Goondiwindi (nearly) - It's Friday already

16th August

I can't believe we have reached our 1st Friday already. We have stopped at a rest area about 20km short of Goondiwindi QLD. Left Dubbo this morning at just after 8:30, and with a short lunch break at Narrabri and a shop stop at Moree, we motored on through. I got all excited for a while today, because we actually were going faster than a speeding Rhino for a while there (a useless fact picked up at Dubbo Zoo yesterday that they can run at least 55Kmph!). The roads changed from really bad to really good many times, but was much more pleasant with a few National Parks and Forests to look at instead of watching the road.

It was probably only 10 minutes after we set off that I took a really deep breath and offered to Tracy a drive while I sat in the passenger seat pretending to sleep and pretending not to be watching, and even more so, not offering any driving tips unless asked. I swear at one stage it felt like it was 30 degrees in the car, then I realised it was just the nervous sweat taking hold.... However, credit where credit is due, Tracy did a fabulous job (was there any doubt?) and even passed another vehicle, which is actually a first for the whole trip (ok, it was a farm ute towing some machinery, but that's not the point here!). Anyway, the next toilet stop saw not only the bladder relief, but also the offer for me to drive again.. One of the happiest moments of my life ! ( excluding marriage and kids of course!)

We had set a goal to get to a rest stop about 40km north of  Goondiwindi, but we headed into some light rain showers and dusk falling pretty quick, so we stopped 35km before Goondi. It is just a rest stop with a long drop loo and truck parking, but it goes back about 60m off the road, so we pulled up right in the back corner and found remains of an old campfire, so the kids set off to start their own, which turned out to be the best thing we could have done. Sitting outside now at 7:30 PM in shorts, 21 degrees, had a few beers, now on the port..... This is what camping / caravan-ing is all about. ---- except maybe the blogging on an iPad.

Travelled 465 km today in about 8 and a bit hours - man that sounds slow.... But it was fun, even with all the stops, and that is why we are doing this.