Why I love a Shoalhaven Staycation

Planning trips are great but do you ever go away with the kids and think, I’m just cooking, cleaning and washing clothes in a different location?

We went cabining last holidays and decided to stay put these school holidays and do I regret it? Absolutely not!

Abrupt weather changes? No problem! We have plenty of options that didn’t require packing. Did I have to clean the floor? Yes, but it actually felt good to give my own floor a deep clean for a change and not clean someone else’s to avoid a fee (or judgment) knowing full well I’d have to tackle my own when we got home on top of copious washing, unpacking and wrangling of feral children – overtired from travels.

Instead, I slept in every day, while the kids got their own breakfast and played with their many toys. We were tourists in our own town, we did the only Jervis Bay Wild boat trip we hadn’t done and explored the coastline of Jervis Bay on the South Coast Passage cruise. It was magical.

We ate fish and chips at the beach and went to all our favourite restaurants – (the ones you wish you could go to all the time but save for special occasions and when you do go to a different town and spend money on a meal you think geez I would have preferred to spend those $ at X).

We’d stop for a sneaky bevy at one of the incredible breweries the Shoalhaven has to offer, went to the beach every day - choosing a different one from the 100 beach challenge every time and soaked up every bit of sun, salt and sand that we could. Sleeping soundly after in our own beds.

We did a day trip to Berry to stock up on tea from the Berry Tea Shop, treats from the Berry Treat Factory and tried the incredible Summer Menu at the Garden Café Berry. (A summer salad complete with grilled peaches was exactly what the doctor ordered after too much Christmas ham.)

We tested out the boogey boards at the patrolled beach in Mollymook and met friends at the inclusive playground afterwards - before hitting up Milton for some coffee and handcrafted chocolates.

We went out for ice cream after dinner more than once, stayed up way too late watching Netflix and took the kids to the learn to ride bike park at Sanctuary Point before grabbing some pies for lunch from the Husky bakery.

So next time you ponder the merits of a staycation over a vacation why not put all your favourite local things to do on slips of paper in a jar and plan to pull out something new each day. You might be surprised to find just how fun and relaxing it can be to live like a tourist (without the baggage) in your own town.