Trip to the Farm

LONG OVERDUE!!!!

We have just had the most amazing holiday.

It was relaxing, exciting, busy, adventurous & just plain simple fun.

Although Grace has been on plenty of planes (about 10), she was still so excited about being at the airport. Her and dolly spent ages gazing out the window, watching all the planes coming in and taking off. She was so eager to get on the plane and go up, up and away.

Both kids were great on the plane. I had predicted a bit of restlessness and had prepared appropriately with food and activities. Grace was given a new activity book that you write in with a white board marker and then rub it out. I thought that might be better than risking pen on everything. I also gave her a Maisy book that had lots of magnets in it. She did however spend most of the flight on my knee gazing out the window.

We flew into Newcastle airport, getting in at 6pm. I had arranged a hire car, so after organising keys etc, we set up the kiddies car seats and were ready to head off in our bright green Kia Rio.

Now I had advised the farm stay that our flight didn't get in until 9pm, but Jetstar being Jetstar had changed the schedule at the last minute, so we got in at 6pm. The lovely hosts of the farm stay had said that because we were getting in so late they wouldn't charge us for the first night, and me being a tight-bum thought we would just kill the 3 hours before checking in.

So we made our way into Salamander Bay shopping centre to pick up supplies for the next 3 days. I was planning on making full use of having self-contained accommodation, making lunches and yummy dinners to keep costs down.

We then headed back to the farm and tried to find where to check in. We did have a little bit of trouble locating the place, we found the farm but couldn't find the B&B that you check in at. We drove up a narrow driveway which then opened up to reveal a beautiful old farmhouse. There were 2 cars outside, but no lights on. We stopped the car, as we did a possum jumped off a guinea pig cage and went scampering back into the dark bush. We were both still unsure if this was the right place or not, so I tried to call. No reception. I sent Duane in to knock on the door, it took a while but then 2 people came to the door. After a bit of chatting Duane came back to the car and explained that they thought we were going straight to the cabin. The heater would be on and the door was unlocked with the keys on the table. The hosts would catch up with is in the morning.

The kids were both asleep in the car, so we got to the cabin changed the kids into their jimmy jams (they stayed asleep) and put them to bed.

The cabin was nice. Just a little 1 bedroom cabin with a kitchen, lounge room and bathroom. Xavier was in the cot in our room and Grace was in the bottom bunk in an alcove off the room. She was happy because her doona had all the playschool characters on it!

Somehow through the night Duane and I acquired 2 little hot water bottles. It was a tight squeeze in the double bed, not like at home in the huge king bed.

We did get to wake up to the quintessential farm sound, the Rooster. We were already awake though, the kids had us up at the crack 'of dawn.

So up we got to survey our surroundings in the daylight. Oh, and how beautiful it was. We were smack bang in the middle of paddocks, surrounded by all different farm animals. There were chickens in a coup over the back, a donkey behind us, sheep one paddock over, some cows and a pony at the front and a black lab waiting at the door to greet us. It was perfect.

So after having some breakfast, we all headed out for a wander around the farm.

After a chat to Scott (the farmer), he told us to head over to the main chook shed and he would meet us there. We fed the chickens and collected the eggs for tomorrows breakfast. Grace & Xav were in awe of all the animals, Xav showed no hesitation in patting every furry thing that passed by him. Grace was eager, but a little reluctant at going into the chook house with about 50 chickens. She ended up going in, and even picked up a few.

After getting a quick run-down of what can and can't be done, we were told by Scott to be back at 4pm to help feed all the animals and have a ride on the back of the tractor.

We then headed into Nelson Bay to check out the beautiful beaches. We stumbled across some markets which sold lovely home-made sauces, jams etc. I picked up some chilli relish and some lemon butter to have on our toast. It was absolutely freezing, the icy wind was coming straight off the water. I was a little worried about Xav's ears, so we bought him a knitted beanie (which he wore for the rest of the trip!)

After the markets we went for a walk around the little town. It wasn't really busy, but I could imagine it in summer to be packed. There were beautiful views over the bay and it would be a great swimming spot in warmer weather. Pity it was so freezing now!

We headed back to the farm for lunch and a midday sleep. We all have a nice 2 hour snooze, and woke just in time to get our warm clothes on for the farm tour.

There was a variety of different sized gumboots out on the verandah. I really didn't think that we would get as muddy as we did, so didn't really dress the kids properly. Oh well, I learnt for the next night and we just wore the same clothes. Mud and all.

The tour was so much fun. Scary, but fun!

First off we watched as all the cows came in to be fed and 1 (Sheryl) to be milked. We helped break up the bread and hand fed the cows and the bull. Grace loved doing this, except she was bit hesitant with the bull. He had the hugest, thickest tongue that would curl around your hand as you passed him the bread. He also insisted on being hand-fed, refused to pick up any food from the ground to eat. There was also Daisy the cow who was a sweetheart, albeit a guts. She always hogged all the food, but took it from you so gently. I found out the next night that she was actually pregnant, so that explains the appetite!


The Pony hung out with the cows, so she was waiting to be fed too. Although she didn't want the bread, she only wanted carrots. Grace was happy to do this for her, she spent ages hand feeding "Jenni" her carrots.

After the cows were all fed, the resident "Mummy" cow (Sheryl) needed to be milked. Grace was eager to do this after seeing an episode of Hi-5 once where Charli did the same. She found it a little hard to get the milk out, but with a little help from Farmer Scott, she got it flowing. After they had enough milk, it was all put into bottles for the 2 calves. This is what Grace loved the most. She was so happy to be feeding the calves, the look of amazement on her face was priceless.

Xav & Grace both got a ride on Ernie the Donkey. Such a placid animal, except for early mornings when he liked to wake everyone up.

