RACV Cobram Resort

During the final four days of our Easter school holidays, we journeyed to the RACV resort located in Cobram, which is about three hours north of Melbourne and situated on the border between New South Wales and the Murray River. The resort is comprised of a variety of accommodations, including caravan sites and cabins. Fortunately, we were able to secure two side-by-side cabins with a "lake view," which I was extremely grateful for upon our arrival. Although the "lake" is actually more of a pond, the serene outlook from our deck is very relaxing. The other "garden view sites" are simply scattered across a vast lawn and are much less picturesque. 

View from our deck

The "lake" or rather the pond, with cabins surrounding

The resort has a good range of facilities, most notable for us were the indoor pool and hot tub. There is a beautiful outdoor pool and toddler pool as well but the water a bit too chilly for us. Of course, that didn't stop Ella from trying to swim in it. But you know, if the water is too cold for Ella that means it must be ABSOLUTELY FREEZING!

Splashing around in the toddler pool

Desperate to get in the outdoor pool!

Grandma is not getting in either!

During our stay at the resort Ella and I had a lovely evening routine. Every day around 5pm we headed to the pool for a pre-dinner swim together. It was a great way to spend some quality one-on-one time with her. Our routine started with some playtime first, with Ella chasing me around the pool and trying to catch me. We'd then move on to the hot tub, which was always a nice change of pace. Next up was a quick cold plunge in the outdoor pool, followed by a return to the warm indoor pools. I usually hate cold water so was very proud of myself for the cold plunge, and Ella was very surprised/impressed with me as well. By that point, I was ready to relax poolside with my book, while Ella happily swam around on her own.

It was just the two of us most evenings though Grandma joined us on one occasion as well. I think this evening time with Ella was one of my favourite parts of the whole weekend.

The main reason it was just the two of us was because Ollie was a bit sick over the whole weekend. We noticed he was a bit stuffed up and seemed tired on the day we drove to Cobram. This turned into conjunctivitis and a slight fever. Nothing a little Panadol and eye drops couldn’t cure, but it did mean that Ollie was cranky at times and missed out on a few things. The poor kid spent a lot of his time in bed or on the sofa, reading books (or rather searching for things in his look and find book) or watching TV. 

One morning I did get him outside to do some drawing, here he is drawing the pond and surrounding trees:

The resort also had a pretty good playground and jumping pillow which both kids loved. 

We had two full days to explore the area during our three-night stay. On the first day, we decided to venture into the nearby town of Yarrawonga. Our main activity for the day was a ride on the PS Cumberoona, a traditional paddle steamer that took us on a one-hour cruise around Lake Mulwala. The lake is right on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, so we were able to say we'd been in both states at once!

We also happened to be there during a speed boat race that was on for the weekend - the EC Griffith Cup. We caught the practice rounds and were blown away by the speed and noise of the boats. It was like watching the Grand Prix on water! We had a pretty good day but by the end of it Ollie had had enough and needed to go home for a rest.

Our last full day we spent the afternoon at Thompson’s beach. According to Dave this is the longest inland beach in the Southern Hemisphere… I have taken his word for it and not fact checked this. Ella was initially disappointed that instead of turning up to the type of beach we are used to (along the coast) we were hanging out on the banks of a muddy brown river. However she quickly changed her tune when she realized how lovely the sand was and happily played by the river’s edge for a couple of hours. Ollie also played with her for a long time, and it was nice to see him up and about, getting some fresh air. They played so well the whole afternoon, I ended up just reading my book on the sand beside them. 

What was also nice about this beach was that there was a grassy area with lots of big trees for shade, so we could set up a base for the adults and our stuff. There was also a decent café on the beach. They offered everything from coffees, pastries and ice cream to full meals and alcohol. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon with the perfect weather we had all weekend. 

Every evening of our stay we were treated to spectacular sunsets. Most nights I was in the indoor pool with Ella and through the wall to wall glass the sky would change from bright blue to a brilliant orange. Dave went on a nightly walk around the perimeter of the resort spotting kangaroos in the neighbouring fields. He took some beautiful pictures of the sunset:

On our last night we all went out for a walk/scooter and to see the kangaroos and it was a great way to end the short holiday.

We left Sunday morning, Ella and I squeezing in one last swim while Andy, Dave and Bunny played tennis and table tennis with Ollie. I managed to spend about 10 minutes in the ice cold outdoor pool, probably the first time in my entire life that I’ve plunged into such cold water without a wetsuit! The next day it was back to work and reality after having had our two week Easter holiday break. 

It's a week later now, and Dave and Bunny are packing their bags as they leave for England tonight. Another sad goodbye! We had a lot of fun times with them during their 3.5 week stay, which I will write about in my next post.