The Road Trip - Chapter 2
Goulburn.
We admired the Big Merino in it's new home - thankfully my children didn't comment on the size or proportion of said Merino's testicles (obviously not a wether) - but then again, we're lucky they even noticed the damn thing, so totally unobservant are they. Miss M finally wondered aloud 'Haven't we seen that sheep before?..." like it's possible to forget The Big Merino once it's burned onto your retinas...
We sneakily parked in the trailer parking at Maccas, then skipped down the road to have a lovely lunch at the Goulburn bakery - pies and sandwiches and coffee. Real coffee... the first of many on the road, and one of the better ones, thankfully, or I may have turned around and headed home - the thought of a decaffeinated holiday too much to bear... And Miss O got to spill Strawberry Moove all over herself instead of chocolate shake. Twice. The child has inherited more than her fair share of my Latin genes and is incapable of speaking without waving her arms around.
Back on the road, DVD players working, peace and quiet reigned. For 50 minutes - the attention span of a 3 year old, as we have now discovered. Luckily the attention span of 8 and 10 year olds is much longer - especially when they have the entire series of Press Gang on DVD to keep them occupied - Thanks to Chesty for giving me the lowdown on where to get a good deal!
Heading south, the clouds were getting blacker and more ominous - not a good sign, not an auspicious way to start a camping holiday. "It's alright" think I, "It'll blow over" - and indeed it did, bathing us in glorious sunshine when we stopped to take photos of the Dog on the Tuckerbox (the Big Girls having received early Christmas prezzies of digital cameras from their grandparents). I may or may not have hit that manic phase of a car trip during which every sighting of the name 'Gundagai' prompted a rendition of 'The Road to Gundagai', or at least as much of it as I can remember.
Which isn't much, apparently.
This can get quite annoying. Apparently. According to MrB.
Pfft! He knew what he was letting himself in for...
On the road again... the clouds were back, and due to our delayed start in the morning, it was getting a little late - and Wangaratta seemed so far away. Trying to call the campsite, we discovered the problem that would plague us the entire trip - bloody mobile service. Or lack of it, as was the case. It wasn't until we were actually IN Albury that we managed to get any service - either Optus or Telstra. Major grrr-ing. And the irritation that I was feeling nearly stopped me from appreciating the Most Amazing Piece of Modern Infrastructure In The Country*, namely the Albury Bypass.
It was pretty amazing.
Although, I was interested (at the time, before I had been appraised of the Importance of the Bypass) (MrB having appreciated it's magnificence all by himself though) at the massive growth in industry in Albury since I was there last ... like 20 years ago... as a child ... who hadn't paid any attention to industry at the time...
Making knowledgeable comments about Stuff I know nothing about is what I was born to do...
Once we crossed the Murray into Victoria - having tried but failed to bring this to the attention of the Big Girls - they were too busy taking photos of each other's feet and nostrils - we felt that we were finally Getting Somewhere, finally on Holiday. It was quite exciting. As was the realisation that we were now driving on Good Roads. Bliss...
My love affair with Victoria ended pretty soon however - just down the road when we were threatened and intimidated by cross-looking Fruit Flies. MrB being the upstanding fellow that he is, insisted that we pull over and dispose of all our evil fruit-fly-infested goodies.
Me, being the anarchist that I am, tried to argue - citing the fact that I had seen many trucks laden with fruit passing and how come they got to take fruit into Victoria and we didn't? Hmmmm?
That didn't work, so instead I forced the family to eat as much of our fruit as they could, while standing in the rain in front of the big quarantine bin. Harumph.
Because yes, it was now raining. Oh the joy...
What started as light sprinkling as we were scoffing strawberries in Wodonga, turn just ever-so-slightly heavier as we got to Wangaratta. It did look pretty dry around there though, so we tried to be fair-minded about it. Which didn't last very long, as the prospect of putting up a tent, a brand new tent, in the pouring rain didn't appeal very much.
But we managed it - in spite of MrB losing his temper and pulling the ring out of one of the tent corners - and then we sat down to a damp dinner of sausages sandwiches cooked in the camp kitchen (and goodness me - haven't they changed since I went camping as a child? Microwaves? Kettles? Fridges? All the mod cons!!!). It wasn't exactly what I had planned for our first dinner on the road, but we coped. The we got little ones showered, and all had an early night. The first time that all 6 of us had been in the tent at the same time - a one-room tourer tent, the floor area completely covered with airbeds and sleeping bags - and everyone being told to "NOT TOUCH THE SIDES OF THE TENT' as it was now pouring...
I do believe a grrrr is in order here.
It wasn't the best night's sleep we ever had...
And it was still raining when we woke up, meaning we were faced with the problem of trying to pack up a sodden canvas tent and not do any damage.
To be Continued - next stop Melbourne (well Geelong, but let's not quibble)
*According to that renowned expert, Mr Fix.
We admired the Big Merino in it's new home - thankfully my children didn't comment on the size or proportion of said Merino's testicles (obviously not a wether) - but then again, we're lucky they even noticed the damn thing, so totally unobservant are they. Miss M finally wondered aloud 'Haven't we seen that sheep before?..." like it's possible to forget The Big Merino once it's burned onto your retinas...
