Rest and recuperation ... The Mercure, which opened last year, is modern and clean.
Jane Reddy finds everything she needs for overnight respite from the road.
Our road trips to Adelaide have taken on an energy-sapping monotony.
A dawn departure is followed by breakfast at Ararat, then lunch at Bordertown, before that last push along the freeway past Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge and Mount Barker into the City of Churches.
This time, we're breaking the journey and the pretty Horsham pit stop in the Wimmera, 299 kilometres along the Western Highway, is elevated to overnight destination.
It's a break for the driver, while the two children in the back are young enough to be impressed by the idea of staying in a hotel. We have booked the four-and-a-half-star Mercure, opened late last year and suited to all types of travellers.
The property includes two two-bedroom apartments for up to five people; seven family rooms, which can accommodate a family of four; and the standard deluxe queen room.
Wi-fi is available in all rooms, with the first two hours free.
The Brasserie on Baillie seats up to 50 people, while the Wimmera Room is purpose-built for business meetings.
By the time we pull into the car park, we're in need of a feed.
The manager, true to his word, has kept the kitchen open for our late arrival and we order age-appropriate food; battered fish, baked potatoes and garlic bread.
Given our brief time at the hotel, we have chosen the family room and it has all we need.
It is modern, with neutral tones, heavy drapes, a queen-size bed, another single and, once the small dining table is pushed to the side, room for our youngest to doss.
The bathroom is clean, with glossy latte-coloured tiles and a large shower.
The children are still fighting over who gets to sleep on the roll-out bed by the time room service arrives with the carbohydrate comfort.
We fall into bed with full stomachs and flick through the channels on the LCD television, eight of them Austar.
Online reviews suggest the air brakes of passing trucks can be heard and I am vaguely aware of them in the night, despite the double-glazed windows. The lightest sleeper in our family does not stir and the remedy for those bothered by noise would be to request a room facing the car park.
We skip breakfast in the hotel because of an early start and cruise the streets in search of a decent coffee, breakfast and sweet bribes for later, which we find at Conway Pies.
At this time of day, there's much less whine and more time spent devoted to the world beyond our windows: the empty tennis courts, Masonic halls and war memorials of the small towns along the road.
The locust swarms are not of biblical proportion but the occasional flicking sound of an insect meeting its maker on our engine grill is still an education for our young city slickers. As are the school kids waiting by the road outside Dimboola for their bus and the mountains of grain in this wheat-growing district.
Those in the front are hankering to revisit the Grampians, climbing mecca Mount Arapiles and the native-plant specialist Wail Nursery, just out of town.
Next time, Horsham deserves more than one night.
VISITORS’ BOOK
The Mercure Horsham
Address 118 Baillie Street, Horsham.
Phone 5381 7555; see mercure.com.
Cost Deluxe queen rooms from $139 a night. Family rooms from $179 a night. Two-bedroom apartments from $239 a night.
Getting there Horsham is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive north-west of Melbourne on the Western Highway.
Summary Modern and comfortable accommodation ideal for a break in the journey.
Verdict 15.
The score: 19-20 excellent; 17-18 great; 15-16 good; 13-14 comfortable.
All weekends away are conducted anonymously and paid for by Traveller.
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