OT - A Mini Victorian Getaway
From January 1 3, we went away to the Yarra Valley in Victoria for a mini-vacay. The Yarra Valley is about an hours drive away from my home and is one of the areas where grapevines grow and wine is fermented. The valley
and my pictures
might have looked like this from one of the vineyards
..
..sadly, this trip was not about the wine as much as it was about minimizing the whine. Three families were involved in this mini-vacay (not that youll see much of them in this set of posts)
.and there were 4 whines to minimize and keep occupied.
Needless to say, pictures were involved
.lots of them! So for anyone not interested, come back in about a week or so.
For the rest
.here we go.
Its A Not so Early Start
It is my lot in life to be considered the pace-setter where holidays are concerned. Thus is the case with these two groups that I tend to be the tour guide when we go on our yearly time away from the rest of our families.
So, when I was asked to nominate a meeting place and a meeting time, I had already had my game plan all worked out. We would meet at 11 am at Hedgend in the Yarra Valley.
To those of you that have been following my other TRs, you will realize that the starting time is practically late afternoon by my normal standards.
Yes
I knew we would be up late on New Years Eve and had deliberately picked a start time that would allow me the opportunity to down 3 cups of strong coffee beforehand.
To say that DH and I were slow on this day would be an understatement. I think we got home at around 1.30 am and by the time Id gotten into bed, it was closer to 2.30 am than anything else. DS
hes just an Eveready battery.
Let me just say now that these 3 days have turned out to be the HOTTEST days in the year so far. Okay
literally thats true given that were only day 3 into the new year
but we are talking about temperatures in the very high 90s to 110 Farenheit here. All 3 days!
By the time we got to Hedgend, it was already high 80s. Lots of water was going to be the order of the day in order to prevent ourselves from going the way of the visitors before us
.
What is Hedgend?
As the name suggests, it is a hedge
.a maze. Fun.for.kids! Little and Big. After paying the entry fee, we headed for the maze entrance.
And into a world of green!
The people at the desk gave us a scavenger hunt list, complete with questions and told the kids that they had to find every item on the list. The items were to be found in dead-ends and along the way
.so they were encouraged to go down every single windy path.
Some of the items that caught my eye
We eventually followed the kids, who made their way to this garden
.
.which was the way out of the maze. And at the end of this universe, there was a pavilion strategically placed so that people could take pictures of the maze.
The pavilion also provided additional entertainment for the kids. Check out the artwork underneath
Very cleverly hidden in the painting, were about 20 items. The list was also included and the kids then spent a great deal of time looking for those items.
Hedgend Maze also includes a mini golf paddock that no one felt energetic enough to try out.
By this stage, it was past 1 pm and temperatures were in the mid 90s. The kids decided it was time for lunch.
Well eat ANYTHING
..as long as its airconditioned
There are a number of little townships in the Yarra Valley, some bigger than others. Given where we were staying, the one that we decided to adopt was Yarra Glen. Yarra Glen has one pub, one Chinese restaurant that doubled as a sushi shop, one supermarket, one service station, one bank, one bakery and about 4 cafes. All of which, except for the pub, Chinese restaurant and one café were shut on New Years Day.
The pub was deemed too expensive for lunch, the Chinese restaurant was ruled out because it wasnt air conditioned
.so the café it was.
Fortunately for us, the meals there were reasonably priced and decent. Around my side of the table, the consensus order was the burger
..with the lot.
The pesky vegetarian I travel with chose the uber delicious eggplant tart with Persian fetta.
The other side of the table ordered toasted sandwiches and lasagna; but it was too hot and too far for me to get up and grab pictures of the food.
Needless to say, it was water all round
..with ice
..and air conditioning.
(Continued in Next Post)