Three Worlds of BG: Lessons from Leisure

Tim and I last week got back from a holiday in Tassie. It was wonderful! I love, love, love Tassie, and I recommend it to everyone. Well, maybe not to everyone, but if you are anything like Tim and I, you will have a ball

Things that I loved:
Stanley
Our holiday is Tassie was all about the unexpected delights. So often we would just "happen" to go somewhere and it was lovely. The best was Stanley. Stanley was a little town on the North Western Corner of Tassie. It was beautifully done, all the houses were neat and painted in pretty colours, and there were lots of lovely cafes and places to go. It was on an little Peninsula so it had beautiful beaches on either side. But the best thing was on the very tip of the Peninsula was a very boringly named hill called "The Nut". We climbed to the top and walked around it, having 360 views. It was so lovely, I think it's the cutest town I've ever seen, and my second nicest town after Queenstown, NZ
Cataract Gorge
On our last night, in the evening while the sun was still up, we decided to make our way down Cataract Gorge in Launceston. We weren't that excited, it would be pretty, but we had seen lots of pretty things in that week. We walked along, and found ourselves in a little botanic garden filled with Peacocks and Wallabies. It was one of the highlights for the trip, and a lovely way to round out our holiday.
Our apartment at Freicynet
We had a beach side apartment in Freicynet with Windows running along the side facing out onto Oyster bay. It just just a really lovely place to be. While holidays don't need nice places all the time, it is important for some of it. It meant that Tim and I were able to just hang at home and be together without feeling the need to go out, because the view and the beach and the luxury were right where we were.
Talking time
In marriage, you talk alot. In marriage during holidays, you talk all the time. Tim and I got so much time to talk, about the future, about the past, about God, about writing, about what we were seeing and doing. A real highlight for me :)

Things I learnt to remember for future holidays:
Food is important
I am someone for whom food is very important. I need at least one meal a day that makes me happy, or I get a bit grumpy. I know this is selfish and a very first world probably, but I find particularly on holidays food can really effect how I feel about a day. We had learnt from previous holidays that Self-contained apartments are great, because rather than paying a great deal for a meal that makes me happy each day, you can occasionally make it yourself. What we didn't do was plan ahead. We would end up in an area with only small, expensive stores, that didn't have the things that I enjoy cooking. I also realised that to make anything good you need to buy lots of pantry items. So next time I would plan head, make sure I stocked up on dinner items in the larger towns when we were staying in the small towns. And next holiday I'm bringing at least some spices and stock powder along for the ride :)
Making Driving a choice not a necessity
Tim and I love driving holidays. Particularly when you are traveling in a gorgeous, wild/pastoral place like Tassie, the journey is part of the fun. But because of the way we structured the holidays, we had at least three or four days of at least 4 hour drives. In hindsight I would reorganise where we stayed so that the drives in between places were shorter. That way we can choose to drive and go exploring if we want, but if we don't feel like it then it isn't a necessity.
Expectations low
This wasn't so much an issue this holiday, but as a reflection of previous holidays- the temptation is to spend the 6 months before the holiday imagining that it will be the best time of your life. But holidays aren't like that. You might have a lovely time, but there are still moments of sadness. There are places that don't look as good as they did on the website. There is sunburn and allergies. Holidays are about having a good time, but they are also about recovery from life. Letting the holiday be what it will be, taking the pressure off, can make for a better holiday. The second day I was feeling a bit low, and that made me feel guilty. We are paying money for this. I have to enjoy it all the time. Remembering this was recovery time, freed me up to feel how i needed to feel, and actually let me enjoy myself more than if I was forcing myself to be excited all the time.

And now, some photos