Thinking about summer and mini breaks

We have just booked in the manufacture of our new kitchen,  which is wonderful and something we have been wanting to do for ages. Choosing fittings, layout and appliances has been a lot of fun and I am very sure it will be a positive change in our lives, given how old, grotty and barely functional the current one is.

However great this will be,  there is no obscuring the fact that it's not a cheap exercise. Happily, my current freelancing project will cover most of it, but one thing that doing the kitchen does rule out is any possibility of an interstate summer holiday. We had been toying with a trip to either King Island or Tasmania, but realistically that's not going to happen now.

So instead we are going to make this the Summer of the Mini Break. We're planning a couple of nights away in Marysville,  possibly over NYE. We want to spend a weekend in Geelong,  as the kids are keen to go to the Adventure Park. We're thinking of a weekend in Ballarat too for Sovereign Hill.

Overall, I've worked out that we can do three one- or two-night mini trips, including the activities we want to do there, for less than our combined airfares to either King Island or Tassie - if we stay at economic places, and because we are using our own car.

The family is quite excited about it actually. The idea of a nice long summer with lots of beach and park days, library and museum days, home days, interspersed with three different places for nights away holds a definite appeal. I, being always now concerned that a flare of ill-health could spoil big holiday plans, find smaller plans like this (or even like our forthcoming 4 nights away in the spring holidays) much less scary and anxiety-inducing.

So I think this is going to turn out to be a really good summer. You don't have to go a long way for a long time to have fun.