That was the ongoing joke when we made last minute plans to escape to the town of Orange over the long Labour day weekend in early October. Emma and Morgan couldn't stop laughing hysterically over the idea that we were going to a town called Orange. Orange is about 3.5 hours northwest of Sydney. While Orange and the surrounding region is well known for its food and wine, oranges are not grown there, but rather apples more predominantly. I guess the same person that appropriately named the nearby gold mining town called Lucknow did not name Orange.
But really we were all excited to getaway for a few days with some good friends and explore a region we haven't seen much of. While multiple times we thought we probably should have cancelled the trip between over half the family being sick just prior to leaving, to the car breaking down on the side of the road, we still managed to have a pretty great weekend away. And used it as an appropriate time to recount terrible travel tales with our friends.
We arrived late on Friday night. It's one of my favourite ways to travel. You wake up the next morning to the sunrise unsure of your exact surroundings. But then, on the good trips, you find them to be better than anticipated. While most accommodations were already booked 10 days out when we made our booking, I think we did alright by finding the Turner Vineyard Motel which sits perched atop rolling hills covered with vineyards. And when you're in Australia it gets even better and you wake up to kangaroos hopping through the vineyards.
We also woke up to some beautiful smiling faces.
It was a good thing our Saturday schedule was packed full (before the car broke down on Sunday). We explored the neighboring heritage-listed village of Millthorpe, which had a main street lined with antique and boutique shops. A pre-lunch stop at Heifer Station Vineyard was the perfect choice to make both adults and kids happy complete with a petting zoo, sand pit and plenty of area for the kids to explore while adults do, well what adults do at a vineyard.
Cute little entry "gate" to Millthorpe, proud to say a friend's dad helped build this!
First signs of spring
Who knew a 50 cent purchase could make someone so happy!
All the kids.
I need the designer of Heifer Station Wines to come to my house.
The weekend crew (minus me).
Freshly sheared!
Charley kept putting herself in with the chickens.
Morgan doing what she does best, making herself happy.
My favourite sign on the trip!
We have our friends to thank for making sure pretty much everything was planned and really we just tagged along. Most importantly they made sure we had good food stops. Lunch on Saturday was at the Agrestic Grocer before we headed into the actual town of Orange to explore with stops at a nostalgic milk bar (for my American fans think milkshakes & candy shoppe) and small art gallery. We made pit stops to prepare for the picnic we were planning to have on Sunday and dinner at the hotel with kids while our friends headed out for dinner.
As alluded to unfortunately Sunday didn't quite go according to plan as we planned to daytrip to the town of Dubbo (still about 1.5 hours away from Orange) to go to the zoo. We made it about 20 minutes before the car broke down. Much to our surprise the girls handled it shockingly well. I guess when you have ipads in hand whether the car is moving or not, it doesn't much matter and the idea of missing the zoo in 37 degree celsius heat wasn't totally terrible. And Charley thought sitting in the front seat pressing all the buttons on the car was great while batting away all of the flies that are a sure sign of spring in Australia. Thanks to NRMA, the tow truck driver (who was somehow related to the mechanic - remember small country town), the taxi driver, the Hertz rent a car man (that didn't have a rental car to "fit" all of us), a hotel receptionist who took pity and gave us a bottle of wine while we twirled our thumbs at the hotel, and the nice mechanic who came in on a Sunday (as we were doomed to be stuck if he didn't as Monday was a public holiday) we managed to get the car semi-repaired and back to us by mid-afternoon.
Happy as clams in a broken down car.
A picnic outside our hotel room really wasn't too bad.
All smiles before she ran through the grass and stepped on a bindi weed.
We made a quick stop at the Orange Adventure Park before meeting back up with our friends (who had visited relatives for the day instead of going to the zoo) at beautiful Nashdale Lane Wines. It felt like the whole day wasn't a total waste as we relished in the extra sunshine that comes with the first day of daylight savings time and stopped by Lake Canobolas as well before heading to a pub to catch the "grand final" NRL game that was kind of a big deal to most of Sydney.
A quick lesson in chess.
Charley packs the love on Morgan when she catches her snoozing.
Nashdale Lane Wines. So simple. So good.
Future wine connoisseur.
Kids play area at the pub on steroids. A recipe for kids to run reckless while parents drink.
The weekend went too quick by the time we headed back Monday mid-morning. On the recommendation of our friends we had to make one last stop at the Racine Bakery for some amazing pastries before getting on the road and saying a quick prayer that our car would make it back to Sydney. Thankfully it did just that.
Racine Bakery delights.
Happy souls.
Telling jokes seemed to be a theme for our trip.
Country New South Wales surprised me. It still feels a little anti-Australian to not have a beach, but I'm starting to understand there are some pretty great areas of Australia that don't rely on iconic stretches of coastline and beaches. Unfortunately because its not on the coast this area of Australia could really use some water right now, so keep it in your prayers.
Now I better start asking our friends when and where they are planning the next trip for us.
That was the ongoing joke when we made last minute plans to escape to the town of Orange over the long Labour day weekend in early October. Emma and Morgan couldn't stop laughing hysterically over the idea that we were going to a town called Orange. Orange is about 3.5 hours northwest of Sydney. While Orange and the surrounding region is well known for its food and wine, oranges are not grown there, but rather apples more predominantly. I guess the same person that appropriately named the nearby gold mining town called Lucknow did not name Orange.
But really we were all excited to getaway for a few days with some good friends and explore a region we haven't seen much of. While multiple times we thought we probably should have cancelled the trip between over half the family being sick just prior to leaving, to the car breaking down on the side of the road, we still managed to have a pretty great weekend away. And used it as an appropriate time to recount terrible travel tales with our friends.
