Loaded up the Mitsubishi Pantec on Monday morning - so full, there was just room to throw some food in at the last second - and drove to Canberra from the Sunshine Coast: Maroochydore-Brisbane-Warwick (up Cunninghams Gap)-Goondiwindi-Narrabri-Coonabarrabran-Dubbo-Cowra-Yass-Canberra. Almost non-stop, with me as sole driver (stupid, but it was done).
Damned road between Warwick and Goondiwindi is a disgrace to QLD - I hit the roof of the bloody truck so many times, and have jinked my neck quite badly (that's with the seat set to a comfortable level). I have no idea where my tail bone is - somewhere in my throat I believe
Between Goondiwindi and Gurley wasn't much better. At least the Kangaroo scare whistles DO work VERY well, and each skippy that seemed like it wanted to come on the road very quickly headed back into the bush (as did a couple dingos and a fox).
Between Gurley and Narrabri, around 0019 (0119 DST), I spotted a VERY large and bright fireball/bolide heading SSE. No apparent tail, but VERY bright and seemingly large. Stopped on the outskirts of Coonabarrabran for the call of nature, and looked up...almost wet my shoes! I now understand the allure of Coona!!!! OMG OMG OMG. That's WITH Moon...I can only dream of what it is like moonless!
Arrived at Canberra, and was greeted by Kunama at our new abode - he ALWAYS seems to find me before I find myself LOL. Found much to my chagrin that some rabbits have decided to make a hole big enough for a wombat under our house foundations, so the groundsmen are apparently onto this (or it could have been ASIO planting bugs...hmmmm). A few other dramas with electricity (still) but generally good to go. Unloaded the truck (grrrrrrrrr), gave Matt temporary custody of my Takahashi, drove to the local Red Rooster, went home and crashed...until 5 am and started the reverse procedure....the pain...
Started the reverse drive, with a 2 hour visit to the AWM, and was almost Yass when remembered in my tiredness had left chicken scraps in the house...it'd be a week before I brought the family back....it was gonna smell. BAD. Worse than my BO after driving 19hrs straight in a cramped truck cab....I turned around. An hour lost but worth it - less screaming from the wife and kids later (think ahead grasshopper). It's incredible how much faster a trip seems when you have done it before - the return felt a LOT shorter than the down trip. A LOT. Exacerbated my neck again on the same stretch between Goondi and Warwick, discovered Narrabri jerky does horrible things to your intestines after 8 hours (Johnny Cash sung a song about it...burn burn burn, the ring of fire....
)
Got back to Maroochydore at 8am (drove all through the night again), unloaded the items I brought back for some other people, washed the truck, and crashed. Woke up at 2pm. Dropped Boucy back to the hirer...said a few choice words about the suspesion and clutch (and told the truck we were divorced). Fell asleep again at 5pm. Just woke up after sleeping on an inflatable mattress with a slow leak...by 4am I was on the carpet.
Now to load up the family car with wife and kids and do it all over again...going Pacific this time...don't need to bore the kids with endless sheep.
I need a holiday. Coonabarrabran seems like a nice area
to Canberra Lewis
