Traveling to Brisbane, Australia with 3 kids under age 13 - our action packed itinerary.

As a small business owner, I often don’t get the chance to travel with my family for extended periods of time. And even when we do, I often find myself checking email, making sure customers are happy, and making sure orders are shipping out in a timely manner. As a business owner, being in a country that was 15 hours behind time wise was perfect. I knew that when I was awake my customers were fast asleep so I could put my phone away and be truly present with my family.

As Swimlids continues to grow in Australia, I hope I can spend more time exploring this multicultural country. We spent two weeks in Queensland. Our home base was Brisbane. It is a beautiful city with so much to do! There is a lagoon in the middle of the city- it was awesome! There is a river that runs through the entire city and you can take a boat from one side to the other - (in fact we did this for a good portion of one day). There are bike paths everywhere and you can rent city bikes almost anywhere in the city. Because it is English speaking it was very easy for us to get around. If you are looking to visit Brisbane - here is a suggested itinerary. I felt as if we packed in as much as we could without over doing it. We were traveling with a large group so if you group is smaller, you might be able to do a little bit more.  For reference my husband and I have 3 children. 1 13 year old and twins that are 10. They were all great ages for this trip. The total travel time from leaving our house in Maine to arriving in Brisbane was about 32-34 hours (includes layovers, etc). The kids did great. We brought lots of snacks, books, and of course they could watch movies on the plane. I would recommend bringing an extra set of clothes for the kids. Just to give you an example, if someone spills home made slime all over their pants at LAX airport at 9pm it's kind of uncomfortable to travel the rest of the way with slime covered pants. :)

Our Itinerary

Day 1. Spent the day relaxing and had an Australia BBQ at a friends house.

Day 2 and 3. Drove 2 hours north to The Sunshine Coast. The beaches were beautiful. We rented a beach condo with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It also had laundry. It was about $400 AUD per night. Because we were still a little jet lagged, my husband and I would wake up at 5 am to the most amazing sunrises. While at the Sunshine Coast we also headed to the Australian Zoo - founded by Steve Irwin. I am not a huge zoo person, but this was possibly the nicest zoo I have ever been to. The kids LOVED this. We fed kangaroos out of our hand - CRIKEY!

Day 4 We left The Sunshine Coast and headed back to Brisbane. On the way we stopped at the Glass House Mountains. They were named The Glass House Mountains by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. They are really unique and a great stop. That evening swimming and relaxing.

Day 5 Back to Brisbane for a little city exploration. We went to the Museum of Brisbane. We also took the City Cat (boat) all over the city. It was beautiful. We ate in Brisbane's West End which was a hip little area with cool shops and great restaurants. It reminded me a bit of Berkley. On our way back to the car we came across a Christmas parade and an amazing light show in King George Square. You can see a video of it here. It was awesome!

Day 6 (Christmas) Christmas day spent swimming in a lagoon in Brisbane’s South Bank area. We all really enjoyed this. The water was super clean and there were restaurants and ice cream shops all over the place. We spent the entire day here.

Day 7 We headed south to Australia’s famous Gold Coast. Here we swam, surfed, ate, and relaxed. Surfing lessons were one of  the highlights from the trip. I would highly recommend. We used Cheyne Horan’s Surf School. The instructor was really nice.

Day 8 Gold Coast - we did spend some time at the resort here. We also had a lovely dinner at the Palazzo Versace Hotel. You would need reservations for this. But it's definitely a fantastic place for a special dinner. We stayed at The Sea World Resort. We had a very spacious two room suite which was great for 6 people. The resort was super kid friendly.

Day 9 We left the Gold Coast and headed back to Brisbane. On our way home from the Gold Coast we stopped at Mt Tamborine’s skywalk.  Please note this is not for the faint of heart. My son and I are a little afraid of heights and this was a little scary for both of us. What I found so amazing was one minute were were on the sandy beaches of the Gold Coast and an hour drive we were in what looked like the rainforest. It was amazing.

Day 10 A quick drive from Brisbane is The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was pretty hot on this day, but we had a great time here. It's much smaller than the Australia Zoo and all the kids got to hold a Koala and get a picture. We also were able to feed kangaroos here. My eldest daughter really enjoyed the kangaroos. We did go back into the city to purchase gifts for family members and little touristy things. We all really liked Queen Street mall area. They had some great shops for tourists.

Day 11 - We went into Brisbane and rented bikes. We explored the many paths of the city. You can rent bikes for cheap at City Cycle or you can go to one of the many bike shops in the area. Kids have to be over 16 I believe to rent City Cycle so we rented from a shop. One place you can rent from is Bike Obsession . The bike paths are super flat and easy for kids to navigate. There are also places all along the way to get food or take breaks. It is hot, so bring lots of water and lots of SPF lotion. Oh yeah and if you are from the states they don't call it rent, they call it hire. So you want to hire a bike not rent one.

Day 12 - We spent time relaxing and swimming in the pool. We had to pack and relax before the 30 hour journey home.

Day 13 - We traveled home :(

When I got back to the states people asked “what was the best part of the trip?” - I honestly loved every moment of my time spent in Australia. It is clean. The people are kind. It’s safe. It is diverse. The weather is perfect. I hope that we can continue to grow our brand in Australia so that I can return again and again. Thank you to all of the people that made this trip possible...

...it truly was a trip of a lifetime.