Escape to Gungahlin: how one mum rediscovered Gungahlin shops

The Mum Escape

Coffee

First we get the coffee, then we do the workee – sound familiar? Even if you’re more of a tea drinker like me, head on over to Atlas for a quiet, top-notch cuppa. You can grab it to go or take a seat inside and enjoy the ambience. And by ‘ambience’ I mean no one asking you to make them a sandwich.

Their fitout is best described as ‘what my house would look like if I didn’t have kids’. SO on trend. My favourite part was all the amazing ivy sprawling across the ceiling beams like a mini rainforest. And, yes, it’s real. I asked!
 

Nails

My budget doesn’t allow for as much pampering these days. I had to give up those weekly full-body seaweed wraps and 24k gold facials when the kids came along. Still, a gal likes to look her best so if you’ve got twenty minutes and twenty-five bucks, do what I did and grab the shape, buff and shellac from Beauty Central (near Kmart).

Shellac isn’t new but, for the uninitiated, it’s a nail polish option that doesn’t chip. I used to walk out of the salon and immediately ruin a nail just by getting out my wallet to pay! No more. This manicure is (mostly) damage proof for up to three weeks – and I’m a mum so you know I’m not gentle on my hands.

Trifecta

If you haven’t walked into Big W and come out with more stuff than you can physically carry, are you even a parent? Hands up who has met another mum for a grown-woman playdate at Kmart once the kids are in bed? Thank you longer opening hours. Almost anything on your shopping list can be found at one of these two places.

Lunch

Gah! Pretty soon there was only half an hour left! How does time travel so quickly when I’m shopping alone but feel like an eternity when I’m at the gym? A sit-down lunch would be nice but it would also cut into the time I needed to buy a present for the lady at work who’s leaving. (Why do I always volunteer for these things?)

Gifts

With an emphasis on trying to find local makers, there’s an ever-changing range of items. Their kids section is super cute and keep an eye out, they sometimes have authors making appearances in store.

Oh! And they sell beeswax wraps too for when you want to help the environment… or photograph your child’s lunchbox for Facebook. (Or run out of clingwrap!)

Home Time

Though three hours went waaaaaaay too quickly, I managed to cross off a whole section of my thirty-five page to-do-list. Best of all, I didn’t have to contend with a single lollypop sign wielding person or road closure. And in the time I saved not having to loop through Throsby and Sutton to enter the Marketplace carpark, I may have treated myself to an ice cream from Gelatissimo on the way out. Totally destroyed the evidence before school pickup – I’ve done this before. See you on our next date, Gungahlin, can’t wait!