Introduction
Hello PPF Family, my name is Emma. Along with being a PPFInstructor at Camp Hill & Coorparoo and a member of the Instructor Training team, I am also a mum of two very active boys, who are currently nine and eleven years old. The summer holidays are approaching and the thought of all those empty days to fill can be intimidating, given the need to also juggle work and everyday life. That said, I love getting out and about with my boys on the holidays and having a break from the grind and hustle of the school routine. Below are some tried and tested suggestions for ways to get out and have fun making memories with your brood.
School holiday activities I love
Climb a Mountain (or a Reasonably Large Hill)
There are some great spots around Brisbane for a walk that ends with a view. Some of my favourites are Whites Hill Summit, Mt Gravatt Summit and Mt Coot-tha Lookout. Don’t forget your SPF and insect repellent before you go, and a water-bottle for the walk itself.
Whites Hill Summit: This can be quite a brief walk if you begin from the carpark near the Ninja Warrior Course / Café, or can include an extra 1.6km if you choose to add on Sankey’s Circuit loop of the Reserve. Keep your eyes open for koalas as there are many of them living in the Reserve, along with Wallabies, King Parrots,Kingfishers and Kookaburras.
Mt Gravatt Summit: A small carpark off Gertrude Petty Place is the starting point for this climb. Once you reach the top, you are rewarded with clear views to the city and beyond. You may also reward yourself with an ice-cream or coffee from the café, if you have been well behaved on the walk! You can retrace your steps or walk a loop back to your car.
Mt Coot-tha Lookout: The JC Slaughter Falls “Summit Track”is a nice walk at Mt Coot-tha. It begins down near the creek and will lead you up, eventually popping you out up near the roundabout at Mt Coot-tha. Like MtGravatt, there is a café at the top where you can enjoy a cuppa or bite with views of the city, Moreton Bay and beyond!
A different option at Mt Coot-tha would be to park at the summit, take one ofthe many walks from there in a loop fashion and end up back at your car. This is a great option if you have littler legs with you.
Mt Coot-tha is a great spot to spend some time at
The Planetarium is situated at the entrance to the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, and is free to enter. There are occasionally school holiday shows screening in its theatre - book and pay for tickets online. These shows are great for your little space lover! After marvelling at the wonders of space, you can have a wander through the gardens. There is a "Hide N Seek Children’s Trail" which you can follow with the aid of a leaflet from the info desk - an easy flat loop track which has numbered stations for the kids to have fun spotting. If you’d like to walk further afield you can make your way to the playground, or walk one of Mt Coot-tha’s many walking tracks (depending on how far those little legs can go!).
Mini Golf
Brisbane is home to a number of great mini golf courses which can make for a fun morning out! One year, my boy’s grandparents gifted them a voucher for mini golf forChristmas. They accompanied us for that game and I can confirm a fun time was had by all, regardless of their age!
Victoria Park Putt Putt: The masters of themed mini golf, Victoria Park Putt Putthas a Christmas themed course to enjoy this summer holidays. It is advisable to book a time slot during busy school holidays and weekends.
Price for one game: Children $14, adults $14 (when playing with children).
Pacific Golf Club Mini Golf: Based in Carindale, the mini golf course at Pacific GolfClub is good fun. Occasionally there isa jumping castle in residence on the lawn.
Price for one game: Children’s tickets are $14 and adults are $20.
Mt Gravatt Mini Golf: Home to two mini golf courses (one undercover) as well as the intriguing sounding “Foot Golf”, where players attempt to kick a soccer ball to the ‘hole’ in a certain number of shots. Price for one game: Children are $12 and adults are $15.
Spend a day at Southbank
Either have a swim in the lagoon and a play in the creek area, or check out the Queensland Museum / GOMA / State Library. If you have enough time and energy, do both! At the time of this article, school holiday programs were yet to be released.
Top tip: park under the museum for $17 all day parking!
Museum of Brisbane (MoB)
Located in the CBD, MoB is another good spot for Museum fans. Like the Queensland Museum, it runs school holiday programs. If you would like to explore the BrisbaneCity Hall Clock Tower, book a free clock tower tour and meet your guide in the MoB reception. I took my boys up the Clock Tower when they were aged six and eight, and they were enthralled and had many questions for our guide!
While you are in the CBD, check out the many CBDChristmas events that are taking place in the Queen Street Mall and surrounds, such as lunchtime concerts, magic and circus shows, hunt for tiny doors. Don’t leave without checking out the beautiful Brisbane Arcade decorations, which consists of over 100,000lights and 12,000 baubles!
Visit Wellington Point
The kids can enjoy a play on the beachfront playground as well as the beach itself, so bring some swimmers and beach toys. If you time your visit with low tide, you can walk out to King Island. Fish and chips for lunch isa bonus! Dogs on lead are welcome, which means you can bring your fur child too.
Hop in the car and visit a big playground that you don’t go to often
Newfarm Park and Colmslie Reserve are both fabulous big parks. Newfarm Park has the bonus feature of an onsite coffee van. For bigger kids, Frew Park at the Milton tennis centre is a wonderland with lots of climbing and scrambling options! Further a field, the newly opened Archerfield Wetlands District Park has some great water play options for those hot days as well as plenty of space to climb and explore.
The local library is a quiet achiever on the school holidays
Local libraries run free school holiday activities on all kinds of topics, from comic book drawing sessions to programming robots andother STEM activities. Pre-booking is usually required for these very popular sessions. Kids can join the library and have their ownlibrary cards (picking the design is half the fun!) and select their own booksto take home, to help foster that love of reading! Parents can have their ownlibrary cards too - lucky us! Here are five current reads that, in my opinion,are easy page turners for summer:
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Have a pyjama and games day!
Stay in your pj’s a little while longer and make an extra cup of tea. Pull out some games - for younger kids, try Go Fish, Snakes &Ladders, Pop & Move and UNO. For older kids, try Monopoly, Sequence, AFLFooty Feud and Scrabble. While enjoying the time at home, consider other activities that you don’t usually have time for, such as origami, building a marble run or painting. My favourite form of painting is watercolour, given the limited ability of it to stain people, clothing and counters!
When In Doubt, Get Wet
This summer, the Brisbane City Council are reinstating their$2Summer Dips program, where entry to Council pools will cost $2 per person. This makes for a very cheap day out! Getting kids in water not only washes away bad moods but helps to tire those energetic little bodies out, so they don’t have energy to argue with their siblings … just joking – that energy knows no bounds! At the least, they will be tuckered out for bedtime. Pop your own togs on as the water works wonders on parents/care-givers who are also feeling a bit hot and bothered (speaking from experience, ahem). Many pools also have great café facilities so you can enjoy a cuppa while you’re there.
Enjoy your holidays, Love Emma & the Boys
