On the Road to Sydney - Day 1

After a hiatus from blogging thanks to our Internet-less holiday to Sydney and busying ourselves preparing for the grandparents' arrival, I'm finally able to sit down and catch up on some of the things we've been up to.

At the Victoria-NSW border


Unlike our September holiday to the Grampians, I'm going to do our road trip to Sydney a bit more justice by breaking it down into what we did each day. A little ambitious, for sure, and I sure hope the details wouldn't bore you!

One of the best ways to explore this massive continent is by road. Inspired by the spirit behind PIXAR's animation Cars, we've been planning for this holiday way before E's exams. We wanted to take the car out, and go for a good long drive to "have a great time and not to make great time". 

Almost three years ago when Dylan was a wee 5-month-old in my tummy, we did this westwards of Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road, and were rewarded with 3 days of breath-taking views and pretty seaside towns. This time round, we drove eastwards of Gippsland, past major Victorian destinations like the 90 Mile Beach and Lakes Entrance, and up north into New South Wales towards the Snowy Mountains.

I was a little worried about how our little tyke would take to long hours in the car, but we told ourselves that we'd reward him with breaks at any playground we came across. Of course, having our nifty portable DVD player helped a lot too! 

After a wholesome Hotcakes brekky at MacDees (*wink!), we set off. About 300km into the drive, we stopped for lunch at Cann River where the road forks into the coastal drive into NSW and north towards Cooma and the Snowy Mountains in NSW. 

The day was sweltering, with the sun out in its full regalia, so Dylan was thrilled to find a fantastic playground complete with colourful plastic animals - the equivalent of a watering hole for the species "boredkidincaria". 

Dylan at the Hippo -


Daddy wants in -


Another plastic animal out - this time a purple dinosaur, nope not Barney!


A double-steering system at the Cann River playground sees little automobile-phile screeching with excitement!


See the look of furrowed concentration on his brows as the little climber ponders his next step:


In the sweltering sun, it's time to strip off a layer - and take a break by munching on a cookie!


After lunch, we were back on the road, and it was another 2 hours to drive from Cann River, past the Victoria-NSW border, into high country. E booked us into a light and airy room at White Manor motel, in a little town called Cooma.

Finally, we've arrived at our first stopover!


Chillin' and Relaxin'


And then it's off to play again - this time right smack in Cooma's town centre. Cooma is a popular stopover destination for skiers en route to the ski slopes, so this time of the year is a little quieter. All the more space for little one to run and climb all over - especially up the huge long slide!