Lunch, dinner and breakfast @ The Boat Shed, Lake Hume Village, NSW

What a crazy few months it has been so far! The new school year began at the end of January, and everyone - especially the children - were so happy to be back at school again. My youngest has also begun school, so it has been quite momentous for our family. However, two weeks after the new school year started, Melbourne went back into Stage 4 lockdown, but thankfully this was for only five days. For us, one of the things I missed the most when Melbourne went into lockdown for half of 2020 was travelling. Fortunately, enough restrictions were lifted by the end of last year to allow for some travelling, so we made plans to travel into regional areas during the school holidays to help boost the regional tourism economy which had been greatly impacted in 2020. In December, right after the school summer holiday began and the weekend before Christmas, we took a 3.5-hour road trip across the border into New South Wales. The main reason for our trip was to reunite my boy with his best friend from Hong Kong who he hadn't seen for almost three years since we moved to Melbourne. Our friends had gone to Sydney in early 2020 to visit their family, and the situation hadn't improved enough for them to return back to Hong Kong, so our they remained in NSW for the rest of the year. It was a case of so-close-yet-so-far because the domestic Covid-19 situation prevented both of our families from meeting up for most of last year, until a small window of opportunity opened up for us to finally get together for only two days, and a location roughly half way between the two households was swiftly decided. However, our travel plans were not without some Covid-19-related drama, because on the day before we were to embark on our lengthy drive, we heard news about a growing cluster of Covid-19 cases in Sydney, and that some border restrictions were already in place between our two states. We had a difficult decision to make - if we went ahead with the trip to cross the border, we would risk having to isolate ourselves upon our return to VIC if state border restrictions were further tightened during our short time in NSW, and our plans to host Christmas lunch for my sisters and cousins and to go on another road trip post-Christmas would have to be cancelled. Since regional NSW was still considered "green zone" for VIC, we decided to make the trip and be prepared for a quick exit. Where we had booked for accommodation in Lake Hume Village was only a 15-minute drive from the border between VIC and NSW, so a quick exit would certainly be achievable. I must admit that I couldn't really relax while on the trip, and when we weren't with our friends, I was on my phone looking for the latest news on the border restrictions (internet reception was terrible, so often it was a futile effort to get any news). The areas being "red zoned" by VIC had widened by our second day in NSW, and after a quick discussion, hubby and I apologetically told our dear friends that we would drive home that night and forfeit the second night's stay at Lake Hume Resort.

In our short one night stay at Lake Hume Resort, we went the convenient route for meals and ate all three meals at The Boat Shed, located on site at the resort. The food was always delicious, the kids portions were generous for $10, and the cocktails were pretty tasty too. The Boat Shed and the resort's recreation facilities like the pool and mini golf were conveniently located near the cottages we had rented, and we did not need to leave the resort for food or recreation during our short stay. We are so glad we decided to take the risk to make the trip because we had a memorable time with our dear friends, and it really was a sweet reunion between my son and his best friend.

The beautiful setting of The Boat Shed by the Lake Hume:

Lunch

Both of our families started our drive from our respective homes in the different states at around the same time in early morning, and we arrived at The Lake Hume Resort within 30 minutes of each other around lunch time. We sat on the deck of The Boat Shed, enjoying lake views and the delicious aroma of pizzas cooking in the woodfired ovens in the kitchen next to our table.
Hubby decided to treat himself to a boozy icy drink after a long 3.5-hour non-stop drive with three kids in the back, and the Iced Tea Bourbon Smash (AU$17) with berry rooibos tea, limoncello and lemon juice was the perfect drink:

Pizza is one of the best things to order at The Boat Shed, and we also enjoyed takeaway pizzas for lunch the following day. Pictured is Ritchie's BBQ Bliss (AU$22), with semi-dried tomato, jalapeno, caramelised onion, mozzarella and house BBQ sauce:

Youngest chose the Chicken nuggets and Chips (AU$10):

Elder daughter ordered the Kids-sized Penne Bolognaise (AU$10):

Son ordered the Kids Cheese Burger and Chips (AU$10):

Hubby enjoyed the Lamb Taco (AU$22):

Our friend ordered the Tajima Rump Steak with creamy mushroom truffle sauce (AU$36):

Dinner

After we had a chance to unpack and settle into our cottages, we met up for dinner at The Boat Shed again. My son stayed with his friend's family the whole time we were at the resort, even for sleep, so we only saw him at meal times. It was a good arrangement, as it allowed the best friends to spend as much time as possible together. The kids ordered again from the kids menu, so their meals are not pictured in this section.

At the dinner meal, I indulged in an aperitif, and The Spring Thing (AU$17) with ink gin, limoncello, lemon juice and lavendar was refreshing and delicious:

Hubby went for the Woodfired Chicken Parma (AU$28) - generous serving size, and hubby enjoyed every bite:

Peruvian Ceviche (AU$16) with fish of the day, leche de tigre and tostados - I enjoyed this ceviche, and it was the perfect portion for my evening appetite: