Some months ago, Sharlene mentioned that she was going to run in the Mudgee Marathon with a couple of friends (Jill and Mark). Jill had found a cottage which had 3 bedrooms and would accommodate all the runners, partners and those along for the drive (me).
Mudgee is a town approximately 3.5 hours drive inland from Sydney. It is also famous for good food and wine. No quilting shops though - what a pity as I love visiting them all.
We drove to Mudgee on Friday night and arrived at about 8pm that evening. We met up with everyone at the Red Heifer hotel and pub for dinner. I had ribs and virtually everyone else had a T-bone steak. We all paid the extra rather than cook it ourselves!
Next we checked into our cottage. The cottage was located on a small farm - which was great as the next morning we took Jill's son Jasper to pick fresh vegetables (rhubarb, brocolli, carrots etc) and he could check out the animals (an emu, chickens, rabbits, geese etc).
Robyn then ran a 10 km race and came 2nd in his age group. The rest of us pottered around Mudgee and took a drive out to Gulgong for lunch. Little did we know that the town was virtually closed. We did manage to have a pie at McDonalds Cafe (not related to the famous chain).
The town had almost passed time by - nothing seemed to have changed in a hundred years! In years gone by, it must have been quite the cultural hub in its day - it even had a tiny opera house.
After finishing at Gulgong, it was a drive back to Mudgee for a night in. Robyn had made spaghetti bolognese for dinner and the most amazing chocolate biscuit cake for Sharlene.
We all gathered around the TV to see the All Blacks beat the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup.There was one Aussie, a Scot, 4 South Africans and 2 Kiwi's. Made for an interesting evening.
Next morning Sharlene, Gill and Mark left at the crack of dawn for the half and full marathons whilst the rest of us slept in.
Mark finished the half marathon and we all packed up and went to cheer Jill and Sharlene in at the finish. They both completed and did an absolutely amazing job. Well done!
Sharlene and I did manage to do a teeny bit of sewing in the car.