This post was written by Sharon, the winner in our Royal Easter Show competition thanks to Countrylink!

Saturday morning, after a much needed sleep in, we headed out once more. There is just so much to do in Sydney, that clearly we couldn’t do it all. But, a place to visit, if you are on a budget, is definitely The Powerhouse Museum. This is a great museum that is educational as well as fun and interactive. It is broken up into areas of interest, everything from The Wiggles Exhibit, to a student fashion design area, transport, technology, space, the list is endless! Once again, this was a place that could entertain my whole family for several hours!

First stop was The Wiggles Exhibit for our youngest. Having just seen the Wiggles at CEX earlier in the week, she was more than a little excited when she realised who we were seeing!  The history of the Wiggles, from their days as The Cockroaches through to today was interesting, and it was a very interactive area, so Molly had a ball!

There was Dorothy’s Rosy Cottage where you could have a tea party, there was colouring in on a BIG screen, you could make pictures and flowers, and you could dance along with the Wiggles everywhere. The last exciting part was sitting in the Big Red Car (an old one from the Dreamworld ride) to watch the Wiggles performing with all their friends.

Next we went and explored the scientific areas, looking at how electricity worked, how robots work, how electrons etc. work. I was a little lost in here but hubby and the almost teen had a ball!

Next were the Transport and Space areas. These are fun for the whole family. Mind you, seeing an old railway sign you remember seeing at the actual station as a kid, in a museum is a little bit depressing (I am sooooo old!!). The girls could explore the steam train, a space shuttle, they could push buttons, pull levers. Miss teen even had fun revisiting an old ride, the Penny Farthing!

Then came our almost teen’s favourite place, the Students Fashion Exhibit. Lots of different fashions to admire, and a table to design your own fashions should you want to. She did! While our little miss had a sleep, eldest sat & designed. Perhaps a fashion designer of the future? Well, maybe!

There are so many other places to explore. We spent a good part of the day here, before heading to the Darling Harbour play area. It has an awesome playground for kids and a water play park as well. Sadly though, the weather wasn’t our friend, so we headed instead to Paddy’s Markets. It’s a fascinating place, and certainly a place you could spend a lot of money! It’s a loud, crowded, bustling market place selling everything from food to jewellery to fashion and toys.

For our last night, we decided to go out on the town for Dinner. Just around the corner from the hotel was a yummy sounding Thai restaurant, Satang Thai. It was amazing! The service was quick and warm and friendly. They had a high chair for the little one, and chatted to her happily while we read through the menu. The food was served quickly and was simply delicious!

Our holiday was amazing! We had so much fun and got to spend time as a family doing things, just us. We don’t it nearly do this often enough, so we cherish these memories.

A BIG BIG BIG thank you has to go to Countrylink. Stephanie and Susan who helped us organise the trip in the 3 short days we had to do so were nothing short of fantastic! Even when our train home was delayed by 1.5 hours, the staff were fantastic giving us plenty of refreshments and making sure we were comfy waiting on the platform.

A BIG BIG BIG thank you also to Alison and Coffs for Kids for running such an amazing competition. This website is simply fantastic! I know as a Coffs parent, it’s the first place I look at when wondering what on earth I’m going to do with the kids, or if I need local info on anything kid related! Alison, you have done an amazing job building this website, and I am sure its success it a tribute to your hard work!

So, from my family, THANK YOU!!

This post was written by Sharon, the winner in our Royal Easter Show competition thanks to Countrylink!

We arrived at Olympic Park within 20 mins. I have to say the train service down there is so quick and easy! Again, it was just a short walk from the station to the entrance of the show. There were lots of helpful people just waiting to help point us in the right direction, give us maps or just say welcome!

We were buzzing. As we walked to the entrance you could hear the noise of the show, the sounds of excited voices, squeals of delight from ride goers, and at least a dozen different types of music. The atmosphere is electric, full of anticipation and excitement!

The first thing we saw was the 1D van! One very excited almost teen was hard to drag away from that particular stand! But, we headed out in search of the Sunday Telegraph animal walk. This is a walk, marked on the ground that takes you into each of the animal exhibits and give you a good overview of what is at the heart of the show. Our little miss, who was not feeling the best this day, had an absolute ball looking, touching, petting and talking to all the various animals.

They had plenty of activities along the way for the kids too, colouring in, digging, climbing on tractors. It was very hands on and very interactive!

While the littlest member of our family had a much needed nap in her pram, we headed into the Woolworths Food Dome. What an amazing place! The food displays from each NSW District was impressive!

We managed to eat enough to be counted as lunch and hubby and I had a few wine tastings too before heading into the craft displays. What an amazing array of things they have on display there. Crochet toys, photographs, scrapbooking pages, cakes, jams….it’s simply inspiring to go and have a look!

Then came time for the much anticipated rides! We headed to the Kids Carnival and the girls and I had a ball going on lots of different rides. I am surprised that they have a few thrill style rides for the little ones now as well as the old favourites.  But our little miss is clearly an adrenaline junkie and loved each and every ride!

After rides for the whole family, it bucketed down with rain! There was thunder, lightning and even some small hail! It was very exciting, but thankfully, although we all got soaked, it didn’t last long!

Next came the racing and diving pigs. This particular attraction has been running for many years, so I was excited to finally see the pigs in action! They raced around their little track and ran up a ramp and dived into the water, no fuss. They seemed to enjoy all the attention!

Our day was drawing to a close. We headed to the main arena, got some dinner and settled down to watch the Rodeo. Again, this was something the whole family enjoyed watching.  We relaxed and rested our VERY tired feet while the Aussie riders, including one from Mid North Coast, competed against a team from New Zealand. I am very happy to report a win for the Aussies that night!

The final stop was, of course the Showbag Pavilion. What a magical place! Anything and everything, and it comes in a bag! Toys, lollies, chocolate, chips, drinks, magazines….THIS is the place that sends families broke, and we were no exception! But, how often to you get to splurge in this way?! It’s fun, and they are pretty good value. Loaded up with several bags for each of our family, including Dora, Girlfriend, Lindt and Australian Womens Weekly bags, we very wearily set off back to our hotel for a long desired sleep in those very comfy beds!!

I can honestly say, it is very hard to find something we can do as a family that we all can enjoy. It’s one of the hassles of having an 11 year age gap between our girls. However, the Easter Show gave each and every one of us something to enjoy, something that made our day, and it was all things that we are a family to could do and enjoy together. It really was a great day out for all of us.

Thanks once again to Christie from Signing Bubs and Tots for this month’s sign

 – a very handy one “Toilet”.

This is the most useful sign I found to use before my kids could speak. It was very easy to teach and they caught on very quickly. It was fantastic for them to be able to communicate when they had finished eating! Also see below for the fantastic new book Christie has produced – this would make an excellent baby shower or newborn present!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!