Our stay at Wallinga Farmstay, Mudgee

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During the recent school holidays, we went to Mudgee for a few days and stayed at Wallinga Farmstay. It was just what we needed, to ease back into life, after a pretty rough few weeks of getting sick with, and recovering from, Covid-19.

A short, three-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney made this trip so doable for a quick two-night getaway.

The last time I went to Mudgee was during my mining engineering university days about 15 years ago… it was a field trip. I remember staying for a night and thinking “If I ever have to move to a residential mining town for work, this would be a great spot”.

And this time, I got to enjoy it so much more and really fell in love with it. Who knew there was so much to do and see?

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Single Mum Solo Vacay – Koh Lipe

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In December I celebrated my first Christmas without my daughter. Okay, celebrated is the wrong word. For a carol singing, Santa hat-wearing, Christmas LOOOOOVING gal, “survived” is probably a more accurate description.

I always knew that after almost seven years as a single mum, and six Christmases with my six-year-old daughter, I would find it tough. So I decided that if I couldn’t celebrate with my daughter, the next best thing would be to take myself on a little rejuvenating vacay.

And so I did some googling and some price comparing and found the perfect spot… Koh Lipe.

Since posting about it on Instagram, and chatting about it a little on my podcast, I have been asked many questions about Koh Lipe and my solo trip there, and in this blog post, I answer the most frequent ones so that if you too are thinking of going to Koh Lipe, hopefully, it helps.Continue Reading →

How to make relaxing on holidays with kids easy

How to help your kids get the best start in life

How to make relaxing on holidays with kids easy

This blog post is sponsored by ABC Reading Eggs.

We’ve just returned from a holiday in Port Douglas which was absolutely lovely. Gosh, we are lucky to live in such a beautiful country. We saw some amazing sights – the Daintree and Cape Tribulation were particular standouts. We also swam, ate, had adventures and just had an overall sensational time. But we also really enjoyed some downtime by the pool. We both really needed it.

Sometimes as a single parent, getting downtime is not easy. There’s no other parent to take over from you when you need it, and add into the mix (in my case anyway) a child who is a ball of energy and wants you in the pool with them at all times (whenever you go with the intention of sitting down next to it with a good book). And I don’t know about you, but my child loves a chat. Loves it. And as much as I love that she loves a chat, sometimes I just need a bit of stillness and silence. Time to read, time to think. Time to myself. And that is where ABC Reading Eggs comes in. It’s a perfect win-win solution for us.Continue Reading →

Five behaviors that scream your ex is a Disneyland Dad

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Five behaviors that scream your ex is a Disneyland Dad.

My daughter has just returned from a trip with her dad. The Disneyland Dad that is… You know the type? Does the minimal amount of parenting and swoops in from time to time to do all the fun stuff.

Over the years, my ex has had his fair share of Disneyland Dad moments.

So, how can YOU tell if your ex is a Disneyland Dad?

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Fifteen Lessons Learned from Single Mum Camping

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Fifteen Lessons Learned from Single Mum Camping.

In the school holidays, I took my daughter on a two-night camping holiday. To me, that’s a bit of an oxymoron, so let’s call it a camping trip. Or a camping adventure. Some might go so far as to say a camping challenge.

Look, I’m going to be upfront with you. Single-mum camping wasn’t easy. But I speak for myself. You might be a really outdoorsy type, and you might read this and think, these things are obvious. So this article is really aimed at the single mum who is a bit like me.Continue Reading →