You’ll be pleased to note that a nice little holiday routine has been happening.

The kids come in at 8.30am and demand we get up. They then go and set the table for breakfast and have their own.

The demand is made so that we get to the beach by 10am for the first swim of the day! Well, it’s really a family boogie board session and body bash I the waves. Talk about life goals when all four of us catch a wave together. I think A is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. Definitely the most relaxed! Three weeks tomorrow since we left Sydney on this holiday Odyssey!

After the swim it’s an icecream on the beach from the kiosk, and a trundle back up the hill to our cottage. A flop, a trip to the shops, lunch then another relaxo session.

The late afternoon sees us pile into the car for a trip down to Turners Beach for another surf session.

Rinse and repeat!!

It’s funny to think that I knew, a long time before I met A, that Yamba would be an ideal location for a honeymoon. Great surf, what looked like a great pub to stay in, and of course fabulous prawns.

I convinced my husband-to-be that this was where we needed to have Part 1 of our honeymoon. Also I explained to him that the Australian concept of resort wasn’t always the international one, as he was thinking that the local one might’ve been a good place to stay. So we stayed at the Pacific Hotel, that I knew was perched above Yamba Main Beach. It was so much better than I’d ever imagined when I told my Dad that I had two honeymoon plans (when I had nothing like a husband on the horizon. Plan A was a fortnight in New Orleans and one in Venice (yet to visited with A), Plan B a week in Yamba at the pub!!

We had a few days in Yamba straight after our wedding (well, after we spent a few days with our American guest). It was fabulous.

This is our eighth stay in Yamba. Honeymoon, and two babymoons (one with the toddler in tow) at the pub, one week at a townhouse across the road, and now four in the Pilot’s Cottage.

This morning I felt like we were kicking some serious life goals with all four of us boogie-boarding at Main Beach. Such a great feeling all of us in the surf together!

Then home for lunch – which included some delicious local prawns.

Today G turns 12. She is hard to write about as she’s my daughter and with that comes so much.

Instead I will write her a letter, here, of love and wishes.

G is our first born, the one that made me a Mum. She brought so much joy and laughter to our world, and she still does.

This year will be full of challenges and changes for our little girl. High School starts at the end of this month, and I hope that she starts this new stage of her education with the enthusiasm and confidence that saw her bloom in primary school.

New routines, new school mates, and I hope new friends are just around the corner. I figure if I have the anxiety she can just get on with making the most of everything that will be on offer.

G finished primary school buzzing with energy and busting to get on with the next stage. I am sure being twelve will just be fabulous for her!

Today we started with presents and apple pie for breakfast for the birthday girl! It ended with a pre-dinner surf at Turners Beach and dinner at the Pacific Hotel – both within sight of the lighthouse at Yamba! I think this is a good omen for a great year ahead.

Happy Birthday G! Here’s to a wonderful year where so many wishes come true and great things happen!

The turn-off to Cranky Rock Reserve was too good to drive past.

It didn’t let me down.

Check this out.

Big sky, a road train and the flat, flat paddocks.

Today we went on a drive out of town towards Collarenebri, in search of elusive wetlands. We gave up, they were further than we thought, and unmapped it seemed.

We did see the stock route, travel behind a road train, and have that wonderful shimmer of a mirage of water.

I couldn’t stop thinking about one of my oldest friends, who grew up a bit further west on a large property near Walgett. He also became one of those rare creatures, a lad who went back to work on the farm with his parents. I had an interesting visit to that farm when I finished school – I had never felt such isolation in my life as staying in that farm house. I knew it’d take more than I had in me to live in such a place. Good thing it was never an option!

Driving along that road, seeing so little in the way of life apart from what was growing in the paddocks brought it back.

I know I’m a city girl! Happy to visit the Bush, and happy to go home again!

I couldn’t resist a local drop today at lunch in Moree.

It didn’t let me down. There is nothing like a passionfruit flavoured fizzy drink.

I recommend Lillymans if you’re in the area. Low carbon footprint to boot!

Today we left Brisbane and the sunny state of Queensland for NSW and Moree.

Such a wonderful drive out here.

Check out that sky.

Fat Mum Slim, aka Chantelle, has been running her Photo A Day community for quite a few years now. I have participated sporadically. Fingers crossed I make a better go of it in 2019.

So far so good!

Day 1 – Hello

Bargara out the window.

Day 2 – New

Putting that two piece on is an exercise in body confidence.

Day 3 – Currently Reading

Had to incorporate our trip to Lady Elliot. That was the sign on strut of the wing of our small plane.

Day 4 – Yellow

The back of the public buses in Brisbane fitted the bill!

Day 5 – A Fave Thing

Two of them actually, inside the Queen Street Mall public art!

Day 6 – Breakfast

No, this wasn’t even at breakfast time, though boat and Brisbane also start with B. Jessica Watson’s yacht now lives at the Queensland Maritime Museum.

Day 7 – Look Up!

Through the frangipani tree beside the Queensland Museum.

Today we had one of those hellish walks where you find yourself walking in a no-mans-land. We walked down to the river hoping to catch the city ferry. Through a comedy of errors we missed the first ferry and decided to walk instead, along the north bank to the pedestrian bridge nearest the Queensland Maritime Museum.

It was hot, the walk was along a construction site. It was dusty, we were annoyed and thirsty. We made it across the river and collapsed into the first restaurant we saw – where the food was good and the drinks cold. Thank goodness!

The Maritime Museum is a peach. It was a delight to work our way through the inside exhibits, even if it was slightly warm in the building. So many interesting items to look at and read about, from lighthouses and sail makers lofts (my great grandfather was a sailmaker, he made many journeys before moving to Australia from Scotland at the turn of the last century), smoking rooms rebuilt, so many model ships, to the precise geographical location of where we were standing.

When we went outside a guided tour was about to commence of the HMAS Diamantina. Our guide Mark was a font of knowledge. It was great to climb all over that river class frigate and find out so much about its history, the part it played in WW2, and what life was like aboard. It was absolutely stinking hot onboard and below decks – you got the feeling that any movement would’ve improved things.

Of course after climbing over this ship, and looking at the other boats and maritime bits and pieces we did some shopping. I couldn’t resist the sailors bag made by the museum’s very own sailmaker.

Back when the children were 4 and 6 we went over the river to the Queensland Museum and The Gallery of Modern Art. We’ve made sure that we’ve visited every time we’ve returned to Brisbane.

The Children’s Art Centre at GOMA is extraordinary. The only place in Sydney that is comparable is the new children’s centre at the Mitchell Library. It is brilliant. Both my children leapt in to every activity on offer.

Full and thorough reporting will take place tomorrow. This is my biggest “take away” though. I bought a copy for my own library. Such a beautiful story.