This is the story of our road trip with our friends, Kevin and Marion. The four of us are travelling to Adelaide, via Broken Hill, and then back up the Great Ocean Road. All stops are booked with us staying in cabins, and Kev & Maz in their caravan. It should take us a little less than 3 weeks.
I finally got to bed at 1am after finishing off some work and writing the weekly cricket newsletter…still hadn't packed. Woke at 6am and after some dilly dallying around and last minute organising we finally had finished packing and headed down to the basement to try to fit it all in the car. We might want to play golf – put the clubs in. We might go to the beach – umbrella and beach chairs. Let's take our bikes – bike rack on. We really should take some food – add in food tubs, thermos, esky, lunch box thingies. Oh, and some clothes…take some clothes.
Hitting the road a little after 10:30am, we were only about an hour behind schedule, but that’s OK – we promised ourselves we would be relaxed and not stress about time. A short stop for lunch at Maccas Pennant Hills reminded us why we should have packed our lunch and then it was off to Lithgow, our first stop down memory lane. It has been a while, a long while since we had been there…the mid 80s to be exact. We lived there for 2 years – Carly was born there, Alison did her HSC, and James mastered the terrible twos. We walked up and down the main street which is imaginatively called Main Street and found that there were lots of shops and offices that seemed the same. We then drove around in circles looking for our old house, using our defective collective memories, rather than the GPS – big mistake. We did eventually find it and I’d have to say it looked a lot less imposing than I recalled. The roads were covered in pot holes – get your act together Lithgow Council!
It was now mid afternoon and we headed off toward Orange. The temperature in Lithgow was a predictable 17 degrees, it had been about 23 degrees at home, so we were a little concerned that we would freeze, but as we left Lithgow behind the sun came out and the temperature rose, with the mercury once again rising to 24 degrees and a lovely autumn afternoon in Orange where we arrived about 5pm. After catching up with our travelling companions, we drove into town to search for the two houses we had lived in when we lived in Orange in 1985. I could write a novel about that year and our generally sub-standard accommodation. Over 30 years on, I felt it was time to re-visit my demons. A quick drive-by both houses confirmed what I found with the Lithgow house, either I had grown, or they had shrunk!
After a shopping expedition to grab the makings for dinner, we put together a great BBQ meal, that we enjoyed with our friends, and planned our movements for tomorrow. Everyone decided an early night was called for and, besides, it was getting very chilly. Ah yes, we do remember how cold it can be here! Great start to what will hopefully be a fun trip.
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