Millamolong Polo Carnival 2014

Sorry for the delay on this post, our trip to Melbourne and now Orange F.O.O.D Week have kept me away from the blog. 

Anyway, without further ado, here is a recap of our fantastic day out at Millamolong Polo on March 15th.

We love this event so much that we now just book in a tent every year to avoid disappointment. 

Me setting up our Primrose Tent

The view from our tent

The 2014 Millamolong Polo Carnival didn't disappoint with the day including a mix of fast action polo, entertaining polo on bikes along with the race between horse and car.

Despite the fact we have attended the polo for three years in a row now, we still haven't got a firm grasp on the rules, but that doesn't seem to matter.

Everyone just cheers whenever goal is scored and gets into the spirit, especially when the horses fly past.

We had a blast stomping the divets, enjoying the gorgeous country setting and indulging in plenty of good food and wine.

The very trendy VIP area

Beautifully themed

Our friends  Sarah & Doug joined us from Sydney and Sarah took some of these fabulous photos.

Sarah & Doug

Mr L'Orange and I spent the evening before preparing food for the big day, we made Isaraeli couscous salads, one with lemon chicken, apricots & almonds and the other with pumpkin, zucchini and chorizo.

The noodle boxes were a big hit and tasted delish (lucky, considering we had never made the recipe before) and all the brownies got polished off in record time!

We only managed to leave one course in the oven, luckily some other friends joining us saved the day and picked them up en route. Big thanks to Debs and John!

Doug's favourite wine

The prizes 

If our tent looked like this no one would be able to get up!

Rustic barrels

Another fantastic polo carnival at Millamolong - who is coming to the next one with us?

Polo Carnival at Millamolong - 2013

We had an amazing day at Millamolong last week, we had heaps of food, a lovely marquee area and perfect viewing of the polo. 

Everyone embraced the whole country day out and I have to say there were some rather gorgeous outfits on show.

We were very lucky with the weather and only one couple got completely lost en route this year which was a pretty amazing result given the entire event is in the middle of nowhere.

Be warned, it is a bit of a drive to get there, nut so pretty when you come down the drive way into Millamolong.

The polo teams getting ready for another chukka.

We settled in with coffees, the weekend papers and gourmet sandwiches and patises Mr L'Orange and I had been busy making the night before. It was very exciting every time the horses galloped past and we all really got into the polo - it is certainly an all action sport.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, even the ids as the entire event is very kid friendly.

We brought along a bbq and had gourmet sausage sandwiches in the afternoon plus plates of cheeses, meats and nibbles during the day - we slightly over catered!

We finished up by watching the car versus horse race in which the horse seemed to do very well however the car, who also happened to be the major sponsor, won on the day! 

Make sure you book a tent for next year - we'll see you there.

Millamolong Polo Carnival 2013

My country style outfit is at the ready (jeans, boots and nice top!), we have a fabulous picnic menu planned, transport is organised and lots of friends are coming to stay because we are off to the Millamolong Polo Carnival this Saturday!

This year we have booked a marquee and are taking a bbq so we have delicious hot food cooked to order throughout the day - by one of the men! I have also made a few yummy platters to keep everyone sustained whilst beverages are consumed during polo play.

To get a feel for the polo, check out this video of the Millamolong Polo Carnival action.

I'm expecting pretty much the same level of horse and strapping men excitement as prior years just with more friends joining us for a great day out. If you are at a loose end this weekend then head out to Millamolong, there is a bar and food tents there so you can just turn up and enjoy.

Post polo everyone is headed back to our place for some curries and more drinks - roll on the weekend I say! Dog A L'Orange will be left home alone all day so we hope there won't be too much garden destruction upon return. 

Our cunning plan is to take him on a long exhausting walk in the morning and then leave him with some big frozen bones to chew. Will tell you all about it next week!

Millamolong Polo Carnival 2012

Wow, what a day! We got brilliant sunshine, great company, lovely food (we did bring it ourselves!), galloping horses, sexy men (also brought these ourselves) and superb activites. The Millamolong Polo Carnival is an awesome annual event and if you missed out, you definitely need to make the effort next year.

This year, we arrived on time and spent a relaxing morning on our rugs and blankets enjoying the sunshine and browsing the Sydney Morning Herald (provided with our tent - how thoughtful).

As more friends arrived, our food spread grew and we scored a whole heap of chairs from the lovely Ellie so we could avoid the unsightly struggle of trying to get up off the rug in skinny jeans and boots.

The Primrose Tent Crew

We slowly got the gist of the polo rules and loved the commentator who had us in stitches for most of the day.  Mr L'Orange even ended up walking away with a used polo ball. 

Mr L'Orange watching the action

Beer and wine flowed as we watched the different games and mingled with guests from other tents. In the race between the horse, the volvo and the helicopter at the end of the tournament, the horse stormed across the finish line.

Best plate of the day

The Millamolong organising team have thought of everything, they have created a VIP tent, large kid's activity area to keep the little nippers amused plus everything you could want to eat and drink on a day out. There are tents set up with hay bales for various groups and families to hire with drink cooler bags delivered to the tents by quad bike.

Winkie the Wonder Horse

We all headed home completely relaxed and refreshed after a beautiful day out that we know is going to be even bigger and better next year.

A Spot of Polo Darling?

Mr L'Orange and I spent our entire Easter weekend painting and flooring 'the Cabin' but do have some fun to look forward to  in the form of the Millamolong Polo Canival.

Having missed almost the entire thing last year (see here for the full saga), we are doing things properly this time around and we are hiring a tent and rounding up a big group of friends to join us - want to come?

The big event takes place on Sat 5th May and is pretty much a full day of good food, wine, horses and attractive polo players. It is also a bit of a last fandango before the colder weather set in and the people of Orange go into hibernation.

Everyone in our tent is going to bring a plate of food and then buy drinks from the bar so it is all nice and easy. All we need is  a bit of sunshine and it is going to be a brilliant day.

Any suggestions for a stand out 'picnic plate' I could make?

A Day At The Polo

We headed out to the Millamolong Polo Carnival today for a spot of horse action in the beautiful countryside. Unfortunately our phone map sent us on the long route to get there, although the drive was stunning, it took ages and we made lots of wrong turns!

Just as we arrived, the polo match finished (so our luck) but we still got to see the horses strutting their stuff and better still the polo players doing much the same. We also saw the rather hilarious lolly drop which was supposed to be by helicopter but to ensure safety measures were complied with, the helicopter had to keep landing to dump the lollies.

None of the kids had a clue what was going on so were all running excitedly towards the helicopter blades - total mahem ensued with the event organisers and parents trying to grab all the kids. Whilst a serious situation, it was pretty amusing from the onlooker perspective.

Next up for enterntainment were all the horses galloping down the polo pitch and then racing a car over a course. Not too surprisingly, the car won but was all good fun to watch over a glass of bubbles and a beer.

The polo pitch was lined with tents where groups of friends could bring their picnic and drinks to watch the entertainment. We decided that we are definitely going to get a tent, a gang of friends and come earlier next year, the atmosphere was great. To make the event eve better, the sun was shining, there were blue skies as far as the eye could see and perfect autumn weather.

We got some striking pictures on the drive home, where we got lost just twice - more signs next year please organisers!