Destination occasions

Our spring school holidays has come and gone quickly. I can’t believe it’s only a couple of months until the year comes to an end. It is going to be another crazy and busy year-end. I’m glad we’ve had a couple of nice getaways recently to relax and celebrate some special occasions.

We started off the school holidays with a long weekend away in Rutherglen, Victoria – pretty wine country about a 4-hour drive from Canberra. We met up with John and family to celebrate Phil and John’s birthday and stayed in a lovely house together overlooking a vineyard. We picked up the kids early from school on their last day of term 3, almost forgot the birthday cake for the weekend and drove a scenic drive passing canola fields while listening to podcasts. We made a pit stop at Holbrook and quickly investigated the submarine which we later found out was dedicated in the 90’s by my father-in-law. We made another stop for groceries at Albury before finally arriving at Rutherglen and briefly saying hello and goodnight to Nicholas and Catherine’s baby cousin.

From Long Weekend Getaway Album

We had a fun weekend with family, enjoying each other’s company. John cooked dinner for all of us on both nights. On the birthday morning, Nicholas, Phil and I cooked eggs, bacon, mushroom, spinach, hash browns and dodgy pancakes for breakfast. We went out to All Saints winery afterwards and then spent the rest of the day back at the house having lunch, watching the AFL grand final, lounging around, rescuing a football from the roof of the house and celebrating birthdays.

On our last day, we found a family friendly winery, Cofield Wines, and had brunch at The Pickled Sisters Cafe – good food and coffee. We spent a while there eating, chatting, visiting the cows, playing chess, bouncing and listening to live music. It was a nice way to end our time with the family and say our goodbyes.

After the chess game wrapped up we drove to Tumut. We made a couple of pleasant stops at Tarcutta and Adelong Falls. We stayed overnight at Riverglade Caravan park. We had a functional cabin located in a scenic park with the Tumut River running alongside.

The next morning we spent some time at another scenic park called Pioneer Park. We had some morning tea and the kids played on the big playground and scootered on the paths before we headed back home. The weather on the long weekend was perfect.

The following two weeks we juggled looking after the kids and work. Phil took the first week of school holidays off. We had family Friday lunch, played tourists at Floriade, had date night one night and a family night out the next night and had dinner at Timmy’s and watched Johnny English Strikes Again. We also took Nicholas and Catherine to work for a few days here and there and one day they had with grandparents. We also signed up Catherine for a gymnastics class and fast track swimming classes.

It was challenging for the kids to go back to school and get back into the routine after a good break. We are back to making lunches and trying to keep track of school activities. We ended the first week back with another destination occasion to celebrate our 20-year Vegas wedding anniversary for me and Phil while the children had an overnight stay with grandparents. Our first stop was at Harmony Tree for head, back and shoulder oil massages. We were pampered for half an hour and were given tea and water afterwards. We then floated to the car and drove to Gundaroo which is about 45 min from Canberra.

From October 2018 Album

Phil booked one night at The Nest at Gundaroo which cost us only $23 as he had a free night to use from Hotels.com. We had a nice unit with a loft and kitchenette. It was serene being out in the country. We walked down the road to have dinner at Grazing. Dinner was tasty and gratifying. I had the duck and Phil had the kangaroo. We each finished off with a dessert. Phil had the pear galette and I had the pumpkin ‘pie’.

Breakfast was included at our place the next morning. We chose a continental breakfast and had a selection of breads, spreads, coffee, tea, juice, yogurt, muesli, banana and cereal provided in our unit. We enjoyed a quiet meal without rush. After check-out we explored the small old town on foot. There were a few old public buildings converted to private residences. Some of the houses were charming and idyllic. We had a lovely morning slowing down and being away. We drove back to Canberra before lunch time to pick up the kids who also had a nice night away.