Journey to Merimbula

Out the door at 7:08 this morning and on our way to Merimbula - the third time in four years that we've made that our winter holiday destination. The difference this time was our intention to drive there in one day and avoid a night in Lakes Entrance each direction. We'd primed the kids and explained that today would be the longest car trip they had been on!

Play School songs rang out as we made our way to Eastlink. They continued as we got onto the Warrigul freeway. 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...' it sang. The kids were behaving though and were enjoying the challenge of Jeanette's printed 'Spotto' games from the RACV website.

We pulled into the McDonald's drive through at the services near Pakenham - for a simple hash brown each. As we drove back on to the freeway, Jet looked in the bag and saw that there were only 3, not the 5 we'd ordered and paid for. No turning back now. Zac should have been manning the drive through... he can count way beyond 5... Ethan could have manned the drive through, he could have counted out 5 hash browns... hey, even Gemma could have manned, or 'womanned' the drive through as she is also quite adept at counting to 5 and beyond.

Feeling like we'd jumped out of a plane to find that our parachute had been crocheted was how we felt as we smelt the 3 hash browns that we let the kids eat... it was a little bit disapointing!

We made it all the way to Traralgon before an official stop - and as it was still early (just after 9am) and wet on the ground, we avoided the park and went to another McDonald's so the kids could burn off some energy in their undercover playground. We also enjoyed a couple of hash browns!

Continuing on allowed us to listen to more ABC kids music. I got to thinking of some of the big issues of life, inspired by the music... I mean, why does a red cow produce white milk after eating green grass?

The GPS cleverly took us on a short cut by bypassing Sale and then suggested we go via Bruthen rather than Lakes Entrance. This also was a good idea. We stopped at a little park in Bruthen for a bite of lunch. It was sunny, but windy. We had running races to try and wear the kids out... not sure if it wore them out, but it did me.

In the case of Ethan, the next leg of the journey became 'If you're grumpy and you know it... annoy everyone else...' Gemma was doing terrific, and Zac was doing well too... still ticking off things from his 'Spotto' sheets. He was delighted to come across some roadworks with a man holding a stop/go sign... personally I find these interupations annoying, but for Zac it was another 'Spotto' achievement!

A quick stop in Cann River to play and burn off more energy and then the final leg of the journey. It was around 3:40pm when we pulled up at Surfside Apartments. Not a bad effort, eight and a half hours with three kids on board.

Hiked our gear upstairs to apartment number 8 - not our usual, but with slightly bigger second bedroom so we could fit three beds in there easier.

The kids settled pretty well and fell asleep by 8pm after a quick dinner and shower. I think we'll try and keep them out of the car tomorrow.