Gold Coast - Paradise Resort

In the Summer holidays we took the children on our first big family holiday. We headed to Queensland for seven nights and we had been looking forward to it for so long.

The twins hadn't been on a plane since they could remember (only as babies), so they were excited to get on the plane, let alone all the other fun activities we had planned for us all. We didn't fly out until five in the afternoon, so of course it was the longest day on earth waiting to head away on our holiday.

We had some check in luggage as well as everyone carrying their own carry-on suitcase, and getting through the airports and security was a bit of an effort with three children all with a couple of bags each.

I think my favorite part of the holiday was watching Rory as we took off in the airplane, when the wheels were off the ground he shouted "we're flying" with delight.

Because we were going to be on the plane for about 2 and a half hours and it was dinner time, we thought it would be fun to get dinner on the plane and also help to pass the time.

I had a bunch of old iPhone's that I had uploaded some games and music on and as we don't use devices much at home, all the kids were dying to have a go.

We flew into Brisbane and the city looked so beautiful all lit up, the children were amazed at how huge it was compared to the small city we had just flown out from.

The first stop in Brisbane was to collect our little hire car (and stuff all our bags in!) and make the hour drive to the Gold Coast.

With the time difference we didn't get to our hotel, Paradise Resort, until about 9pm (10pm according to our body clocks) and even though we were tired we couldn't help having a look around at all the fantastic facilities the hotel had to offer.

Paradise Resort really caters to families and I had read so many amazing reviews, it seemed the perfect place to stay and our children seemed to be the perfect age to enjoy all the activities and facilities on offer. Also, It is not easy to find accommodation for a family of five, but Paradise Resort catered to us perfectly.

At 3am on the first night I woke to the loudest alarm over the speaker saying "fire alarm please stay in your room until further notice" about 30 times over and over, SO loudly, Tom and I watched out our balcony window as families with children and babies dragged them through the resort to the lobby. I couldn't believe that our three slept through the entire thing, so we thought we'd leave them sleeping until we heard more, after about 45 minutes of the loudest commotion ever, an announcement came over that it was a false alarm. Lucky we didn't wake the children!

The children woke bright and early on the first morning and were delighted that it was a lovely hot morning, they popped their bathers on first thing, had some breakfast and begged to get in those pools!

They were the first ones in the pool and spa and we spent the first day checking out the resort, joining in with all the activities, such as dunk tank, scavenger hunt, hair braiding and more.

The resort also has it's own Ice Skating Rink, where we enjoyed a two hour session, it was so fun and by the end everyone was skating really well and dancing to the music.

They played a few games, and Poppy won the limbo competition and her prize was a special resort medal.

The resort has three restaurants, a kids club, lots of pools, playground, entertainment every night and more.

With our accommodation package we received four hours of kids club free every day, but even though it looked fun, we decided not to use it, as we enjoyed being together so much, we didn't want to be with out the kids and visa versa! 

We watched a circus show and two magic shows while at the resort, Alexis, Rory and Tom all had a turn in different shows being the assistant.

 They also brought out a huge movie screen one night and put on the Lego Batman Movie, which the children watched from the huge outdoor spa.

We stayed in a King Bunkhouse room, which had a bunk, a single bed and a king bed, which was lovely in the morning when all the children would hop in for snuggles, which they do at home, except we all fall out at home! Our room had a little kitchen where we had breakfast every morning and on one tired night we had two minute noodles.

Our accommodation was perfect for our family, and if we are back on the Gold Coast again, we will staying here for sure. Although we hope to explore other cities around Australia on our next trip.

With back to school, work and lots of other commitments lately, I've been slow blogging about our holiday, but stay tuned for part two of our Queensland holiday.

xx

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