sunshine time: Woodgate

Before Christmas and right after school finished, we snuck away for a week of complete and utter rest. Now you might think it strange that when one lives at the beach, such as we do, that we would choose another beach to holiday at.

It's not really that odd. We live in a beautiful part of the world, definitely. it's just that a lot of other people think it's lovely too, so this time of year we are inundated with visitors to our town.

We used to escape to a little place near here called Burrum Heads. We would rent a fifties style old wooden house right on the water with a huge backyard and it would be absolute bliss. When I was dreaming about revisiting that place I discovered the house we loved so much had been sold and was no longer available to rent.

So looking just a little further afield we found ourselves at Woodgate.

It's sleepy. Re-e-e-al sleepy. There's a store, a bowls club, a caravan park, a pretty dodgy pub and ten kilometres of flat bike paths along the most beautiful bay beach... just perfect for kids and adults alike to explore.

There's a river mouth and tidal flats and kangaroos all over the front lawns of resident's houses.

There's endless beach shacks to drool over (posted previously on instagram, check them out here).

There's driftwood and shells to collect and fashion into mobiles and necklaces; there's trees to climb and long empty beaches to hula-hoop on.

There were no markets, cancelled due to the dumping of rain just prior to our arrival, which flooded out the show-grounds. But there was the most amazing garage sale offering loads of vintage and retro wares. I restrained myself and came away with just one little purchase...

There was a book fair. It surpassed all expectations and I picked up thirteen books for eleven dollars.

There was rain, and then there was sun. We read books, napped, ate, played games and swam in the pool and ocean. There was no wi-fi and we didn't miss it much at all.