The Travel Journal

Merry Christmas loyal readers! The year has certainly crept up on all of us, and the years seem to fly by quicker and quicker with every rotation around the sun. This year I’ve had to make my own adventure and find joy in situations that the past me would rather run from. I’ve come out stronger than I ever thought I would, and I’m really proud of myself for overcoming challenges I would usually ignore. This life is about living, not just surviving. So for a little Christmas treat, my family and I went out to Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas Lights Spectacular! I haven’t been in ages, and bringing back some childhood wonder is just what I needed this year.

Hunter Valley Gardens has been a visitor hotspot since 2003, now encompassing 14 hectares of land. It took 4 years and numerous dedicated gardeners to complete, but Hunter Valley Gardens is now the great attraction we see today. Jump ahead to 2016, when Hunter Valley Gardens partnered with Eluminate Creative for the first Christmas Lights Spectacular display. What started as a display of 1 million lights, has grown to 4 million with this year’s event! Eluminate has also partnered with Hunter Valley Gardens on other projects since their first Christmas Lights display, including their Mega Creatures events and Snow Time in the Gardens. Let’s hope there’s more to come from this brilliant partnership!

Now, of course you would expect a popular Christmas event to be busy and crowded only a few days away from Christmas. It just makes sense. What I didn’t expect, however, was the lineup leading many many… MANY metres away from the actual entry building. We were in line for several minutes, and we still had to wait for my brother and his partner in line as well since they arrived after us. But once we finally had our tickets scanned and walked through the doors, it was almost magical!

Everything was so colourful. And bright. And festive. I haven’t really been feeling the Christmas Spirit this year at all. It seems like the year has gone by too fast for it to even feel like December. But as soon as I saw the lights, that all changed. It finally felt like Christmas for me! It also helped that we were all together as a family. My brother and his partner moved out over a year ago now, so I don’t get to see them very often at all. But seeing these lights together as a family felt like a Christmas miracle. I’m sure others were thinking the same thing since there were so many families together, and SO MANY kids.

As we were walking around I noticed there were quite a few themes to the lights as well. Obviously there were the classic baubles, bells and presents. But there were also Australian-themed Christmas displays, like kangaroos pulling Santa’s sleigh instead of reindeer. There were mushrooms, fairies and butterflies in the classic Story Book Garden, and we can’t forget the famous Christmas characters like the Grinch, Gingerbread Man, and Mr and Mrs Claus! The team really went all out for this year’s Christmas Lights Spectacular, and it definitely shows.

Now it is a lights display, but they had much much more! There was a whole row of food stalls to choose from depending on your sweet or savoury cravings. They also had several rides with varying levels of screams from each one. And let’s not forget the Santa photos! I tried to convince my brother to get one with me for nostalgia, and he was almost on board until we saw the line. Lucky for us there were plenty of other photo opportunities with the lights, so we got one in front of Santa playing cricket instead. Plus, this photo was free! Well if you don’t count the entry fee to the gardens… My family and I had a lot of fun taking photos with all the lights, and it makes me really happy to know that I’m not as scared of cameras as I was before. My anxiety has really improved this year and I honestly believe it’s because of this blog and putting myself out there. Plus my brother’s girlfriend is a great hype woman behind the camera! As much as she is tease.

I haven’t been to the Christmas Lights Spectacular in quite some time, let alone Hunter Valley Gardens. This was the perfect way to celebrate Christmas this year with all the craziness and unorganised mess that’s been thrown our way. To be honest, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea for someone with epilepsy to be walking around a lights display, but I still enjoyed myself and nothing went wrong. So, there’s only one thing to say now. Bring it on 2025!