Where to go with $1500

[Ben&Jake&SamanthasMum]

We are thinking of going away for a few days with the kids, two boys ages 3 & 6 but have no idea where to go. We are in Sydney. We would have loved to go back to the gold coast and take them to the theme parks (we've only been to dreamworld) but we wouldn't have time to drive so it would be too expensive with flights, car rental, accomodation and park tickets.
So, anyone know of any other great little mini holiday spots. We would prefer to stay in a self contained cabin rather than a hotel.
I wish there were more theme park options in Sydney besides Luna Park. There isn't much there for the little ones.

Thanks,
Jaime

[blueangel]

Jetstar and Virgin have got a sale on airfares ATM. I just got tickets from Whitsunday coast to Sydney for $54 !!!:smiliedance: Might be worth checking out. You may get further with your money than you thought!!

[crafty_gnome]

What about Canberra? There are so many things to do there with kids. Cockington green, dinosaur museum, war memorial (boys always love that), national zoo, just to name a few. Easy to drive to and this time of year you should get accommodation quite easily I would think?

Or what about around Forster or Port Macquarie? That's always nice if you like the beach. Or out to Dubbo and go to the zoo??

[~J'dore~]

We went to The Entrance last year in March and again for a week at Christmas and the kids loved it! There's a great beach and tidal area that the kids can safely swim in. The kids loved the pelican feeding everyday at 3.30. And there's heaps of other things to do in the area too.

It's only about 1 - 1 1/2 hours drive up the coast from Sydney so the kids dont get too cranky in the car.

We rented a holiday home / apartment through a real estate agent, it's a lot cheaper than paying per night at a hotel. It was about 450 for a week in march and about 900 at christmas.

Here's a link to some apartments, you can change the search criteria to suit.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=s&cu=fn-rea&s=nsw&ss=&ag=&t=hol&snf=rbs&chk=0&tb=+THE+ENTRANCE%2C+&u=THE+ENTRANCE&is=1&pm=400&px=800&pme=400&pxe=800&minbed=2&maxbed=&cat=&p=10&o=def

And here's some local area info:

http://www.theentrance.org/


What ever you end up doing, I hope you have a wonderful time:yes: I love family holiday's:smiliedance:

[shorty_851]

try the website www.wotif.com.au (http://www.wotif.com.au)

they usually have some packages

[Ashleigh<3]

:D http://www.jamberoo.net/ (http://www.jamberoo.net/)

Apparently this place is great! :) 1 hour south of Sydney.

NOW I WANT TO GO! :D Hehe

[whiteynow]

Have you been camping before?? Maybe if your not into actually tent camping try a caravan park... u can get lodges and stuff for a low price at this time of year. I have found down wollongong-kiama would be a nice area.
Have a look around anyway there are always cheap caravan parks near the water

[Ben&Jake&SamanthasMum]

Thanks for all the great ideas. Actually we were just up at The Entrance a couple of weeks ago. They have a great dog friendly beach with a caravan park overlooking it. We were thinking of maybe going there. Jamberoo is fun also. A couple years ago DH got free tickets from his work so we went.

I guess the only problem with places like The Entrance is there's not too much to do besides going to the beach and I can only handle so much of that..lol. Although, it might be nice to just relax around the caravan park, have some BBQ's and just do nothing.

My problem is thinking everyone has to be entertained 100% of the day but the kids are just happy to go to the beach as the theme parks. Well...maybe it's me who wants to go to the theme parks