Holidays!

We are on the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) enjoying the last bits of summer sun!

We drove up in 2 days. One 6 hour drive to Coffs Harbour, The a 4.5 hour drive to Kirra Beach.
The drive passed smoothly with an audiobook ("The Giver" - intriuging) and the card/I spy game "Are we there yet".
We have been here 2 days and have done lovely holiday things - swiming, playing cards, reading, walking along the beach at dusk etc. We've had 2 bigger adventures. The girls went hang-gliding near Byron Bay on the way up - quite an adventure - you can read more about that at The Little Blue Bicycle. We also had a great day at Seaworld. Highlights were amazing viewing of a polar bear playing and swimming, seeing Gentoo and King Penguins in close proximity, a gorgeous Dolphin Show and a whole family (3 generations) Flume Ride.

Food has not been a huge feature of the trip so far with limited,  shared kitchens,  compact packed picnics and very little of our equipment and ingredients but we are well nourished.

Lunches have pretty well been sandwiches. Tuna by the road side, Egg salad at Sea World, Vegetarian sausage and salad in our holiday apartment. A lunch on the road in a small town looked a little challenging for vegetarians. Mia and I settled on salad rolls are were asked "Which type, the chicken salad or the ham salad?"
Dinners have been unadventurous but tasty. Our first night was a tomato pasta, cooked on a clunky, plug-in hot plate in a kitchen/lounge/bedroom in Coffs Harbour, but with fresh salad, homemade dressing from home and good parmesan it made a lovely meal by the pool.
The first night up here was a simple BBQ sausage (chickpea ones and free range chicken and pork ones for the varying diets amongst us), mash and salad affair cooked within moments of arriving and unpacking.
Since then we have had packet spinach Paneer curry (when everyone else was having meat) and Grandma's tasty tuna casserole.
Tonight we are eating out at the night markets in Surfers Paradise.
Later in the week our two remaining meals are our trusty fish pie and a soya Chicken with rice and bok choy. This is a tried and true classic in our house which is rarely used now. I will try it with chicken tofu in a second pot this time and if that is successful this may once again become a household staple!  The remaining meal will be cooked by Grandma.

Coming up in the week are a day trip to Brisbane and a couple of outings with a friend of Eva's who lives up here - Bowling and a Maze which she wants Eva to see. Hopefully a lot more beach walking, reading and time in the spa in between!

After our 7 nights here we will head back in a massive 8 hour driving day as far as Hawk's Nest on the NSW coast where will have a night with friends and then we will head back to reality just in time to pack the fruit co-op on Tuesday. Then a few days more off work (where the cooking should get more exciting) and then the term 2 grind will start as the days get shorter and colder!



Happy Holidays (or Spring Break) if you are in a part of the world that is breaking right now.

Nicola