When I first read about Lillydale Farmstay, it sounded like the perfect choice and I could already imagine the look of euphoria on my girl. To have the chance to feed baby farm animals, milk cows, collect eggs, lake fishing, roast marshmallows, dance around a bonfire, ride a donkey, enjoy stunning views of nature, well, it already sounded like a dream come true.

About Lillydale
An authentic agri-cattle property nestled in the foothills of South East Queensland, Lillydale is one of the only two working farms located in the Scenic Rim region. It is a 90-minute drive from the Gold Coast airport and is nestled among beautiful natural scenery including Mount Barney, one of Queensland’s highest peaks.





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Meet the farm animals
The biggest highlights of our stay had to be the animal feeding sessions which took place at 8am and 4pm daily. Even if that meant that Angel had to wake up earlier than usual or that she would have to cut her nap short, you would be amazed by her sheer determination to get up every day just so she would not let her newfound friends go hungry.
In fact, Bec said that Angel was so lucky to be able to execute all the feedings alone since there were no other guests, so much so that on the second day, she had become a pro and would even remember the animals' names and the sequence of the feedings.





Meet Hoppy, the jovial joey. Not a kangaroo, but a wallaby. He became good friends with Angel and would surprise us by jumping out from behind trees.

Quack quack! Yes, that's a duck and I was surprised that my girl wanted to try carrying it. She did it quite well, didn't she?


Oh, guess what was Angel's favorite animal on the farm? Well, it was Raxi, one of the cutest dogs we have ever seen. He would laze with us under a tree, run in the fields with the girl and she absolutely adored him. In fact, from time to time now, she still looks at me and says "Mummy, I miss Raxi, you know?" Awww.





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Exploring the area
When we were not with the animals, we also found an array of activities to keep us occupied.










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Giddyup! Let's ride!
Once again, Angel had the chance to go on a pony ride. Although she had already done this umpteen times, each one never failed to light up her face and make her feel like the happiest child in the world.




For some reason, Angel bawled like a baby when I went for the horse ride even though we had told her earlier. To the extent that the owners were afraid she was going to scare the horses and I would risk falling off Big Red. Well, I guess perhaps she was thinking that Mummy was galloping away and not coming back?
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The perfect ending
On our last night, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. By the way, the hubby can roast really delicious marshmallows, caramelized and golden on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside. Yummy! I braved the leaping flames to try too but ended up burning my marshmallows.


Big thanks to Lillydale and our hosts for the awesome experience and memories!
This is Part I of our holiday in Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. More write-ups and pictures to come, stay tuned!
Disclosure: We were kindly sponsored two nights accommodation by Lillydale Farmstay. No monetary compensation was received and all opinions are my own.