Adelaide Road Trip

Two adults, two kids and one dog and our road trip to Adelaide begins. As a kid I spent our family road trips vomiting out the back window. I had to wonder was this going to be the same. I packed the car with lollies and more lollies, prevention was better than that horrible hangover feeling car sickness leaves you.

Our first stop is on the side of the highway. My son is asking to pull over to take a photo of the last bit of the Grampians. A very proud moment for mum. My crazy enthusiasm for photos has rubbed off on my guys. Before long hours have passed by with endless highway scenery that looks all the same and night falls. Some happy family pics are taken in the car, all looking a bit worse for wear. As we cross the boarder of Victoria to South Australia we decide to stop at the next town for some dinner.

The town is dark, no street lights about, no people about. We drive in further to find a pub or a roadhouse but everything seems to be closed. Ahead is some flashing lights. Yeah! It's a pizza joint. Weary and tired we all stumble out of the car and head in. Something doesn't feel quite right. People don't look quite right. It's a thirty five minute wait. No, we are out of here. Laughing we all run to the car and pile in as fast as we can. The fog is rolling in and it is just very eerie. We had just pulled into Bordertown. The same town we later found out were the people were found in the barrels.

Back on the highway tired and hungry, next town we promise the kids, next town we will eat. Pulling into the next town we see a roadhouse up in the distance, full of trucks. Good bet it has good food. Tintintara. We pull up to some massive road train trucks. Quite magnificent with all their flashing lights. What wonderful home cooked meals.

On the road again we are heading to Tailem Bend where we have booked a motel room for the night. Can't say I'm looking forward to it, motel rooms I have seen in towns so far look like something out of a horror movie. Foggy eyed and dead tired we pull up at the motel. Yep it looks like a horror movie scene. To tired to care but not to tired to notice no-one else's car is in the car park...We pile out of the car dragging donas and carrying tooth brushes. One room, two single beds, one double bed and a t.v. No time to care just want to sleep.

The sun is up and we are back on the road. No looking back, no sleep and craving a coffee, keeping in mind the kids have bounced out of bed looking forward to the next leg of our journey my needs are irrelevant. As the roads wind and curve we almost melt into them becoming one with the country side. It's so hard not to loose your breathe at the most amazing vibrant green grass and full lush gum trees and palm trees. We are living in a lucky country. More photos are taken from inside the car capturing the winding road leading us into the mountains ahead. Every curve and bend in the road excites us with it's generosity of shear beauty.

A welcome sign and two distinct bridges, one old and wooden and one large and representative of the Bolte bridge in Melbourne. We had arrived in Murray Bridge, a large bustling town, mums doing school runs and shops opening for the days trading. Mac Donald's breakfast and coffee, feeling much better now.

The sign says 70 km to Adelaide, the sky is blue and the clouds are missing, I can feel the warmth of the sun on my legs as I drive out of town and back onto the A1/M1 highway. Twenty minutes along the highway and the weather has changed, it is getting darker and the sky is covered in grey clouds. We are not far from the Adelaide hills. The speed limit is 100, so hard to stick to the limit through the winding hills. As I glance at the speedo it says 118...On either side of the highway there are dense hills of pine trees, the road has been cut deeply into the hills exposing sandstone rocks. The fog is rolling in thick I can almost feel it hitting the wind screen as I slow to go down the winding hill and through the tunnel. As we emerge from the tunnel the sign tells us we are in Adelaide, our journey has another two hours ahead of us from here as our destination is Moonta Bay. No stopping, we keep driving.

Just outside Adelaide the scenery has changed again. The A1 highway looks almost desert like with small scrubbery bushes and yellow sandy soil. The sky's are blue again and the sun is comforting and warm. There is the most ironic sculptures on the side of the highway, absolutely in the middle of no where. We pull over and I slide under a barbed wire fence and jump over some holes that look like old mine shafts half covered in. I am right up close to this sculpture, it is overwelmimg large. My heart is beating hard as I look back and see how far away I am from the car. I lie down on the hard cracked red sandy soil and take some photos of this unusual piece. Done. I race back to the car as fast as I can completely freaked out not looking back. About a hundred metres up the highway is another one. I couldn't resist...

As we crawl into Moonta Bay we commented on how much it looked like the country town from Jaws with over sized antenna's in every houses backyard. It is very much a sleepy town by the ocean, much like a holiday destination for summer lovers.The houses are all made out of sandstone reflecting a federation era with lots of iron lace work on their verandas. One local footy oval is a bustle with the local Saturday morning juniors game. On a small court close by the junior girls are having a game of netball.

We have arrived at our destination safe and sound.  As planned we participate in the festivities of a 40th birthday party.

Next morning at 11am we pile back into the car and head for home. We estimate we will be home by 11pm that night. We leave behind weather of a beautiful spring day.

The trip back to Melbourne seems to take no time at all. On the other side of Adelaide hills I take the wheel. Relaxed and cruising the highway at a speed limit of 100kms it is easy to feel like you are the only person on the road and speed. To the left hidden amongst the gum trees is a police car. As I have seen it I looked at my speedo and  at 117kms I was in trouble. Heart pounding I had a quick wake up call. I got lucky this time he must have been preoccupied with paper work because there was no sight of him in my rear view mirror.

Horsham RSL was our only stop, hungry tired and weary we ate dinner here before we set off for our last part of our road trip home. I sat at the back of a large road train truck sucked up by it's power I let it guide the car through the night. We could here the heavy breathing of the kids in the back seat, they were sound asleep. I took photos of the highway heading home. It looked just as beautiful of the night as it did during the day. When we reached the top of the mountains in Bacchus Marsh we could see the sea of lights of Melbourne and Melbourne's city.

11pm we pulled up in our driveway we all sleepily stumbled out of the car and drifted through the front door and into bed. This road trip was an amazing experience for each of us. Each of us has learnt and grown this weekend in our own  special and personal way.

My son at the Truck stop admiring the oversizes Road Trains.

The highway before us from the passenger side of the car.