Day 288: Creek Exploring at Mungumby Lodge — Back to Lion’s Den
We had nothing specific planned for today and it turned out to be a special day.
We hit the little breakfast buffet here at Mungumby and then had a good homeschool session in the restaurant / lounge area. James wrote a message on a post card — but the recipients are regular blog readers so I’m not sharing any other details! We’ll throw it in the mail tomorrow. He’s also having reading breakthroughs nearly every day which is really fun to watch. He read Ook and Gluck out loud to me today, chuckling at all the silly parts.
The lodge serves only breakfast and dinner. We put last night’s leftover pizza in the one communal fridge and then shared it cold in our little room for lunch. The kids weren’t too stoked about it but it spared us having to go out — there is really nothing nearby.
After lunch we ventured down the hill through the forest to a perfect little creek. There was fresh water running over and around rocks of every size, countless sticks, leaves, bugs, a little fish or two. This is a Willa / James Happy Place.
They wore their bathing suits and aqua socks and could have stayed there forever. Margaret and I explored with them and eventually sat on big boulders and read our Kindles. A Happy Place for all four of us! Airbnb should have a “burbling creek” amenity option in their home search. Hoping we can find one for occasional weekend stays back in New York.
We enticed the kids to finally head back up the hill by offering a quick swim and then a return trip to yet another Happy Place: The Lion’s Den. Setting sun, perfect temps, kids playing at the playground and cold drinks for grownups.
We ordered dinner around 6pm and ate outside on the deck — Willa and I had steak, Margaret and James had chicken. The local bull came back over to gobble his nightly mango snack.
There is a special vibe at this place — so authentic and friendly. Each of the last two nights we witnessed groups of Aussies inviting other lone patrons over to join their table for a beer and a chat. My theory: Aussies are super friendly and love to chat. But more importantly: there is no internet access here so nobody is staring at their phone!
After dinner the kids got to play a few games on the coin-free (!) arcade, their first introduction to classic games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, etc. Margaret and I hit the gift shop and bought a Lion’s Den branded trucker hat and two koozies. As one does.
Today was a special day. We had no plans and no internet connection of any kind. We had nowhere to be, other than completely present. We had focused and productive home school sessions, we read a lot, had great conversations with the kids and lots of laughs.
I expect our stay here in Far North Queensland will hold a special place in our memories alongside the other four destinations where we were completely disconnected: The Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, Somalisa Safari Camp in Zimbabwe and The Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
