Project 365 – 097

097 – April 6. Water, water everywhere, And all of it to drink. We stopped to view the Thomson Dam on the way home from our holiday today. It’s the main source of Melbourne water and it was completely enormous, and utterly fantastic.

Friday 6th April 2012

We’re home again.

Looooong drive home. Really, really long day all round actually. It started before 6am when Soren woke up, continued on through dismantling our campsite and packing everything into the car, and then took a brief pause when the car wouldn’t start and we had to wait for the RACV to come and jump start the battery.

Fortunately we didn’t have to wait very long, and then we got to go down the street and have breakfast. I had pancakes with strawberries, banana, bacon and maple syrup and they were so good. All the kids scarfed down platefuls, and then we left Lakes Entrance- going against the crowd who were all heading down there. It was amazing how busy everything was at 8.30 on Good Friday morning.

Our idea to go home via a town called Jericho really didn’t work out quite as we’d planned. Instead it turned into a bone jarring two hour drive over unmade roads, the worst of which was basically just hacked out of the mountain and meant we were bouncing around over plain rock- in our car which is far from being built to withstand that! We didn’t even make it to Jericho, since the track we were supposed to go on requires a 4 wheel drive vehicle to navigate it. What kind of town is only accessible by 4 wheel drive?! Anyway, we took a photo of our Jericho beside the ‘Jericho track’ sign and he didn’t seem too disappointed by the whole situation. We’ve told him that maybe one day we’ll borrow Grandma and Pop’s Landcruiser and try again.

I did all the driving too, for fear of being carsick on the twisty mountain roads. It was bloody terrifying honestly- firstly because I was afraid I’d skid right off the road and go rolling down the mountain, then because I was just scared I was going to destroy the car! My legs feel like I’ve run a marathon tonight, from all that braking and accelerating and being so tense! Still, there is quite the sense of satisfaction in getting through it and coming out safely on the other side.

That’s true about our whole holiday really, not just the rollercoaster ride of trying to visit the town of Jericho. I’m glad we went, and I’m glad we’re safely back home again. It’s the first time we’ve gone on holidays with a family of six and had it been just us, and I needed it to work out. I wanted so badly for it to be good, and it really was. Tiring, and expensive, (and the amount of unpacking and laundry I am going to have to do over the rest of this weekend is insane!) but it’s also been such a blessing to be able to have this time with my family. I have the best husband, I really do, and watching my kids explore the world and broaden their horizons a bit has been wonderful.