Holidays

Recently my family and I went to Queensland on a holiday and did all the usuals. I just had to share some experiences and advice for some of you out there.

If you are planning on hitting all the theme parks and going to the Worlds, they are a lot of fun. We went along to Australia Zoo, Dreamworld and Seaworld. I checked prior to going and not one of these parks had gluten free food available. Word of warning for any of you attending - take all your own food. There really is nothing available, I found a chocolate bar at Dreamworld but that was it. Dreamworld actually say you cannot take your own food in but we didn't anyway and I was prepared for a fight if they were going to take it off me. I did not have to worry as they didn't even ask to check the bags.

In Queensland, a lot of the supermarkets close early on a Sunday night. Like 6pm. We spent a Sunday with friends, found a gluten free place to eat at for lunch but I wasn't very impressed with the quality of the food, which is lucky as the name escapes at the moment. It come to 5.30pm and the little man was getting tired and it was getting near dinner time and his bed time so we drove back to our unit which was 30 - 40 minutes away. On our way back we decided to stop at the supermarket to get some supplies for dinner, for me mainly as I had nothing really back at the unit. We got there at 6.10 and the place was shut! We could not believe it! We are from a city that has supermarkets that are open till midnight or even 24 hours but in Queensland and in some areas, they close early. I was not impressed. I cannot get take away. The boys can but I cannot have any sort of convenience food at all. The supermarket is my only saving grace. Hubby stopped at a 7-11 and they didn't have anything there either. Luckily I had gluten free bread back at the unit - that was my dinner. Needless to say by breakfast time the next morning I was champing at the bit to get some decent food. And we did.

Habour Town is a great place which is a discount shopping centre, meaning most of the shops there are factory outlets. They also have plenty of cafes and we found one that made the most divine breakfast and they are gluten free! Mustang Sally's is their name. Really child friendly place too.

My advice? Always find out the hours of the supermarkets wherever you are going - vital to know this! Also have a meal always ready to go back where ever you are staying or have a back up plan.