About 6 weeks ago, we went to Batlow, a 4.5 hr drive south of Sydney, for a long weekend with a group of friends. Batlow was a halfway point inland, as opposed to the coast, between Sydney and Melbourne. We were so excited about this weekend away because we were renting a big house with a great group of friends and it was our first road trip with the kids in our newish (4 months old) car. Traveling with kids at the best of times takes a lot of planning and organising. With that in mind, we decided to leave Sydney at 4am which would allow the kids to sleep in the car while it was still dark and get to Canberra in time for a breakfast meet-up with our friends Martine, Juergen and Nadia. Row and I woke up at 3:30am, got ready, packed the car up and tried to move the kids from their warm snuggly beds into the cold car.....hahaha lucky we're not Ninjas as stealth is not our forte! Justin woke up and was so excited about finally seeing his friend Kieran that he got his sister all excited too. Luckily, after half an hour of driving, they fell asleep again which meant I could get some shut-eye which allowed Row to drive in peace all the way to Canberra.
We met at Martine's house and changed the kids before heading off to a little cafe for some much needed breakfast. It was great seeing Martine and Juergen who have been traveling for the past year and to see how much Nadia has grown. We had a lovely catch up session before resuming our drive. Thank goodness the kids had a chance to stretch their legs and fill up their tummies so they were quite good on the remainder of the drive. We finally reached Batlow just past lunch and were the first family to arrive. We met the housekeeper and got the lay of the land and staked our rooms ;) Vernon, Bonita and baby Jake were the next to arrive as they so kindly offered to do the grocery shopping. Jono and Chantel, Robin, Melissa, Kieran and Daniel arrived shortly after.
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| Our home for the weekend |
The best thing about these weekends is the planning that goes into the meals, we always eat so well and this didn't disappoint. For our first night, Bon made a vegetarian lasagne and we had home made pizzas. It was a bit of a muddle as we all tried to get our routines into sync what with the babies and all but it all worked out well. Justin and Kieran got to make their own pizzas and ate early with the younger kids. Then we bathed them and put them to bed, except for Justin, and then the grown up finally sat down for dinner at 8:30pm. I think we had high expectations for this weekend because we brought along board games. Needless to say, after dinner, we all looked at each other and gave the silent agreement that it would indeed be bed time soon.
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| Justin and Kieran enjoying their pizzas |
Saturday started bright and early...for us anyways, why do our kids insist on waking up at the crack of dawn while the other kids sleep in till at least 7:30/ 8:00am. Anyways....after everyone had woken and eaten breakfast, we slowly got moving and were out the house by lunchtime! Poor Baby Jake was not feeling good so they wandered around the nearby town of Tumut with Jono and Chants while the rest of us went to the caves, just over an hour's drive away. We had a quick picnic lunch at the national park and then headed for the caves. The kids had fun, so did we, it's been years since I went into a cave. Justin and Kieran also had fun flashing their torches (thanks uncle Jono, the did come in handy) around the dark caves. After trudging around in the dark and wet, the boys had a dip in the thermal springs. It was a great afternoon and now it was time to get back to the house. Row was really enjoying driving the car around the country roads, all windy and what not, until about 1.5kms from the house, out of nowhere, well, not nowhere, but from the bushes on the side of the ride, a kangaroo jumped out and practically landed right in front of the car. There was nothing Row could do except hit it, poor kangaroo but poor us too, although thankfully we were all okay. Luckily the kids were sleeping when we hit the 'roo but they did wake up when the car stopped. Our car now un-driveable, had to be left on the side of the road while a tow-truck had to drive from Wagga, an hour and a half away. By the time we sat down for dinner, we were pretty ravenous, Jono and Vern did a brilliant job of braaing the meat and Chants, Mel and Bon made good veggy dishes. Post dinner, Vernon kept us entertained sharing numerous stories that had us all in stitches. Ta V, that relieved the stress for us Mings ;)
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| At the caves |
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| Ava and Daniel enjoying their picnic lunch |
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| The boys having a swim in the thermal springs |
We spent Sunday milling around the house mainly because Row now had to find a rental car for us to get back to Sydney and the Songs were leaving that evening. After much internet trawling, Row found a rental car that had to be picked up from Wagga. Thanks Jono for driving us there to collect the rental and to everyone else, especially Chants, for looking after our kids while we sorted out the rental car. At least we had roast leg of lamb to look forward to.
We left Batlow on Monday morning, sans our car, Trevor the Tiguan. The drive home was uneventful although we had to stop several times for the kids to stretch their legs and for me to nap as I was driving. Thankfully we all made it home safe and sound!
And I am happy to say that 5 weeks later, we finally got Trevor the Tiguan back, looking as good as new!
These are photos of the kids enjoying the space
