NSW Trip Day 20: Sydney -> Holbrook

After our big day yesterday everyone (except Millie and I) had a bit of a sleep in. I packed up and had most of the stuff in the car and we woke LiAM so that I could pack his bedding up and he could eat before we left.

Once we were on our way I felt a little bit excited to be heading home (although glad we still had 2 days to get there). We got through Sydney (which is very easy now with the M7 motorway) and Millie needed a toilet, Tony also wanted to get petrol at Sydney rather than country prices, so we pulled off into Campbelltown and stopped at the first place we found with a toilet, which was a Hungry Jacks. We decided to get a little bit of food here (it was almost midday) so that we could then get a couple more hours down the highway before we needed to do a big stop for food and play. So we had a small lunch and drinks, then the kids played on the playground while Tony tried to find somewhere to get petrol (no luck). Back on the road again and we stopped briefly at Pheasants Nest for petrol, then made it to Suttons Forest before the drinks from lunch meant everyone needed another toilet stop. A quick stop there and we were able to make it all the way to Gundagai before we needed a break. The car trip was fun, we played the ‘guess what job I’m thinking of’ game and talked about the countryside and other vehicles we could see and listened to Harry Potter 7 on audio CD and the kids played on their iPods/Pads.

In Gundagai we stopped about 4pm at a playground down towards the river and had chicken bread rolls for a late second lunch. The kids played on the equipment and Tony and had a bit of a throw with his baseball and mitts. A little dog befriended us (he wanted to eat our chicken) and the kids found it hard not to give him something to eat. While we were there I ran the caravan park in Holbrook (I wanted to make it to Holbrook today because its only 4 hours from there to home and that felt manageable for our last day, and also Holbrook is a fun place to stop because of the submarine). The caravan park was booked out, so we spent a while researching motel options – it can be hard to find a room for 5 people. I managed to book us in before we left Gundagai (I knew it would be after 6 when we arrived so I wanted it sorted before we got there otherwise everyone could be tired and hungry and not tolerant of popping in and out of motels looking for a room).

We got to Holbrook around 6.15 and found our motel – the room was lovely and the guy really friendly and helpful. There was a microwave so we were able to heat up leftovers for tea (we have a great esky (thanks Mum) which, with a couple of big ice bricks, keeps milk and meat and left overs icy cold all day). We watched TV, played cards, the girls jumped from the top bunk bed down onto the queen bed, and had a relaxing evening in our room. Millie fell asleep then after a while I was ready for bed, and LiAM was still bouncing around the room, so Tony took him and Caitlin for a walk and they made it all the way up to the Submarine – which is currently covered in yellow wool. They had a look around there and back to our room and eventually to bed.