Un-Package Holidays

The best things in life aren't always free.
Usually they're just really, really cheap.
Like our spur-of-the-moment holiday.
I can't even begin to explain how much we needed a break, living with serious illness is incredibly draining and we all desperately needed to get away.
With four days to go before Bella's return to school for term three, Anto and I scoured the web for motel bargains on the Gold Coast.
We settled for a cheap-but-clean place at Coolangatta at $79 a room per night, compared to the average price of $200 a night for a place we'd only be sleeping in.
I'm not precious when it comes to holidays.
I feel so incredibly lucky to get out of the house, that a holiday motel room is simply a place to shower, flop and sleep.
All the fun stuff is found exploring my surroundings, not slumping in some hotel pool bar that serves $7 cola.

 Taken the day we set off I didn't have time to plan outfits, I shoved three pairs of leggings into a bag with a couple of short and long-sleeved t-shirts to layer on cold days.
Lucky I did, we had some of our coldest mornings in more than 100 years on our trip away.

 This is Point Danger on the Queensland-NSW state border, a place Bella and I adore in summer and now, winter.
Yes, this is our winter.
Sickening isn't it?
There's a special place in my heart for beaches in winter, born from many hours spent on New Zealand's wild beaches pretending I was a windswept wench waiting for Harvey Keitel to return my piano keys.

After three days on the coast, we headed for the hills bound for O'Reilly's Retreat at Lamington National Park.
We arrived rather late on Saturday afternoon, just in time to take in the tree-top rainforest walk, learn more about the history of this beautiful, remote spot and slumping in leather chairs in front of a crackling fire.

 This is a replica of the Stinson that crashed in the remote, dense rainforest several kilometres from the mountain-top home of the O'Reilly family in February 1937.
There were only two survivors who were found and rescued by a party organised by the O'Reilly's, 10 days after the plane was lost in low cloud and authorities had given up the search over incredibly hazardous terrain.
The original newspaper reports have been preserved by the family, plus the replica and a 12-hour walk to the crash site are among the tributes to that time when people relied on word-of-mouth to get their news.
The O'Reilly home site is now a low-key resort with many of the original rooms still in use by guests.

Anto told Bella the names on wooden planks on the swinging tree-top walk were of the people who'd fallen off. Haaa!

 Poncho time!
It was nearly dark when we explored the mountain garden and boardwalk, it was easy to imagine those lost, injured passengers struggling to survive the extremes each night.

Back down the mountain in the dark, we decided it was too late to make the hike back to Brisbane so we stayed at The Canungra Hotel, a gorgeous old place filled with charm (and more crackling fires!)
At $65 a night, we couldn't resist staying two nights, exploring the lovely wee town, picking up op shop bargains and marvelling at the peace.

 The original hotel built in the 1930s, where all the guest rooms are still intact, spotless and beautiful.

 I'm waiting for a ghost.

She's waiting for her horse-drawn carriage to arrive.

This is the sort of thing I love to see on holiday: cute cottages with rusty roofs, a thriving vege garden and probably a lot of possum visitors at night.
What's your ideal break?
Love D xo