This resort, better described as an out of the way retreat, or off-the-highway work conference…read moregetaway, is, actually, really quite nice. The Rydges Eagle Hawk Resort is situated just over the NSW border from Canberra. It's on the right heading north, taking the Eagle Hill exit, then right onto the overpass, right after the overpass and should be pretty hard to miss. Ambience **** Australiana, meet sophistication. I love the smell of eucalypt getting sunburnt in summertime, and it's not amiss here. If you want to stay somewhere wild and safe at the same time in the outskirts of the ACT, this is pretty much it. In the first of five days, we saw a handful of wallabies, a baby blue tongue, blue wrens, and bunnies. At the same time, the hotel and it's rooms are nigh perfect. I've stayed at some dodgy Rydges in my time, but this one is pretty top notch. It's most certainly family friendly with a pool and playground, and worker bee friendly with wifi in the main building, and a gym. If you're 'getting away' from the office, there are conference rooms and well set up restaurants and bars. They can pretty much cater anything out here, and it'd be worth your while to ask. Service **** I've only two gripes so far (we're on day 2 of 5). First, that we had to ask twice for an extra pillow (we both like sleeping on two, and while there's a spare in the room, we really missed the other one), and secondly, there's a $5.00 tray charge for room service. Not keen on that, even though when you look at the pics you'll see why - the rooms are huddled into groups of 4 in little buildings a way from the reception/ main building. The concierges are really friendly and willing to do anything you ask - if they remember - and the bar and restaurant staff at the Wintergarden restaurant are equally as attentive. Nathan comes to mind, who was particularly memorable as quick on the floor checking on guests' needs. Housekeeping is on the ball, almost to a fault as they were early coming round to clean rooms - I thought checkouts are 10am but I'm almost 100% our door was knocked on before then for a refresh. Not a problem as we were heading out anyway, and it was nice to know they were definitely doing the rounds. Accommodation **** The room we're in is a double, and looks really nice; clean, relatively new furniture, full tea and coffee facilities, flatscreen (with lame-o channels), air conditioning, an iron, extra blanket, etc. The towel to rail ratio is, as usual, under for towels, and if you're a lady with a man, you'll need to ask for an extra towel for your hair. Which housekeeping will take away, even though you've followed the instructions to indicate you want to keep it (trying to 'be green' and all). I was disappointed to find we are without a bathtub (don't have one at home, and LOVE a good bath). And I almost forgot, the showerhead. Oh, mercy! I could not stop laughing when I saw hubby using the shower. If you're 5'4 (165cm) or shorter, you'll be fine. Hubby isn't, and the showerhead comes to eyebrow height, meaning he needs to duck to wash his hair. I had a good chuckle at that. Food & Drink **** I loathe the sight of 'beer battered barramundi' on a menu. It's the first sign to me that a kitchen orders 'fresh frozen' food - I've been there, done that too many times and know better. Same goes for any kind of chicken wrapped in prosciutto - to me it just shows a lack of creativity whether by budgeting constraints or lack of patrons. On the other hand, the Eagle Hawk burger and the Hawk pizza were a welcome bit of difference. The burger is typical 'Aussie' with an egg, and beetroot, and the pizza is a spicy affair with chorizo and jalapenos. I'm yet to try the desserts, but I want to, and I'm hoping they're not bought in. I had the grilled chicken pizza, and the garlic and oregano on that was perfect, the garlic sliced thickly and char-black and sticky at the same time, the oregano just enough to give it that real earthy kick. The hotel has promos for each night of the week - Fridays are 2 for 1 pizzas, Saturdays are $7.50 cocktails, and the rest are a blur. I can't wait to hit the bar tomorrow to test the bar tender's cocktailian mettle. Additional This Rydges is technically far out of Canberra, but in saying that, it's really only a 10-15 minute drive, depending on traffic, and you don't have to change lanes or follow directions to get to the city centre. It's nice to get out of the city anyway, and with service and facilities like this for the price, it's definitely worth it!

My partner and I enjoyed a relaxing meal at the Wintergarden Restaurant…read more The atmosphere was quiet and relaxing, the hostess was lovely. I had the Atlantic Salmon with salad and chips - amazing! Huge plate, 2 large steaks of salmon. Salmon was juicy, the salad was fresh and crisp and the chips were beautiful. My partner had a Beef Burger with chips and said it was delicious. The salmon was the nights special, so with the burger, an entree of spring rolls and 2 glasses of soft drink it came to a surprisingly cheap $50. Would come here again!

The bathroom smelt like absolute shit. The food that was served to us was uncooked and not good…read more The scrambled eggs was a chunky watery sludge that wanted to make me throw up, in addition the bathroom wasn't clean. There was pubic hair left in the bathtub, and on the beds there was secret spots with hair. Our whole room smelt like the bathroom, we could barely even take a crap, let alone shower. Some of the beds were creaky making it hard to sleep.

Nice foyer/reception area and garden surrounds. Rooms are getting a little tired with the bathroom…read moretiles painted but paint coming off - not the best way to remodel a bathroom. Beds very soft for my liking. The configuration of the resort is spread out with the rooms in single level groups of 6-8 rooms linked by covered walkways. Very convenient if you have difficulty with stairs as you can park close to your room. There is a swimming pool (outdoor), gym and sauna area although we did not make use of these on this occasion. Breakfast deal is ok with the usual selection of hot options, cereals, but only tinned fruit rather than fresh fruit salad available. There was fresh whole fruit though - apples/oranges etc. Espresso coffee included as the brewed coffee device was out of service (hooray!). Nice surrounds with a number of kangaroos out feasting on the grasses around the resort at dusk. A good place to stay for the price if you have a larger group - would also be good for kids as there is plenty of room with the resort style environment, its far enough away from the road that the traffic shouldn't keep you up at night, and the price seems right. Just keep in mind this is situated several km out of town, so not exactly stumbling distance if you wish to have a tipple.