What happens when you take your toddler to an off grid cabin
Unyoked customer Sara Lindqvist shares her recent trip to nature with her little family
It’s a question we get asked on the regular: ‘Can I come with my kids?’ We understand the hesitation; the unpredictability of nature doesn’t necessarily seem like it will gel with a childcare routine. But the truth is, young children are some of the biggest beneficiaries of time out in the wilderness. New experiences, new things to see and touch and endless outdoor areas to explore. We caught up with Sara Lindqvist, a Swedish designer living in Brisbane, who recently put that theory to the test with her daughter out at one of our new cabins.
Hi Sara! Tell us about yourself and your new family.
I’m a 32 year old swede living in Brisbane. In 2017 I packed my bag with 30kg of my dearest belongings and flew across the world to pursue a new career. I moved here to study graphic design for a year and had no intentions of making that stay any longer, but 4 weeks before my one way ticket back home to Sweden, I met my partner Ben - and here I am, still in Australia, 7 years later.
Together we have two beautiful babies; Our fur baby Chica, she’s a mexican street dog that Ben brought back after travelling overseas, together they travelled through 13 or something countries, she’s been to places I dream of going . And our daughter Florence who is now 20 months old.
Ben was the one to introduce me to camping and during our first years together we were almost always out camping on the weekends, always on an adventure. On Friday afternoons we would chuck the swag in the back of the car and head out mostly down south, into NSW.
How have you found the transition to motherhood?
It’s definitely had its challenges but it’s been such a beautiful journey. Everything is a season, but one change that was hard to navigate was the fact that our daughter hated going in the car in the early days. That meant that a few things that we previously did to recharge our batteries, we had to put to a pause, one of them being camping.
Both me and my partner find so much joy in being out in nature, we love the simplicity of camping and just that grounding feeling it gives you. So not being able to get that sort of recharge was hard and something we craved.
With a bub, how hard has it been finding time to slow down and disconnect?
I can’t just zone out whenever I want as I have another human depending on me. So it’s taken some planning and teamwork with my partner and definitely something that has gotten a lot easier as our daughter got older. Since she didn’t like the drive early on, we had to plan our trips to line up with her nap to be able to go places if we wanted to get out of the house. And sometimes it was a lot of work, but it has always been worth it.
So you recently went out to our Malaya cabin near Byron. What made you want to get back out into nature - and include your daughter too?
My partner got me this stay as my 32nd birthday present! We went out to another cabin a few years back for Valentine’s Day, and we loved it, so I got so excited when he told me what he had planned for my birthday weekend
I had been craving to go out camping and since our daughter now doesn’t mind the car, staying at an unyoked cabin was the perfect first step towards getting back out. Our daughter goes wherever we go, so this trip was a little bit like a trial run, testing our wings, sorta thing.
What were some things that went through your head before the stay?
Everything from “omg we have so much stuff with us” to “I can’t wait to make a fire, let’s just go”
There is so much more stuff to pack when you’re travelling with a toddler. We prefer to pack the bare minimum and have it really simple, so it’s a bit of an adjustment for us. But also just so much excitement and like a relief that we were actually going out again after almost 2 years.
How was the experience of going out to Unyoked as a family?
Easy, enjoyable & epic. It was the best thing ever, we absolutely loved it! It was the perfect in between, you’re out in nature but you still have the comfort of the cabin. It was simple, making getting out so easy. Everything was provided, we didn’t need to worry about setting up camp, bringing cooking gear and so on, everything was just there, ready for us to just come and enjoy.
Any particular highlights?
It gave me so much joy watching our daughter explore the area around the cabin, being amazed and listening to all the beautiful birds we don’t hear in the suburbs of Brisbane.
But also the whole experience, that we actually did it and had the best time, that this door is open again, we can go back to enjoying these simple things together as a family!
How did you feel when you got back?
I cried happy tears in the car on our way back home. We had the most amazing time and everything was just so easy, it felt effortless. My cup was full!
What would you say to any parents thinking of getting Unyoked?
If you’re thinking about it and it’s in your reach, just do it!