Once I caught a fish alive!

Next time you stay at the Gold Coast, I’d recommend a visit to Palm Beach Parklands, its a perfect location to take the kids for a swim. Plenty of sand, no waves and you can set up your picnic rug/towels under plenty of shade.

Still in holiday mode after our little family getaway to Caloundra, we thought we’d take advantage of my husband’s last few days off and hit the beach.

We thought Miss four would be super excited to go for a swim, she knows the spot well and has always loved the creek. On this day however she decides she doesn’t want to go for a swim because the fish will ‘bit’ her! Now one of the reasons I love this spot is because the water is beautiful and clear and often there are plenty of decent sized fish swimming around you, so I obviously couldn’t tell her there would be no fish. We instead tried convincing her that the fish would not bite her. So she sings us this: ‘one, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive, six, seven, eight, nine, ten then I let it go again. Why did you let it go? Because it bit my finger so, which finger did it bite? This little finger on the right.’ Yes you know the one. My clever child used a nursery rhyme against me! We do eventually get her into her swimmers however and off we go.

Our little nine month old decided the car trip would be a great time to catch forty winks and after finding an easy park (it’s not so easy on a weekend, or school holidays, it’s a very popular spot), our eldest girl got to have a play at the Pirate park while I waited for her sister to wake up.

We scored a shady spot to set up our picnic rug and towels, slopped on the sunscreen, slapped on our hats and headed down into the refreshing water for a dip. Well at least three of us did, the fourth decided to stubbornly sit on the beach because of her new found fear of fish. She was so unimpressed that she didn’t even dig her usual holes with her bucket and spade. Our youngest family member loved the water however and we can safely say, there were no fish bite casualties.

There’s a great cafe on the Parklands called Dune Cafe and after ordering coffee and croissants my husband took the two girls for a walk on the path that heads down under the bridge, you can also continue onto the boardwalk if you prefer a longer walk. I took the opportunity to drink my coffee under the shady trees, listening to the birds sing.

If you have a fear of fish then maybe it’s not the spot for you, but for everyone else, it’s an awesome spot for a swim and a family day out.