The Trip to Deniliquin.
Today I was thankful that we flew to Melbourne. We woke up after having a nice sleep in at around 8:30am. We kept the morning nice and leisurely, as we are on holiday. Then, at around 11:00am we packed up our gear ready for the trip to Deniliquin. It is about 300km from Melbourne to Deniliquin, and for a normal journey should take about 3 hours. We managed to do it in 5.
We decided early on in the journey that we'd stop and get coffee and something to eat. We chose the Airport West Shopping Mall, which I used to frequent as a child. Its changed a lot since then, but we still managed to eat close to where I used to play Space Invaders during my mispent youth. Ah, memories. Sadly, the machine is no longer there.
The journey up through Victoria is quite direct. It is mainly freeways or main country roads, with minimal stoppages except for some of the country towns you pass through. The three boys were in the back, and Callum decided to start screaming about 20km out of Melbourne. Fortunately, it only lasted about 15 minutes before he fell asleep, so we had a reasonably quiet time through to Heathcote, about an two and a half hours into the drive. It was there that I decided that if I kept driving, I'd fall asleep, so we did a quick changeover, during which Callum woke up. Its hard to sleep with a baby sitting in the back going "Waaah", not consistently, but randomly every few minutes.
About half an hour later at Elmore, we changed over again, and this time had a toilet break. We struggled on, through Rochester, then to Echuca, eating chocolate and potato chips in the car to help stem our obvious food cravings! So, we were in the final stretch from Echuca to Deniliquin, and Callum had again fallen asleep after half an hour of screeching. As we were just about to hit Mathoura, some 20 minutes from the destination, Aidan piped up with "I need to go to the Toilet". We asked if he could wait. No. So we pulled up. Callum woke up. The public toilets there were nothing short of foul. I'd love to know why car trips with children always become a grand tour of public conveniences throughout the country. Aidan didn't really need to go, and then attempted to jump in the front seat of the car. Callum started screaming. Finally, we got rearranged back into the car and made that final jump to Deni to the grandparents.
You know, its not the destination, its the journey. All the more reason for flying rather than driving from Brisbane to Melbourne. Five hours was enough to prove to me that forty eight hours travel would have had Anth and I ripping the skin from our faces off! Its nice to be at Mama's and Grandad's house!
Ciao for Now, Travellin' Angry Dad.
We decided early on in the journey that we'd stop and get coffee and something to eat. We chose the Airport West Shopping Mall, which I used to frequent as a child. Its changed a lot since then, but we still managed to eat close to where I used to play Space Invaders during my mispent youth. Ah, memories. Sadly, the machine is no longer there.
The journey up through Victoria is quite direct. It is mainly freeways or main country roads, with minimal stoppages except for some of the country towns you pass through. The three boys were in the back, and Callum decided to start screaming about 20km out of Melbourne. Fortunately, it only lasted about 15 minutes before he fell asleep, so we had a reasonably quiet time through to Heathcote, about an two and a half hours into the drive. It was there that I decided that if I kept driving, I'd fall asleep, so we did a quick changeover, during which Callum woke up. Its hard to sleep with a baby sitting in the back going "Waaah", not consistently, but randomly every few minutes.
About half an hour later at Elmore, we changed over again, and this time had a toilet break. We struggled on, through Rochester, then to Echuca, eating chocolate and potato chips in the car to help stem our obvious food cravings! So, we were in the final stretch from Echuca to Deniliquin, and Callum had again fallen asleep after half an hour of screeching. As we were just about to hit Mathoura, some 20 minutes from the destination, Aidan piped up with "I need to go to the Toilet". We asked if he could wait. No. So we pulled up. Callum woke up. The public toilets there were nothing short of foul. I'd love to know why car trips with children always become a grand tour of public conveniences throughout the country. Aidan didn't really need to go, and then attempted to jump in the front seat of the car. Callum started screaming. Finally, we got rearranged back into the car and made that final jump to Deni to the grandparents.
You know, its not the destination, its the journey. All the more reason for flying rather than driving from Brisbane to Melbourne. Five hours was enough to prove to me that forty eight hours travel would have had Anth and I ripping the skin from our faces off! Its nice to be at Mama's and Grandad's house!
Ciao for Now, Travellin' Angry Dad.
posted by Wes at 9:39 pm
1 Comments:
I can so appreciate a screaming kid in the car. When Char was a baby (until she was about 2) she would always scream in the car (when most kids fall asleep) and then (it never failed) she would finally sleep with only 30 min or less in the trip.
I just bought my ticket to Charleston (one way). At the end of my trip I will drive to NC and visit the family and then drive back with Den and the kids (and he wants to drive it straight - a solid 21 hour drive)....ugh
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