Piled the whole family into the car last week, drove east and turned south. Kept going all the way to Sydney. I haven’t done a genuine road trip in years. Probably decades. I used to do them all the time when I was a young writer and felt that I had to get myself down to Sydney to schmooze the editors at all the mags I was freelancing for, or wanted to freelance for.
A couple of things I noticed. The road’s better, mostly. Apart from Coffs Harbour, the freeway doesn’t really run through any towns any more, which makes for a duller but faster trip. Much faster. And I kind of resented grinding through the traffic in Coffs so much that I’m not gonna second guess the advantages.
Most of the quirky little food stops along the way, however, have either disappeared, been driven out of existence by fast food chains, or retreated well away from the main drag. We got off the freeway in Bangalow, Yamba, Kempsey, Port Stephens, and Newcastle, adding a couple of hours to the transit time going there and back but getting better breaks for the effort, I reckon.
Sydney was a bit cold and wet, but everywhere is at the moment, innit?
I met with a couple of bookstores about the re-release of Felafel this week, talking to them about logistics and pricing for print-on-demand titles, but we were also taking the kids through some family history before Anna flies out to the UK for a year at the end of the month.
One of the spots we called in was Goldberg’s in Newcastle, one of Jane’s old haunts and still a fave. Had me a very decent breakfast there.
We drive from the Gong to Melbourne a few times a year. So much easier to throw all sorts of crap in the car than worry about baggage allowances.
We were up in Brisvegas a couple of weekends ago for a family thing, so other family members from Sydney were up there too. We had all thought of a road trip but in the end all took a flight. ms insomniac and some of her sisters don't like driving, so that also throws a spanner into things, not being able to share time behind the wheel.
I’m in the Kimberley. There a lots of long road trips. I had a couple of days at an aboriginal community I’ve stayed at before. Wonderful people. I’m with an old uni mate who has deep connections with that community spanning 40 years. Had another great run across country to a spectacularly beautiful waterhole only known to that community and their guests. Great swim, kids jumping off the adjoining cliff face into the water. Lots of laughter. The troopy full of aboriginal kids with more on the roof. Such a privilege!
The homogeneity of the towns is what gets me. Every town has the same set of national or multinational businesses. It's the stuff in-between that is worth going for. The space, the sky, the landscape.
i usually have to do the reverse trip as the mother in law is up your way. But i also have a sister kind of in the middle at Forster, so we usually use that as an overnight pitstop. It's always so bloody long as a trip. With the eldest kid starting uni at armidale next year it will probably mean an inland trip two out of three times. Armidale is kinda in the middle as well, sorta. You still get the small town stop offs inland so there is a bit of traffic nostalgia and the change of view is much better than endless strips of concrete roads divided by a nature strip of rock or bottle brushes. I remember all the trips to Forster to visit mum and dads friends who lived up there, going through karuah or even bulahdelah and all those tiny coast/river towns with one lane each way. These days they are encouraging you to keep pushing to get to your destination as who wants to take a side trip when it adds so much more time? And besides, i dont want to get stuck behind that blue and white caravan with the "Karl n Darl Channel 93" sticker....again.
its a nice little uni town (as far as i have seen so far). Big established european trees and that old country town/city aesthetic. The thing i hadnt seen before was on the back roads south of Tamworth after they harvest the cotton there is cotton clumps strewn everywhere on the sides of the road. We were saying "what is that white stuff?" until we started seeing the bales sitting in the paddocks.
so at what point on the road trip wdo you remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down..."
We drive from the Gong to Melbourne a few times a year. So much easier to throw all sorts of crap in the car than worry about baggage allowances.
We were up in Brisvegas a couple of weekends ago for a family thing, so other family members from Sydney were up there too. We had all thought of a road trip but in the end all took a flight. ms insomniac and some of her sisters don't like driving, so that also throws a spanner into things, not being able to share time behind the wheel.
I’m in the Kimberley. There a lots of long road trips. I had a couple of days at an aboriginal community I’ve stayed at before. Wonderful people. I’m with an old uni mate who has deep connections with that community spanning 40 years. Had another great run across country to a spectacularly beautiful waterhole only known to that community and their guests. Great swim, kids jumping off the adjoining cliff face into the water. Lots of laughter. The troopy full of aboriginal kids with more on the roof. Such a privilege!
The homogeneity of the towns is what gets me. Every town has the same set of national or multinational businesses. It's the stuff in-between that is worth going for. The space, the sky, the landscape.
If you've ever read Alan Baxter's 'The Gulp' you'll recognise those towns in your nightares.
i usually have to do the reverse trip as the mother in law is up your way. But i also have a sister kind of in the middle at Forster, so we usually use that as an overnight pitstop. It's always so bloody long as a trip. With the eldest kid starting uni at armidale next year it will probably mean an inland trip two out of three times. Armidale is kinda in the middle as well, sorta. You still get the small town stop offs inland so there is a bit of traffic nostalgia and the change of view is much better than endless strips of concrete roads divided by a nature strip of rock or bottle brushes. I remember all the trips to Forster to visit mum and dads friends who lived up there, going through karuah or even bulahdelah and all those tiny coast/river towns with one lane each way. These days they are encouraging you to keep pushing to get to your destination as who wants to take a side trip when it adds so much more time? And besides, i dont want to get stuck behind that blue and white caravan with the "Karl n Darl Channel 93" sticker....again.
I almost did a side quest to Armidale on the way home. Never been there.
its a nice little uni town (as far as i have seen so far). Big established european trees and that old country town/city aesthetic. The thing i hadnt seen before was on the back roads south of Tamworth after they harvest the cotton there is cotton clumps strewn everywhere on the sides of the road. We were saying "what is that white stuff?" until we started seeing the bales sitting in the paddocks.
I finally ate at the restaurant inside the windmill on the highway at South Coffs a few years ago. It was surprisingly good. I had the sausages.
so at what point on the road trip wdo you remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down..."
My equivalent is the trips to Minnesota. Long drive, and you're dead as a doornail when you get there. Kinda fun, tho. In an odd way.