Easter 2015 - Hunter Valley

So here comes the first story for this year. Since the time we've come to Sydney something worth mentioning happens around Easter. Last year it was the Gold Coast and this year it was Hunter Valley. 

We have been pondering over days and weeks how we wanted to celebrate the Easter long weekend and the decision was made a day before we left on our trip. Of course the next challenge was to find a location within reasonable weather, driving limits and accommodation available. We narrowed down on Hunter Valley - being a 2.5 hour drive from home. After a bit of research we figured out a hotel - more of a glorified motel at a town called Muswellbrook that was affordable and also available for the weekend. What we did not realize was it was actually about an hour's drive longer than where we had expected it to be. 

We left on Saturday evening at around 6.15 after Nandhitha's tuition class got over. We picked her up from her classes and hit the highway straight away. It was raining cats and dogs through most part of the journey and it was not a drive to cherish. For a change we had to rely on 3 GPS systems - one from my good old GPS system - whose maps I had not updated since the time I bought it (about 5 years ago), my mobile using Google Maps and finally of course my own vague memory. The reason I had to move to Google Maps was after a while our traditional GPS started showing that we were driving in the water or forest every once in a while. Not sure if the weather had any impact - but definitely we couldn't rely on it. Google Maps came in handy - but that couldn't be relied upon totally as well as the signal and data connections kept dropping out in some areas. Eventually relied upon my memories of a few towns I have passed through the previous trips and decided to take that exit from the highway. It turned out to be a good choice because we could find something for dinner before it became too late.

We reached the hotel at around 10 PM. Being the Easter long weekend the hotel support was minimal. The front office was not manned (or womanned) and there was a sign to go to an after hours entry. Apparently an SMS was sent to me with instructions on what to do. I did not notice that until I was walking up and down and another desi family saw me and suggested that I check for messages. Thankfully I had the SMS - it had the instructions to pick up the keys from a safe. The hotel was fairly newly built - hence quite clean and well maintained. The kids were very thrilled at the hotel stay. This would probably be Nandha's first hotel room that he explored

once he started talking. He was exploring and showing off every switch and fitting in the room. Thanks to the long drive they all slept for a while during the journey and it took a while to put them to sleep.

Easter Sunday - we had pretty much only ONE thing on the agenda - to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt at the Hunter Valley Gardens. We had done that a few years ago at the same location but not a very enjoyable experience then for multiple reasons. This time we had the entire day to spare without any distractions or hurry. The Hunter Valley Garden is almost like a collection of themed gardens like Italian Grotto, Oriental Garden, Indian Garden etc.

Prize for Egg Hunt

Egg hunting

To keep the visitors (read kids) engaged and also to encourage us to explore the entire garden they had given us a "treasure hunt". Where we had to find answers to certain clues in each section of the garden. For e.g., (What distinct smell can you find at the Indian Garden - the answer was curry leaves). We explored about 70 - 80% of the garden and decided to go on the egg hunt which was at a story book themed garden called - well...Story Book Garden. Plastic eggs were thrown around the area and kids had to collect as much as they can and each of them were given a "prize" at the end. I still remember the first Easter egg hunt in Sydney about 7 years ago when Nandhitha was just over a year old. After the egg hunt, finished lunch in the garden and completed visiting the rest of the garden. Nandhitha had her face painted and Nandha was chasing a few girls while waiting for his sister.

Headed back to the hotel at around 5 PM. Thankfully the rain gods waited until we got back into the car. Being the Easter weekend not many eateries were open in Musellbrook. We ended up ordering Domino's Pizza for dinner. The next day left the hotel at around 10 AM and went to a nearby cheese factory for breakfast. Sampled a few cheese varieties and got home a couple. One interesting variety was a beer flavoured cheddar - and I could actually make out the beery flavour as an after taste. Headed back home after breakfast. The journey back home was almost uneventful except for a traffic jam on the highway which would have slowed us down by about 30 minutes at most. Reached back in time for a good lunch at Anjappar and also finish up some shopping.

Thus ended the Easter holidays for me. Thought I will put this down before the deluge begins tomorrow. So long folks!!  

C