Beachy weekend away

We booked a little beach stay for the Canberra long weekend, not knowing we'd be moving house the day before. It turned out to be the very best timing. We stayed in the cutest Airbnb (with zero boxes in sight!), swum in ocean pools, and made some easy dinners at night. Here are a few highlights...

The previous day had been a big one, we moved house and stayed up getting the basics unpacked before our legs turned to jelly. On the drive out of town, we stopped at my favourite farm store in Collector to stock up on supplies (honey crisp apples and figs to snack on, plus basil pasta and veggies) and caught up on The Dropout podcast.

We were headed towards Wollongong and stopped in Moss Vale for lunch, to visit The Highland Merchants, which I'd seen on the Design Files while making very last minute travel plans. We had slushies and a fancy hot dog for lunch, along with a grain bowl for balance ;)

I loved getting house inspo for our new place at The Mossy Store (still daydreaming about owning a Rachel Castle cushion one day). Tony was more into the cheese and wine shop next door. Then it was onto Coledale to check in to our Airbnb, listening to the music we grew up with on the drive down.

We copied my friend Ebony and booked Jenga House, a newish Airbnb that's right by the beach. In January, Ebony posted some photos of her stay on Instagram, and I'd lined up our stay less than 24 hours later. I am all about getting holidays in this year, and love having trips to look forward to.

The host is a floral stylist, so there were plants in every room, plus raspberries, creamy milk and white wine in the fridge. We've had a few awkward/average Airbnb experiences of late, so this was the best kind of reset.

I've only discovered ocean pools recently and this area has lots of them! There's a rock pool in Coledale, two ocean pools in Austinmer, and friends have recommended ones in Wombarra and Coalcliff too. I love it as a way to enjoy the beach and the ocean without getting dumped by waves.

Another highlight was impromptu catch ups with friends for drinks. It definitely had us daydreaming about living here one day, or at least visiting more often.

Aside from the beaches, there were so many great places to eat and go for coffee. Our accommodation was a two minute walk from Earthwalker & Co General Store, where we filled up on our favourite coffee and Pure Pops. They also serve and sell Iggy's sourdough, which is a cult Sydney bread my brother loves that I was finally able to sample.

At night, I loved to make dinner in our Airbnb. On the first night I winged it and made a hybrid of this lemony eggplant pasta with cheese and an eggplant and tomato pasta sauce that I picked up in Griffith, NSW. It turned out great - lots of cheese always helps.

Our trip the happiest combo of naps, cheese, wine, swims, seeing friends and visiting cafes. I finished reading Lily Allen's My Thoughts Exactly, and also read a new short story from Sally Rooney which was excellent. I am currently in between books, so any recommendations are welcome!

We have been easing ourselves back into the working week, and slowly making progress with the unpacking which feels so good. I'll share some photos of our new place at some point. We handed the keys over to our old place yesterday, and feel grateful that everything's gone so smoothly.

P.S If you're curious about holidaying out this way, here's a lovely round up of all the things you can do while you're here.