Cup weekend in Daylesford

The first weekend in November is Melbourne Cup weekend - our annual long weekend for a horse race! This year we didn't do anything remotely related to horse racing, and instead headed to Daylesford for a chilled out weekend with our good friends, Taryn and Verge, and their two kids Theo and Charlie.

Ella and Ollie have been friends with Theo and Charlie since we moved back to Melbourne in 2021. Not only were Charlie and Ella in the same prep class, but Theo and Charlie also attended daycare together back when they were 2 years old. It probably took until about halfway through that first year for us parents to realise the connections, but we've been good friends ever since. It helps that they are an expat family like us - Taryn and Verge are originally from South Africa and moved to Melbourne about a year before we moved back. Taryn's parents are similar to mine - they often visit for months at a time and have a long term plan to move to Melbourne... that is if they are ever granted their parent visas! (Australia has a notoriously long wait for parents of citizens trying to move to Australia... over 10 years if you are looking for resident status and that includes a very hefty price tag as well!)

Anyway, all that to say, that with our move to the Gold Coast quickly approaching, I am really glad we got to spend this time with our friends before we leave Melbourne... again.

We hired a beautiful four bedroom home about 10 minutes outside of Daylesford and it was an incredibly peaceful location. We had a fire pit, and large flat sandy section outside, which was perfect for lawn bowls and other games.

This was one of the most chilled out, relaxing weekends away I've ever had... especially since having kids. The majority of my time was spent reading my book, eating, drinking and talking with my friends, sitting around the fire pit, and watching the kids play. It was pretty blissful!

In fact, I read a whole book, which I found on the bookshelves of our Airbnb. - The Nowhere Child by Christian White. I love an Airbnb with books! The book is about a child who goes missing in the US and then, decades later, is found alive and living in Melbourne. It was the perfect holiday read; I even finished it a day early.

We took advantage of the woodfired pizza oven and made a delicious selection of pizzas on our first night. Pizza is a great option as you can tailor them to everyone's tastes. And by that I mean you can make a plain cheese pizza for the kids and make something more interesting for the adults. 

A big "pro" for having a long weekend with another family is that your kids will actually sit together and eat dinner. As if they are actually civilised and do this all the time.

I woke up each morning and sat outside with my coffee and book with this view. There was no noise except for the birds chirping, a welcome change from our normal city lives.

We headed out to the Daylesford Market on the Sunday morning for some food and a look around. The kids scored big with fairy floss (cotton candy for my North American friends). 

Our only other big outing was a morning at Lake Daylesford. It was good to venture out and get a bit of exercise and the lake itself is stunning.

Smile Ollie!

Ollie was kicking a soccer ball along the path that circumvents the lake. Of course, at one stage it ended up in the lake. Mummy to the rescue! Andy happened to be on a phone call with our Buyer's Agent who had just inspected our future home in Gold Coast, so I had to step in and rescue the ball.

Daylesford is famous for it's natural springs so we tasted some spring water from a well. It was horrible! Very metallic tasting. I think we were all expecting that it would taste like clean bottled water.

All in all a great weekend away with our good friends. I really hope we are able to stay in touch and see these guys periodically as our children grow up!