Queensland has the best playgrounds...

We have been away on a long holiday...  a much needed break from the rigours of renovating!  We visited Cairns (our favourite!), Brisbane and the Gold Coast.  One observation that I made on this holiday was that Queensland has excellent infrastructure, far superior to New South Wales... despite the higher taxes, grrr!  Although, it has to be said that on the whole Queenslanders do not know how to make coffee.  (Two exceptions here... Bang Espresso in Cairns is outstanding, better than many many Sydney/Melbourne coffee houses and Campos in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.  Side note... we did our pre-natal classes with a young couple who had opened a little hole in the wall cafe in Newtown, Campos and now look at them!!!  They are often on top ten entrepreneur type lists etc etc and deservedly so, Campos coffee is consistently excellent!) 

Anyway, back to the holiday. We had a fabulous break, the highlight for me was a week in Brisbane where I got to meet my dear friend Veronica's divine new daughter for the first time:

Here she is looking adorable and fabulously glamourous in her Cath Kidston for Maclaren stroller! 

The highlight for the boys though was the playgrounds.  Queensland has the best playgrounds I have ever seen.  In Brisbane, the playground at New Farm is superb.  A brief walk through the gardens from the ferry wharf and you discover a children's paradise, complete with magical Banyan trees. The Captain spent hours exploring every nook and cranny of the trees reminding me so much of my own childhood.  I have very fond memories of playing in a Banyan tree in the grounds of my school in India. 

In Cairns there is Muddy's Playground on the Esplanade, with both a fabulous waterplay area and a maze of climbing nets and tree houses to explore!

On the Gold Coast we skipped the theme park thing, (hoping to avoid it for as long as possible!) but discovered this brilliant contraption across the road from our hotel at Broadbeach:

They seriously spent hours playing on it!  Another brilliant discovery on the Gold Coast was this little gem:

It is called Gov's Espresso and is on the Gold Coast Highway at Mermaid Beach.  We were able to scooter there from our hotel at Broadbeach and it was worth the trek!

In the backyard there is a huge sandpit play area, with a boat in it just like ours! (the third photo down).   It makes me wonder how many other like-minded derelict dinghy in sand pit people there are out there!  Gov's is well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to the Gold Coast.  There is a cafe serving drinks and a small selection of basic food (no hot food) and you can sit out the back by the play area and relax while you drink your coffee, as the kids are very occupied with the sand pit and the assorted trucks and sand pit toys provided.  Then go and explore all the rooms full of vintage treasures!

 

Now to adjust back to the school routine and to get back into the swing of renovating... and at some point I will make an effort to finish the photo challenge! Hope all are well and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone! xx