Zoë Foster Blake and Hamish Blake Are Renewing Their Vows With Australia

Zoë Foster Blake and Hamish Blake are Tourism Australia’s newest ambassadors. Though they’ve travelled the world together — even embarking on a short-term move to New York City (with two young kids, mind you!) in 2018 — the couple is gearing up to explore all Australia has to offer, and have already dipped their literal toes in the water with a recent trip to NSW’s Lord Howe Island.

It’s a trip they may not have taken until much later if it weren’t for the closure of international borders, but Zoë and Hamish are thankful for the opportunity to Holiday Here This Year, and are looking forward to sharing that exact message of encouragement with fellow travellers in Australia.

“The pandemic, despite its challenges, has allowed us the chance to rediscover our country. Of course, it was here all along, but this once-in-100-year event has made us re-commit,” Hamish tells POPSUGAR Australia.

“It’s like we’ve all renewed our vows; like we’ve all been happily married forever and then this year, we’re renewing our vows with Australia!”

Looking excitedly towards their future travel plans, Zoë and Hamish are more than prepared to tackle the unique challenges of hitting the road with a young family. As they venture around the county, stopping along the way to explore our diverse cities, rainforests, islands, mountain ranges, beaches and Red Centre, Zoë and Hamish are bringing their two kids Sonny, 6, and Rudy, 3, along for the ride.

Travelling with kids is a unique experience, as any parent or fun aunt would know all too well. Zoë says they take a “strong ideas loosely held” approach with their plans, but are more than happy to pivot an itinerary at the eleventh hour. Though they’ve plenty more off-the-beaten-track trips coming up, the couple admits cities pose numerous benefits for kids for this exact reason.

“In cities, there are 15 things you can be doing at any one moment. And as anyone with kids knows, things can change at the drop of a hat. It can seem like you’ve got the day planned — like everyone’s doing the jet boat and everyone’s excited about the jet boat! And then two hours before the jet boat, you get an ‘I don’t want to go on the jet boat’.

“Suddenly, you’re doing the walking tour of the park or you’re doing a treasure hunt or you’re going to get Brisbane’s biggest milkshake, and that becomes the greatest thing your kids have ever done. Nevermind the jet boat.

“I guess you just have to be nimble with kids, and that’s the beauty of a city escape. You’ve got endless options, and these help you at least pretend like you have a plan.”

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Making their way around the country, Zoë and Hamish have come to recognise just how diverse Australia really is — from the cities that feel like Europe to the mountains that remind them of New Zealand.

“Australia feels like so many different countries in one,” Zoë says. “Lord Howe feels like Hawaii, Tassie feels like New Zealand; with these giant mountains in this beautiful water, and just everywhere looks and feels like a completely different experience. As people who love to travel, what we’re learning is that you actually don’t need to travel further, because you can get that fix so beautifully and so easily right here.”

Hamish adds: “Australia is safe, it’s clean. It feels wide open and there’s just nowhere else on earth that feels quite like it. That’s what we all love about Australia, the fact you’re never that far away from something that’s untouched and clean and open and pure.”

“We’re very lucky,” Zoë adds. Speaking of border closures: “I mean, if you’re going to get stuck anywhere in the world, how lucky are we to be stuck in Australia?!”