We made it to day 3!!!!

Wow! 1300kms in 3 days and we are all still happy and the kids are still semi sane. it feels like we have been away for ages. I think because we have squeezed so much in to those 3 days.

The first day was rather eventful. I had only 3 hours sleep the night before so was not fully functioning. I can not cope one bit without at least 7 hours sleep. The night before we left I decided that it would be nice to have some home baking to take, so instead of finishing off the packing and cleaning I wisely decided to make choc chip biccies and cheesecake balls instead. needless to say it was after midnight when I finished all my jobs. when I did get to bed Diddybell decided to be a major pest and whinged all night long. I ended up having to put her in a cot down stairs as she was disturbing bens sleep (i know this because everytime she would whinge, he would growl, followed closely by a sneeze that would sound suspiciously like 'forfu*kssake'). 

So I started the trip in a sleep deprived haze and had drifted off into a deep slumber before we had even left the driveway.

When we arrived in Dalby we discovered a problem (not quite sure what the problem was - I was fading out as ben was telling me due to lack of sleep) with one if the caravan tyres. he had to detach the caravan and drive somewhere to have it fixed. One of the other couples travelling with us also had tyre problems mere kms from home.

After quickly sorting ourselves out we continued on and spent the night in some show grounds in a small town whose name I cannot remember. It was a lovely night and we were lucky enough to be able to hook up to some power so we could run the heater - thank goodness because it was bloody cold!!!.  I think we covered 450kms on the first day, but it took 9 hours because of all the stops and mishaps.  You will be pleased to know that my boxing gloves and pads got a workout that first night (and you might also be pleased to know about my triumph in the public loos but I won't tell you because a good friend of mine told me not to discuss bowel movements on my blog)

Day 2 was a similar distance covered in much less time. We stayed the night in Tambo and I was very excited to show the kids where I used to live and where the school was etc.  They were horrified to find out that I lived about 300m from the school and would drive there every day.  I don't think they realised just how much potential I have to be a lazy bum. We went to Tambo pub that night and i got rip roaring drunk off 2 vodkas. that's what happens when you don't drink for 18 months!!!  I enjoyed myself so much I think I might have to drink more often.

Today we drove fromTambo to longreach. Half of us went to the stockmans hall of fame for a looksee and half of us went to the qantas museum. Unfortunately I was stuck in the half that had 7 out of the 8 children in it so didn't get to do much looking. I spent my time running after toddlers, wiping noses and continually getting drinks out of the pram. But the kids loved the museum. They loved having a tour of the retired 747 and looking at the different planes. To be quite honest I was bored shitless. a plane is a plane, is it not? I'm sure I would have been equally as bored if I had of gone to a car museum... it just doesn't rock my boat unfortunately. at least the kids had a good time....

Tonight we have stayed with one of the other couples at a free campsite 20kms out of town. The rest of them stayed in longreach at a caravan park and went out to dinner. Ben and I were tossing up staying in town but we decided at the last minute to rough it. I'm glad we did. I have had such a relaxing night tonight. We built a campfire and sat around talking. We all saw this massive meteor, which seemed to come down a few hundreds metres from us. The quietness of this amazing country is so soothing.  Sitting there looking up at the beautiful nights sky made me feel so relaxed and full of joy.  The place where we are staying is very quiet. it feels like we are the only ones for hundreds of kms.  it is also very basic. you can get a bit if tank water here and use a drop loo if you so wish (although I choose not to!!).  There are no showers... no people... no shops or traffic....

Anyway, moving on... I am pleased to report that Diddy has been an absolute angel. she sleeps in the car and plays happily when we stop.  my other kids are managing quite fine on the long drives with minimal complaining coming from the back. their busy boxes have kept them busy and we have spent a lot of time playing and talking to them. 

Oh I forgot to mention that we stopped at barcaldine today so con and kristy could pay their respects to the tree of knowledge (apparently this tree has something to do with unions and their union at caltex is responsible for getting them massive pay rises so they needed to detour to worship it).

All in all it has been a great trip so far. I had better get going because I am hugely tired. my phone reception has been awful so I haven't had much if a chance to blog or look at facebook.

We are doing the dinosaur thing on winton over the next couple of days so I will let you know how it all works out.

xxx