 Mark Sheehan makes his living ‘on the road’, which finds him either at 35, 000 feet or in a city far-removed from his family. So where does the maestro of TravMedia & Holidaysonsale.com hop-along-to when he wants to put the ribbons on a family friendly getaway?
Defiantly! It’s the Dooralong Valley Resort.
Just up the road ‘a bit’ from our home-base in the Northern Beaches, I and my clan have uncovered the perfect re-grouping for the troops in The Dooralong Valley Resort.
With over 350 acres of mother nature on display, horseback riding & hayrides, canoes, aqua-golf, nature trails, plural pools and beach volleyball all on call, it’s the perfect retreat for road-weary corporate warriors as well as the rest of the less-traveled troops who haven’t laid eyes on the old man for a while.
After more than 20 years of married life, it’s my magnificent wife who has carefully reconnoitered and crafted many magnificent family retreats. Many of which don’t require much more planning than tossing a few overnight items into the boot of the family people mover. I‘ve drawn an emotional line in the sand these days, proclaiming that family holidays are fantastic, provided they do not require me to take off my shoes and belt, or pass through an airport metal detector, or present my passport.
 The Dooralong Valley Resort fits the profile perfectly.
There is plenty to love about the place, and with only an hour or so in the car together, we arrive almost, almost, before the first ‘are we there yet?’ has been launched from the bowels of back seat.
The Decompression starts at Dooralong’s front doorstep.
On arrival I’m asked to turn over my credit card details and our car keys. “You’ll not be going anywhere that way!” says the lovely lass at reception, who has just pro-offered advice to my off-spring on which bicycles she likes to use in to-ing and fro-ing around the farmstead.
It doesn’t get any easier than this. Our bags, mid-night snacks, spare sporting gear, skateboards, game boys, walkmans, cosmetics kits and all the other youthful necessities are tenderly toted and transported to our ‘cabin’ by the likable Resort’s staff.
So, from the moment we arrived, until the time we departed we were doing things differently- and definitely not driving. The resort has an entire stable of bikes, lined up like a pearl necklace: I selected a handsome blue beauty with skinny tires. The kids went for low-riders, and my beautiful Bridget went all-out with a fat-tired fire engine beachy-type red- rider. Families, who frequent the place often, bring their own bikes and trikes and…well, some tote trailers full! When I asked one of our nestled-in-the-woods neighbors how many weeks he was intending to stay, he smiled brightly, and informed me his troop movement was only for the 3-day-long weekend.
 What normally happens after checking in with many of our other weekends away is near-cookie-cutter behavior. We, the adults decompress, holed-up inside a good book or splayed-out with the weekend newspapers at water’s edge, while our kids get cut loose to sample the activities on offer: dead wrong at Dooralong!
Our three children, ranging in ages from 6 to 16 ‘recruited us’ for canoe races on the lake (from which I narrowly escaped capsizing – “don’t worry dad”, they’re unsinkable) having been duly drenched during a raging on-water battle of splashing paddles. My entire family was drenched to the bone and loving, laughing and splashing every minute of it. And we did it all together as a family.
Bridget and I knew we were into something special when we were then invited to play tennis and beach volleyball with our off-spring. Invited by our children to play along - the very two teen-aged male ‘dudes’ who during school-times ask us to drop them around the corner from classes? I only just the day before was forced to pretend to be a perfect stranger when I and my son collided with his compatriots at the local Mall.
I hit tennis balls galore, spiked a few of my very best at beach volleyball and was outdone on more than one athletic occasion by all my own off-spring.
The bunk house or barn, on the property is also home-base to pool tables and ping pong (still after 20 years or marriage I continue to be beaten by Bridget. I’m considering covert lesions by a world chap for the next visit.
 The Lodge itself is very tastefully done in rustic rural detailing and historically enlightening wall hangings. Under the cathedral ceilings and exposed beams of the restaurant, the staff boast as host to a bountiful breakfast buffet. Meals are included in many of the Lodges’ special package, so you never have to enter the outside world during your Dooralong weekend.
And, if “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” the staff seem set and ready to extend themselves to cover all the bases. My family is very fussy around our breakfast table, with this one needing very crispy bacon by the buffalo-load, while another prefers fresh fruit planted just right on the insides of her pancakes, ‘Sunnyside eggs up and over easy, and still other culinary requirements so we can ‘light out’ on the right foot around the farmstead. Yet no call to action for the kitchen staff went unheeded. Oh yea, Don’t Expect to Loose Weight at Dooralong. I think they’ve take a page of the American way of doing the menu portions.
For over 30 years, I’ve been told hitting the little white ball into the water was a no-no. And yet in the Dooralong Valley, the locals were downright encouraging. We all adored the ‘aqua golf! It’s a simple concept really; you practice the art of intentionally driving golf balls into the lake! Our new-found female activities director at the front desk gave us a few buckets of floating white balls to wail away on. The object of ‘aqua golf is to hit the little white darlings by the bucket load, into the mouth of a smiling, gigantic (until you try to hit it with a golf ball) green frog, anchored in the center of a lake. My son Dylan Thomas provided numerous warts to the already green guy, while I was doomed to miss the target completely. Another reason for a return visit – I want another shot at that frog!
 We moved effortlessly around the massive grounds between spiking volleyballs, the two pools, table tennis and trail riding. We photographed each other springing onto steeds with names like “hurricane” and “tornado”.
Names we changed for the fun of it to “Humane” and “Tomato”. The riding by the by, received rave reviews and the mounts can be catered for depending on level of proficiency; I’d asked for one with training wheels, en route to the gluery and was pleasantly and perfectly matched to my mount. Slow and sure-footed as my troops trotted and cantered and gallivanted around the place.
The dinner menu boasted something for everyone, and if you’re daring, you’ll try-on the “side” (more like both sides) of ribs which presents what seems like half-a-hog or something from those Fred & Wilma’s Flintstones’ flicks. There is fresh fish, a well-balanced and finance-friendly kids’ menu, and I’m told (although not a wine drinker) the selection in this arena is also well worth attention.
I’m going to try Dooralong again soon. Only this time around, I’ll be seeing if I get the same magic happening as a corporate conference and training venue. The real roots of the Dooralong Valley Lodge. I’m betting my own staff and team will hop along to Dooralong Valley Lodge and be equally astonished about what they uncover…less that two hours from the center of our own city of Sydney.
 Other tidbits about the place:
From wo-to-go this property can plan and run conferences and motivational getaways that cater for from 4 to 40 and beyond, and judging from past reviews, I think they’ve got their bread very well buttered for the corporate conference crowd.
Most of the cabins have fireplaces, and kindling has already been pre-picked and ready for use. I took the opportunity to enlighten my daughter in the fine art of fire-starting-from-scratch, which she duplicated on day two, as I proudly observed...making a perfect place for roasting our over-sized marshmallows.
The cabins and rooms in the Main Lodge feature phones, refrigerators, coffee-makers and numerous other creature comforts. The cabins and rooms also feature televisions and radio alarm clocks; neither of which were tested by my troops during our stay & play getaway at Dooralong Valley Resort.
The resort is also home to a full-on country-type pub on the property.
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