Since Asher was born in February this year, Chris and I have hardly left Sydney. There have been a few excursions south (to see Chris’ family in Canberra and the Southern Highlands) and a few north (to visit my parents in Dungog) but thats it. For two people who are originally from the country, and love to leave the city at any opportunity, this has been a little difficult. So for Chris’ birthday, I surprised him with a weekend away (with Asher in tow) to Berry. I was actually surprised there was somewhere left within driving distance of Sydney that Chris and I had never been to!
We arrived at Warrimoo Cottage just after 6pm on Friday night (the drive to Berry had been amusing enough, as we tried to work out our new GPS, and convince Asher to have a sleep). It was a lovely two bedroom self contained cottage overlooking a valley, with plenty of farm animals roaming about – we took Asher for a walk on Saturday afternoon, and he seemed very interested in the cows, ponies and alpacas (cheap entertainment!) The price was quite reasonable ($260 for the weekend) and we had everything we needed – including heaters, which we used as the temperature plummeted. We ate dinner in both nights, as this was far easier than going out with Asher, and had some good wholesome fun, including my victory at Scrabble (the first time ever!) Asher also slept like a dream the entire weekend, which is possibly the best thing I could say about the accomodation!
Breakfast on Saturday morning was at Berry Woodfired Sourdough Bakery – once again my trusted delicious magazine had shared this gem with me. Scrambled eggs on sourdough with smoked salmon and a coffee is my ultimate breakfast – and thankfully it was there on the menu! We also had the unexpected surprise of running into one of my former work colleagues from Sydney. We left with a couple of extra goodies – namely the olive and thyme loaf and a chocolate and hazelnut tart.
The afternoon (when we weren’t introducing Asher to farm animals) was dedicated to wandering the streets of Berry – for a small town, it certainly had plenty to keep the tourists amused. I bought Asher some owl decorations for his room at Bedbugz, and we stopped for tea and scones at Berrylicious Cafe (a totally unneccesary meal, but exactly the sort of thing you do on holidays).
Chris wasn’t up for more shopping on Sunday morning, so I headed in to town to check out the Berry markets by myself. I’ve never seen so much traffic in a country town. I was even the victim of some mild road rage, which was the only downer on the weekend. There was plenty of fresh produce, plants and various paraphernalia for sale – I ended up buying Asher a very cute singlet and cloth nappy ensemble from the My Little Babies Room stall (www.mylittlebabiesroom.com.au). I stopped to buy a donut and coffee for Chris on my way out of town – the Berry Donut Van only makes donuts on demand so they were extremely tasty (and once again, unneccessary).
Our last stop was Gerringong to frolic on the beach and have some fish and chips overlooking the water – the weather had warmed up beautifully but not quite enough for us to venture into water. Asher was rather perplexed by the sand and the crashing waves.
All in all the three of us had a great weekend. While life with a child means holidays have changed from total sloth to a more relaxed continuation of the everyday (the baby still wakes up at 6!) its nice to introduce him to new experiences – and enjoy ourselves at the same time.
I love this blog, great pics and lovely writing. Post more Susan!