Lessons learned from Sovereign Hill

In an effort to gift our children with experiences over stuff we recently took our kids on holiday to Ballarat to visit Sovereign Hill. Instead of getting a 10^th birthday present my son got to choose where we went on holiday this year, so off to Ballarat we went last weekend.

Taking your kids on a holiday isn’t exactly more frugal than buying them a birthday present, however we were looking for somewhere to go for a few nights getaway and Sammy got to make the choice. And we are so grateful that he chose Sovereign Hill!

So we drove 7 hours in our Honda Civic which costs a total $60 for petrol to get there and packed our own lunch, snacks and drinks. Pretty cheap way to get to another state! We also stayed in a cabin that wasn’t super cheap (say compared to camping) but allowed us to make our own meals. The cabin also had the added benefits of heating (it was 8 degrees!) and it was a 300 metre walk to Sovereign Hill.

For those of you that don’t know what Sovereign Hill is, it is a town that has been constructed to look like Ballarat would have looked in the 1800’s in the gold rush era. Yes it is touristy but it is soooo well done and so authentic. Horse drawn carts, ye olde worlde shops, post office, apothecary, mines, and creek to go gold panning. In fact the authenticity of the place made us ask the kids “If you could go back and live in these times, would you?” to which they replied “Yes because there were no mobile phones”.

Now my kids love a screen as much as the next kids but I think what they were really saying was “Yes because there are no distractions”. And indeed I have had many conversations with people who have been to Sovereign Hill who say “Wouldn’t you just love to go back to that era where things were a lot simpler?”

After having given it a bit of thought I would have to say a big fat NO. Life back then was a lot harder (think child birth in the 1800’s ladies!). The aspect of that lifestyle that is really appealing to people is that it was a lot slower; people were not as rushed as what they are nowadays. But we don’t need to get into a time machine and go back to the 1800’s for a slower life we can just choose to live our very privileged modern lives a lot slower. That is what we need to realise, we have a choice, we can keep running as fast as everyone else is running (where are they all going?). Or we can just STOP, take stock, and SLOW the heck down!

Comments

The Simplest and Best Chicken Broth

INGREDIENTS 1 whole chicken (free range or organic preferred) 2 carrots, chopped 4 celery stalks, chopped 1 zucchini, chopped 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, chopped half a bunch of parsley, chopped 1 tbsp Sea Salt or Pink River Salt Pepper Olive oil METHOD Heat oil in a large saucepan and boil a full kettle. Sauté carrots, celery, zucchini, onion and garlic until lightly brown. Add chicken, parsley stalks and salt to the pan and lightly brown. Pour boiling water in the pan. When the saucepan begins to boil turn the heat down low and put lid on. Simmer for 2-3 hours then remove bones from the chicken. The best way to do this is by pulling the whole carcass out and putting in a large bowl. Then use tongs to take meat off the bone. If you want just broth then leave the chicken out and add the rest of your parsley. If you want to make chicken soup, add the chicken back to the broth. If you’re going the soup option you can add more veggies and ...

Rest, Me Time and Self-Care

With Mother’s Day just gone the topic of rest, me time and self-care are an important topic for us all to talk about. As Mother’s we are told how valuable and integral we are to our families. And that is completely true, however I think it has led us to believe that our families are unable to survive without us. Even for a couple of hours. And even though, on an intellectual level, we know that our families can survive without us temporarily, how is the guilt? Anyone not feeling it? Well I’m here to tell you that there is nothing, and I mean nothing that is more important than your health, especially your mental health! Rest, me time and self-care are absolutely essential for a Mum’s mental health. In nearly 20 years working as a Naturopath there is one word that is perceived as particularly offensive. Rest. When a person (any person) is struggling physically or emotionally, often rest will be one of the prescriptions. If only I could take photos of people’s face...

Stress and Anxiety

I recently went through a time of acute anxiety which was confusing and very scary. The reason it was confusing was because I had no real reason to be anxious, however it was there and it was very real. My heart would start to race and I’d become extremely anxious about something quite trivial, to the point of tears at times. After a few days of feeling sorry for myself and struggling on I thankfully had one logical thought “I’m going to try as many things that I know help with stress and anxiety and see how I go”. It literally came down to making a list of things that are proven to reduce stress and anxiety. And because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only who suffers from stress or anxiety I’m going to share that list here. Meditation, Breathing and Mindfulness Whether you refer to it as meditation or mindfulness, focusing on the breath for as little as 10 minutes a day can help calm the body drastically. Meditation, mindfulness and other breathing techniques have been prov...

SIMPLE HEALTHY FRUGAL

Search This Blog