“You do look tired” the third person said to me this week.

“Great,” I replied.  “I actually feel like I have been hit by a bus. Thank you very much for saying that my appearance only reflects exhaustion because if you knew how I really felt you may have been much more insulting,” I did not say out loud.

My bones knew it was time to stop.  We had been running on empty for months.   Between home school 2.0 (even if it was only for four days) because of flooding in Coffs Harbour and playing tag team with Dave as single parents as we trekked back and forth to Sydney for work, our day to day had become a recipe for disaster, divorce or diabolical meltdown.

Each of us had displayed our fair share of diabolical meltdowns over the past months. Some were more spectacular than others and were always expressed in different ways depending on the nature of the ‘meltdowner’.  While they never lasted for long nor had we dismissed how incredibly blessed our lives were, it felt like this trip had a lot riding on it both for restoration and as a time to reconnect as a family.

I hesitated to book another van trip, after the past summer had seen our carefully planned adventures to SA cancelled because of COVID and then plan B almost entirely rained out. Nevertheless, I knew deep down that our best chance for restoration and reconnection hinged on another epic adventure in our beloved caravan.

During the planning phase I had daydreamed of strolling down Hastings Street in Noosa. I also knew that Dave would never agree.  Our list of holiday boxes to tick had become more extensive as of late with Olivia now a ‘tweenager’ and Alice a full blown ‘threenager’. It now included, (but was not limited to):  good surf, good fishing, safe enough to give Olivia and Mia their independence while making sure Alice could be in plain sight, remote enough to unplug yet close enough to plug back into, beautiful wilderness that served craft Kombucha and almond lattes….our list continued

I had stumbled across Noosa North Shore by accident.  From my research it seemed to offer the same stretch of gorgeous white sand and pristine waters as Noosa Main Beach but without the crowds.  Surely there was a catch.

Nope. This time we had nailed it.  After just a short car barge across the Noosa River and a bit of an unexpected adventure when we realised there was no water to fill up the van water tanks, we parked our beloved van beach front.  With ocean views and sounds of rolling waves from our bedroom flyscreen, a long surf break at our doorstep and the serenity that only Australian wilderness has offered us I knew that this week would be exactly what we all needed.