15-16 April 2002

It’s hard to believe that we actually departed more or less on time.  We pulled out of our home in Marrickville, Sydney, about 10.00 a.m. waving goodbye to our neighbor Jim and his kids, and Lyn and Greg from across the road.  We stopped for petrol and air at the local service station, and I drove straight through to Taree.  We had some pretty ordinary food at a milk bar there, and Susan took over the driving so I could get a nap.

When we stopped for fuel in Kempsey, I took over driving again.  We made good time to Bellingen, although the last leg of the journey was completed in the dark.  I prefer to confine driving to daylight hours if possible.

All up the first leg of the journey took about 8½ hours, including the stop for lunch at Taree.  Not bad going, considering that the trailer slows us down a bit. The total distance was about 560km.

I’m pretty bleary as I write.  The night before we left I got only 3½ hours sleep.