The joys of a ‘do nothing’ holiday
Some of the best holidays, I’ve come to realise, are the ones where we barely do anything. Summer holidays for me often involved travel. Mostly packing up presents and summer clothes and driving for five hours from Auckland to squish in with relatives for two weeks.
This year it came as a welcome reprieve to instead spend the summer break in my new home of Taranaki.
A chalkboard wall planner filled with tasks and activities for the fortnight that hubby would be home went unlooked at.
There is bliss in the ‘absolutely nothing’. No expectations, no work, no chores. Well, there’s always chores, but you get the picture.
The evenings I spent as a teenager reading books on the deck at home bring back as many happy memories as the times we took family holidays around the country.
One of my favourite holidays as an adult was when we borrowed a friend’s bach in the Coromandel. It wasn’t yet summer so the beachside town was quiet. The trip imprinted itself as a time of feeling completely content.
Invited to a wedding in Brisbane last spring, we took our young family of four and made a holiday of it.
Travellers naturally assume the Queensland capital is a stopover for more plentiful adventures, either south in the theme park rich Gold Coast, or north in the beach clad Sunshine Coast.
But the riverside metropolis of Brisbane is where we chose to stay. It was a fantastic choice.
There are so many highlights from our weeklong trip but the stand out were the hotel breakfasts. A week of not having to prepare the first meal of the day or clean up the associated mess was a holiday in itself.
We could have done nothing else and it would have been a memorable break.
I did wonder how a week in a shared hotel room would suit myself, my husband and our two small boys and how restful a cityside vacation would be.
But it was the most relaxing trip I’ve been on with my young brood, and we’ve been to Fiji together, for goodness sake.
Perhaps unfairly, there are more health risks associated with a trip to the islands than to metropolitan Australia. Disease-laden mosquitoes appear more of a threat in Pacific Island nations.
And having young kids makes you risk averse, certainly in my case.
My youngest was an infant when we had the good fortune of friends offering to share their accommodation so we could holiday with them in stunning Fiji.
On the drive to our villa on the sparsely populated Coral Coast, we experienced a less polished but still eye-catching Fiji. The pre-parent me would have enjoyed exploring this side further.
But my baby hadn’t had all his immunisations yet. The boys weren’t old enough to wear proper mozzie repellent.
One step through our villa door and I spotted the first dreaded aedis aegypti mosquito of our trip. I freaked out.
As the sun went down my guard went up. The kids slept under mosquito nets in full length pyjamas despite the heat. Windows and doors were meticulously closed.
I needn’t have worried. We swam, paddle boarded, ziplined, sailed, sunbathed, drank cocktails and had a wonderful time.
Fast forward to our trip to Brisbane, the picturesque riverside city a bit of a paradise itself, and I had none of the same fears.
This time we were in a bustling city, though I felt instantly relaxed.
Granted, my baby was now a robust preschooler with his immunisations up to date.
But Brisbane gave us the best of both worlds. The sights, sounds and convenience of a welldesigned city with the tranquillity of nature on your doorstep.
An hour’s ferry ride from the city, we got to Moreton – a tropical island with vast white sand beaches and wild dolphins which swim up to be hand-fed at dusk.
Sharing a table at the Riverbar & Kitchen with a trio of runners gave us insight into the enviable lifestyle of Brisbane locals.
For the best part of the year, they can spend their Sundays sweating in the sunshine before basking in the river breeze over burgers and Bloody Marys.
I’m all for adventures but being able to let your guard down is a crucial element for a relaxing holiday.
I’m all for adventures but being able to let your guard down is a crucial element for a relaxing holiday.