Greetings all,
Road trips . . . with 4 children . . . they have never frightened me, even driving on my own, i just go. My guys are brilliant 90% of the trip. The first time i did the Pacific Highway drive from Sydney to Brisbane alone was 6 years ago, with a breast fed baby boy & 3 little girls, it was such a nice easy run dotted with road side wee stops in sugar cane fields (sorry sugar lovers). Have to say, things haven't changed much with the wee stops!! Travelling with young children on your own does look at tad like you're fleeing your husband or worse, i told one hotel receptionist i was visiting my husband interstate & she asked "is he in prison??"
We don't have DVD players, electronic gadgets or hand held things-which-go-beep, my guys have to read, do hand craft, draw or . . . talk & interact with each other pleasantly for car trip entertainment. We're positively Amish - even my son has been doing car embroidery since he was 4 & most recently, finger crochet. I have never put children's music on in the car, just left the radio on our station & load up the iPod with music. Thanks to Rihanna, Avril, Veronicas, P!nk, Ke$ha, Brittany, Madonna & Kylie - our car was rocking along (clean versions of songs of course). See how cool i am that i know it's P!NK & KE$HA?? Brittany is so damn catchy, even my high schooler pleaded for me to stop singing for 500km.
We don't have DVD players, electronic gadgets or hand held things-which-go-beep, my guys have to read, do hand craft, draw or . . . talk & interact with each other pleasantly for car trip entertainment. We're positively Amish - even my son has been doing car embroidery since he was 4 & most recently, finger crochet. I have never put children's music on in the car, just left the radio on our station & load up the iPod with music. Thanks to Rihanna, Avril, Veronicas, P!nk, Ke$ha, Brittany, Madonna & Kylie - our car was rocking along (clean versions of songs of course). See how cool i am that i know it's P!NK & KE$HA?? Brittany is so damn catchy, even my high schooler pleaded for me to stop singing for 500km.
My husband drove up yippee, but i was banished from car craft sigh & surprisingly he wouldn't slow down so i could take a close up shot of the koala fencing - see how the vertical posts don't go the whole way to the top to support the mesh - this stops koalas from climbing over to become road kill. Clever!!
This is for possums to cross high above the road, although our children desperately wanted to give it a go, like an obstacle course or something Bear Grylls would use to get across a raging river in a gully/ zooming cars on a highway.
Road trips should only include sandwiches, fruit, cheese & crackers, i'm quite the healthy bore when packing car snacks/ lunches - why give children sugar & hyper-inducing-junk when they have to sit still?? Junk is expensive & messy + my children can't open chip or biscuit packets (really, they can't, they fail at opening yoghurt containers too). Anyway, i did sneak in these freckles from the roadside fruit stall in Macksville NSW, between 6 of us, we got a few chocolate+100s&1000s magic each. Look everyone, affordable bananas!!
The Pacific Highway bypasses most towns now, blink & you miss the view of Byron Bay.
Before you know it, you're in Brisbane!!
Still trying to get the dream photo of our 4 children, all looking happy, natural, prefectly dressed, hair, background, lighting & of course, completely unposed & candid!! This is Queen's Beach in Moreton Bay QLD, zero surf.
When my husband drives, he's focused & determined, A to B in a set time, robot!! Me, i'm like "oh hey, check out this sign, Emerald Beach, looks nice, let's stop here for a swim in our clothes". I'm hardly bohemian but trust me, a good 45 minute play in a park or swim in the ocean "at a real surf beach" will buy you a good 4 hours of exhausted silence in the car.
Beaches in Winter = freezing, it didn't stop them from diving in. Children have a different thermestat to adults. No idea why i didn't pack bikinis, i know them well enough that they'll swim at every opportunity?? Clever me kept fresh towels in the car & dry knickers. I also ordered "no one tell me you're itchy from the salt water or this is our last beach stop!!"
Bless her drowned-rat heart, she was blue in the lips but when i mentioned wrapping up into a towel & getting ready to leave, she ran right back out into the surf again. So glad i stopped here on the way back (one beach north of Coffs Harbour NSW) as the rest of the trip was in torrential rain & zero visibility, i even aqua planed & was very grateful for the world's best tyres on my 4WD. If Yokahama would like to pay for my next 5 Geolanders, i'd be thrilled to do a fascinating blog post on them - truth is, we still need a couple more new tyres but they washed away in the Tsunami in Japan.
I can not wait to go back up in Summer, this was so much fun & i allow a good 2 full days to do the 1300km trip each way from Canberra to Brisbane, i'm not trying to be a hero on the road. I also swap between going inland & coastal. Don't get my started on P Platers zooming past me. Idiots!! Happy road tripping people, love Posie
