Road Trip!

My training in Newcastle is finished and will continue in Brisbane on Wednesday, following the queens Birthday long weekend. Rather than fly up (1 hour) Max and I asked if we could drive up, pointing out that we could bring everyone's suitcases and excess bagge with us. It was a win-win plan and ED agreed to it as long as we conducted a risk assesment.

We started out at 1130am and headed north with the vague plan of reaching Coffs Harbour by nightfall. So far we've listened to Kylie Minogue singing "I Should Be So Lucky", visited our first Australian roadside "big" icon (Big Ayers Rock on the Pacific Highway near Tea Garden, NSW) and nearly stepped in kangaroo poo. Right now I am blogging from the passenger seat while Max negotiates the highway in typical long weekend weather - yes, it's pissing down with rain. More updates to follow.

End Of Day Update: We are now in Coffs Harbour, having endured torrential rain all the way up the coast. We took our time and stopped off in Nabiac to visit the National Motorcycle Museum where I got to see the diesel engine that powered Paul Carter around Australia (see Is That Thing Diesel?), the Giant Oyster (ugly) in Taree, the Giant Axe (lame) in Kew and the Giant Bull in Waurchope (gone). Aside from the rain and detouring off the Pacific Highway to see these highlights the trip was uneventful.