum when hungry. So sadly we mainly ate subpar junk food apart from buffet breakfasts and a couple yummies from food court. One day I'll get the food thing right. I was happy to be spoilt by the Qantas Lounge food late evening as we were leaving lol.

I love a good holiday. I love a bargain one which made it possible.

Where to next?!