We sneakily parked in the trailer parking at Maccas, then skipped down the road to have a lovely lunch at the Goulburn bakery - pies and sandwiches and coffee. Real coffee... the first of many on the road, and one of the better ones, thankfully, or I may have turned around and headed home - the thought of a decaffeinated holiday too much to bear... And Miss O got to spill Strawberry Moove all over herself instead of chocolate shake. Twice. The child has inherited more than her fair share of my Latin genes and is incapable of speaking without waving her arms around.
Back on the road, DVD players working, peace and quiet reigned. For 50 minutes - the attention span of a 3 year old, as we have now discovered. Luckily the attention span of 8 and 10 year olds is much longer - especially when they have the entire series of Press Gang on DVD to keep them occupied - Thanks to Chesty for giving me the lowdown on where to get a good deal!
Heading south, the clouds were getting blacker and more ominous - not a good sign, not an auspicious way to start a camping holiday. "It's alright" think I, "It'll blow over" - and indeed it did, bathing us in glorious sunshine when we stopped to take photos of the Dog on the Tuckerbox (the Big Girls having received early Christmas prezzies of digital cameras from their grandparents). I may or may not have hit that manic phase of a car trip during which every sighting of the name 'Gundagai' prompted a rendition of 'The Road to Gundagai', or at least as much of it as I can remember.
Which isn't much, apparently.
This can get quite annoying. Apparently. According to MrB.
Pfft! He knew what he was letting himself in for...
On the road again... the clouds were back, and due to our delayed start in the morning, it was getting a little late - and Wangaratta seemed so far away. Trying to call the campsite, we discovered the problem that would plague us the entire trip - bloody mobile service. Or lack of it, as was the case. It wasn't until we were actually IN Albury that we managed to get any service - either Optus or Telstra. Major grrr-ing. And the irritation that I was feeling nearly stopped me from appreciating the Most Amazing Piece of Modern Infrastructure In The Country*, namely the Albury Bypass.
It was pretty amazing.
Although, I was interested (at the time, before I had been appraised of the Importance of the Bypass) (MrB having appreciated it's magnificence all by himself though) at the massive growth in industry in Albury since I was there last ... like 20 years ago... as a child ... who hadn't paid any attention to industry at the time...
Making knowledgeable comments about Stuff I know nothing about is what I was born to do...
Once we crossed the Murray into Victoria - having tried but failed to bring this to the attention of the Big Girls - they were too busy taking photos of each other's feet and nostrils - we felt that we were finally Getting Somewhere, finally on Holiday. It was quite exciting. As was the realisation that we were now driving on Good Roads. Bliss...
My love affair with Victoria ended pretty soon however - just down the road when we were threatened and intimidated by cross-looking Fruit Flies. MrB being the upstanding fellow that he is, insisted that we pull over and dispose of all our evil fruit-fly-infested goodies.
Me, being the anarchist that I am, tried to argue - citing the fact that I had seen many trucks laden with fruit passing and how come they got to take fruit into Victoria and we didn't? Hmmmm?
That didn't work, so instead I forced the family to eat as much of our fruit as they could, while standing in the rain in front of the big quarantine bin. Harumph.
Because yes, it was now raining. Oh the joy...
What started as light sprinkling as we were scoffing strawberries in Wodonga, turn just ever-so-slightly heavier as we got to Wangaratta. It did look pretty dry around there though, so we tried to be fair-minded about it. Which didn't last very long, as the prospect of putting up a tent, a brand new tent, in the pouring rain didn't appeal very much.
But we managed it - in spite of MrB losing his temper and pulling the ring out of one of the tent corners - and then we sat down to a damp dinner of sausages sandwiches cooked in the camp kitchen (and goodness me - haven't they changed since I went camping as a child? Microwaves? Kettles? Fridges? All the mod cons!!!). It wasn't exactly what I had planned for our first dinner on the road, but we coped. The we got little ones showered, and all had an early night. The first time that all 6 of us had been in the tent at the same time - a one-room tourer tent, the floor area completely covered with airbeds and sleeping bags - and everyone being told to "NOT TOUCH THE SIDES OF THE TENT' as it was now pouring...
I do believe a grrrr is in order here.
It wasn't the best night's sleep we ever had...
And it was still raining when we woke up, meaning we were faced with the problem of trying to pack up a sodden canvas tent and not do any damage.
To be Continued - next stop Melbourne (well Geelong, but let's not quibble)
*According to that renowned expert, Mr Fix.
Labels: The Road Trip
posted by actonb at 11:35 am
4 Comments:
hee hee. My parents broke the umbrella that broke my windscreen by trying to put it up while it was wet....just as my mother was saying "Isn't there something about canvas not being as strong when it's wet....?" my dad poked two enormous holes in it with the umbrella struts.
We're going to drive on the Most Amazing Piece of Modern Infrastructure In The Country on the long weekend. I am going to make Mr Fix read your post too - I believe he will enjoy it.
My enduring memories of camping pretty much all involved being on the receiving end of the screech:
DON'T TOUCH THE SIDES OF THE TENT!!!! DON'T TOUCH THE SIDES OF THE TENT!!!!
Lucky I wasn't camping with you, I think is the moral of that story.
God you make me laugh actonb!
Sounds like a big adventure
What? Melbourne doesn't even count as a stop now?
Oh the outrage, etc
GW - I do hope you enjoy your jaunt along the MAPMIitC - it really is quite fabulous! As is Mr Fix and is boundless enthusiasm for public works.
TC - Good - you need to laugh - I'm thinking of you missy.
INC - Geelong is the STOP. But our brief but highly enjoyable visit with the Melb metro area is being described in the next post. So chill!
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