What do you love about a road trip the most? For me, it’s the stopovers and exploring something on the road.
Last weekend we planned a little family holiday up to Ballarat, trying to catch the last bit of winter festival at Sovereign Hill. And for us, it will be our very first road trip with two kiddos and we are pretty sure it’s gonna be a lot more work.
With that in mind, we loaded up our car with 2 times of the nappies we normally use for 2 days, plenty of onesies for our 2 months old to change over if any “accidents” happen. Honestly, this time we do feel more at ease in terms of preparing for the trip, maybe because we know what we are doing and what we’re preparing for. And for the 3-year-old, all we need are her nappies, PJ and her long-time friend “poppy”. Plus, of course, lots of snacks for the road for every family member. It’s so much easier when you all eat the same thing and be prepared for a large number of meltdowns and sugar rushes. If you know what I mean…
Planning for this trip took us a bit longer than usual, only because we need to think of more details to handle little one, and this time, little ones. We did realize it’s going to be quite a bit of effort for just two days of holiday. However, we know it’s going to be filled with great memories, for our family, taking trips together is the way to create stories. No matter how much work it’s gonna take, we are making it happen!
Now speaking of our favorite part, we made a 20 minutes stopover, before we arrived at our holiday house, at a little town called Ballan. Not sure what’s special about this place, but my smart hubby needed a break from the long drive. I quickly checked if there was any place for us to have a cuppa, even though hubby was happy with a Big Mac I was keen to find something cozier.
“Alright, 4mins away down the highway, a place called ‘the Tin Plate’, sounds cute, apparently they call themselves family-friendly, let’s go check it out!” I said.
“Sure. Looks like it’s in a shopping street.” As I provided hubby directions while driving down a street, that looked like the center of Ballan. Forgot to mention, this family trip we also traveled with my folks who drove behind us. Piece of advice, travel with grandparents if they’re available, trust me, they’ll be great travel companions when you have kids, use all their help you get, it will make the trip so much smoother and easier.
The Tin Plate | The Vibe
There were a lot of 1-hour parking spots available in front of The Tin Plate, for a stopover, that’s enough time. Walking into the Tin Plate, all I felt was as we were popping into someone’s 3 bedroom house. The vintage posters on the wall and furniture gave the whole place a homey feeling.
The Tin plate is actually a former house. As the old living room was the reception, a young girl with a big smile on her face, lead us to their dining room where there was a big round table, plenty of space for us 4 adults, one toddler and a pram.
“We have some kids’ books and coloring books in the next room.”
Another waitress hinted us when zonni started to get a bit impatient when we were trying to check out the menu. In one second, little Zonni was settled. Even my folks were feeling relaxed and started doing the coloring with her.
The Tin Plate | Food
Since we were more tired than hungry, we ordered some food to share. One pulled pork pizza, 2 beef pies and some coffees to go. The pizza was quite tasty, the pulled pork was so flavorsome and match so well with the rocket salad on the top, love it even it’s a bit of weird combo. The pie was a typical Aussie beef pie, not bad but not that special either. It did come with nice sauce and salad, the portion was quite generous, perfect for a quick and nutritious lunch.
With 3 extra-large hot cocoa, one extra large-cap and a babycino with “unlimited” marshmallows, $50 in total was a pretty decent price for our complete lunch.
Left with a full stomach and satisfaction from a cozy experience in a small but warm place(both temperature and customer service), we were charged with energy and ready to start our next part of the trip.
Thank you, The Tin Plate, you are truly a family-friendly place that is definitely worthy of stopping over.
