Tonight we’re in Gundagai, halfway to the NSW Central Coast, where we are headed for “Sprint the Coast”, a three day orienteering competition. Captain Kumamon was going to be left at home, until I did some checking, and realized that despite his extensive travels overseas, he has never been on a proper Aussie Road Trip.

It’s been 5 years since our last proper Road Trip as well – oddly enough, to much the same area.  It was in the brief, joyous window in early 2021, when covid was temporarily banished from our wide brown land, and state borders were open for a time, and we had a lovely 2 week holiday. But enough of that.

You haven’t travelled until you’ve packed the back of the car floor to ceiling with half the contents of your house – partly in case you don’t want to forget anything, and partly because – you can.  There’s a certain luxury in not being restricted to 20 kg of checked luggage.  For four sprint races, Ian has packed 5 running singlets and 4 running shirts. Plus an assortment of headbands, socks and jocks, apres T shirts, shorts, pants, heavier pants, 3 warm tops, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The rest of the car space was taken up with food tubs, shoe tubs, utensil tubs, electrical tubs, paperwork tubs, bathroom tubs – and the plug-in fridge.  The Captain was squeezed into a side pocket of my backpack, where he could spend 6 hours watching the endless brown paddocks zoom past at 110 kmh.  We informed him that the words “Are we there yet” were banned, and that any bears emitting them would get no chocolate fudge slice for afternoon tea.  He was remarkably quiet.

As is the way of these things, not much happened.  Stops were brief and we took it in turns to drive, and to eat.  Our cabin is unremarkable, after an unremarkable drive, ahead of what will probably be an unremarkable evening.  Tomorrow – rinse and repeat.