Next on the tour was the tractor ride. Oh, this was scary, especially for Mum and Dad trying to make sure the kids didn't get hurled off the trailor.

We were bundled onto a trailer which was on the back of an old Massey Ferguson Tractor. The tractor looked old (it was) and slow, boy was I wrong. We were taken around to the pig, I'm not sure who had the most mud on them, us or the pig. It was such a rough ride, Farmer Scott hit every mud patch and pot hole that he could. Duane was trying to stay upright and hold onto Xav at the same time. I was clutching on the the outside of the trailer with Grace clamped between my knees. It was frightening, especially when we were flung from one side to the other. I was sure that we were going to loose a child at some point. We came away bruised, muddy and laughing our heads off. Grace loved it, I liked it and Duane hated it, volunteering to give it a miss next time!.

After the tractor ride I got chatting to Scott's wife about the different accommodation. Duane had said that he wouldn't mind paying the extra and spending our last night in the cottage. When I mentioned this to Louise she told me that the people has just moved out of 'Cow Cottage' and we were welcome to move our stuff straight over if we wanted to. Well that was enough go ahead for us, the car was packed high and we made the move to the 3 bedroom cottage. It was so spacious and luxurious compared to our humble cabin. It had 3 large bedrooms, full kitchen, dining room, comfy lounge room and bathroom including nice big spa. We also found out in the morning it had a beautiful, big deck where all the farm birds hung out.

After a yummy BBQ dinner, the kids fell in to bed in an exhausted heap. It seemed that the fresh country air mixed with farm activities was conducive to a good night sleep for both kids. Which left Mummy and Daddy to have some time alone to chat. It was a lovely night, should have organised it better and bought a bottle of red!

The next morning we were all wide awake before the rooster started crowing. Except this morning there was a different noise after the rooster. Ernie the Donkey was "Eee-yoreing" and making a complete racket. Grace and I headed over to the chook pen to collect some eggs.

On the way over I noticed the baby lamb was bit muddy, which I thought was a bit strange. Grace and I stopped to watch him have a feed of milk from his Mum, Grace is amazed every time she sees a baby animal feed. It wasn't until on the way back that I realised it wasn't the same lamb that I thought it was. It was a new one. By this time Farmer Scott was down feeding the animals and asked if we had seen the new baby that had been born overnight. I couldn't believe it, a baby lamb had been born just outside our cottage. We hadn't heard a thing. how special was that. Grace was eager to go give the baby a pat, but Farmer Scott just picked him up and placed him straight into Grace's keen arms. The look of amazement and excitement on her face was beautiful. She would have held that lamb forever and been happy, not sure how happy the lamby would have been though!

We all got ready early and headed out. We were going up to The Hunter Valley to spend the day. It was a leisurely 1 1/2 hour drive away and both kids slept soundly the whole trip. It is such a beautiful drive, the amazing landscape of wineries is just gorgeous and so stunning. We drove around a few of the wineries, secretly wondering why in the world did we bring the kids? How good would it have been to just wander around the wineries, having a taste at all of them and then stumbling back to our accommodation. But that wasn't' to be, so we did the family version of Hunter Valley. We went to the village and wandered around the quaint little shops. We wandered over to the Botanical gardens, but didn't go in. I would have liked to but both kids were getting hungry and a little grumpy. So instead we went to the playground and had our picnic. The kids had a ball running around and playing on all the equipment. Xav looked adorable toddling around with his new knitted beanie on. Grace of course spent most of the time on the swing, in between trying to make friends with all the older kids.

After lunch we went for another drive around to look at the Vintage Golf Course and some other wineries. They really are stunning. It is such a picturesque place, just devine.

We were planning on doing a winery tour at Tyrells but after finding out that it took 1 hour we decided not too. Didn't think that the kids would be that excited about learning the art of wine making. We also visited the Roche winery, which is ultra modern and cool, then headed home. I wanted to get back to the farm by 4pm so I could take Grace on the Tractor ride again. We made it back with about 5 minutes to spare. We quickly got changed into yesterdays muddy clothes, pulled on our gumboots and headed up to the cows.

Grace and I got gloriously muddy again then went back to the cottage where Duane had run us a nice warm spa bath. Xav, Grace & I all jumped in and cleaned up. Duane had also lit the wood fire, so everything was toasty warm and inviting. As much as I hate the idea of burning wood (it just seems so archaic) I do love a warm open fire in a cold climate. We grew up with them in Tassie and there is something cosy about warming up in front of a fire, or getting your pj's warmed before getting out of the bath.

I made a yummy pasta dinner with garlic bread, and then the kids crashed for the night, leaving Mummy and Daddy once again with some quiet time.

The next day was to be our last day so we spent the day wandering around the farm, just relaxing and enjoying our time together. I wanted to clean the whole house as a thank-you to our hosts, so Duane took the kids for a wander whilst I busily cleaned. I hurriedly cleaned the whole place, eager to join in the fun outside. I mopped my way to the back door, stepped back admired the cleanliness then raced off to join my family who were feeding the sheep. Stupid me didn't think to shut the back door leading out to the deck. We came back to the house and were greeted by the most horrid stench. I stepped in the door and immediately knew where the smell was coming from, bloody duck, geese and turkey poo everwhere....All over my nice clean floor. So I had to re-mop the whole house and try to get rid of the fowl(!) aroma.

We packed up, sadly said our goodbyes to the farm and its animals, then headed back to Newcastle airport.

Sadly our wonderful holiday had to come to an end.

It really was a great way to reconnect as a family and also enjoy the simple things in life. I definitely want to look into doing a farm stay again, we all enjoyed it so much.

The only thing wrong with great holidays is that they end.