Monday, July 7, 2014

The Trip Home

Our trip back to Brisbane was done in a day. I had originally planned a two day journey, but was asked to facepaint for a birthday party on the Sunday, so knew that I would need to make the trip in one day. As it turns out, I would rather get it done in a day at any rate - 'cause the closer I get to home, the more I just want to get there, and sleep in my comfy waterbed.

We had planned to be up at 5am, but after a really terrible night of tossing and turning, I woke up at 4am. It was either struggle to get back to sleep for an hour or just get up and on the road. I chose the latter. I dug mum out of bed (she was actually half dozing anyway), we packed up the car in about 15minutes and were on our way by 4.30am.

I actually enjoyed driving at that hour. It was a bit chilly outside, but with a bit of heat on in the car and very few other drivers on the road, I was enjoying myself. It was still dark out, so we got to see sunrise as we were driving. It turned out to be quite the foggy morning from most of the way between Rockhampton and Mackay. It turned out to be a blessing in that the sun rising in the windscreen was muted by fog. As you can see in my photos, it was very thick in places, and in Rocky, it was actually quite smokey as well.

We made it into Rockhampton by 8.15am for breakfast at the Coffee Club, which just so happens to be on the highway. And by 8.45am we were back on the road. The next stretch took its toll and I was starting to feel tired. We stopped just outside of GinGin at a rest site so that I could try to have a nap. 10 minutes later, I woke up with a start and was all good to keep going. It's really amazing what a 10minute kip will do for you.

Our next stop was Childers at around 1pm where we filled up with petrol and sat down to a late lunch. Soon we were back on the road and on the last stretch to Brisbane. We had thought that we might make a stop in Gympie for a drink but when there's only 1.5hours of travel left to home, you just want to keep on going. In the end, we rolled into our garage at 5.15pm. All in all, a really good day of travel. Mind you, I am exhausted. My back is stiff from sitting for 13 hours and my knees and butt certainly didn't like being cramped up in the car all day. But you cannot imagine the relief at getting home not only before dark but in time for a hot shower and to snuggle in my own bed. I got the best nights sleep.

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