Sydney Road Trip Day 1: Brisbane to the Blue Mountains

Our road trip to Sydney began right at the stroke of midnight on the 27th of December.

We packed the car, quietly carried the boys downstairs, strapped them into their carseats, said a prayer and we were off.

The plan was to drive along the Pacific Highway until we reached Coffs Harbour so the boys could play at the beach and stretch their legs a bit while the driver(s) rested. 

Our GPS had other plans. Instead of following the Pacific Highway, somehow we ended up inland in the middle of trees and mountains. It was pitch black, the roads were narrow and winding and despite Andrew telling me to sleep so I could take over the driving later on, there was no way I could close my eyes. In the back seat, the boys also woke up and their eyes were wide open, watching the darkness as we drove.

A little while later, Andrew asked me if there was a gas station coming up. Running out of gas is the last thing you want to be worried about when you're in the middle of nowhere. Our phones didn't have signals, so I quickly searched our GPS for the nearest stops. Most of the gas stations were in small towns, and as we drove through, we saw that they were closed. It was the middle of the night after all.

Finally, we found a gas station that had lights on. Even if they weren't open, we would have parked and waited because being stuck on the side of the road with an empty tank didn't seem like a very attractive option.

By the time we pulled up to the pump, we had an estimated 10km remaining. I noticed their opening hours posted on the glass said they open at 5am - we had arrived just a bit after that. Thank God for such awesome timing.

As we pulled out of the gas station, the sun was starting to come up. This detour ended up costing us at least an extra hour but luckily the boys had fallen back asleep. 

Since the boys were sleeping, we decided to bypass Coffs Harbour and cover some more ground before they woke up.

We decided a good place to break would be Port Macquarie. By the time we arrived, the boys were up and ready to get out of the car. So we put on their swimming gear and set them free at the beach.

After breakfast and a quick stroll through the shopping centre, we piled into the car and continued on our journey.

From there, we pretty much drove straight down to the Blue Mountains. The boys slept off and on for the rest of the drive. We had a wide selection of snacks and drinks to keep our driver alert. These honey roasted almonds were awesome. They were a childhood favourite and I couldn't find them for the longest time, but they reappeared during my trip to Toronto so I picked up a can. One can. I should have stocked up. I shared these with Andrew and he thought they were amazing, too. I think these will become a staple in our home if we ever get back to Canada.

When the boys were awake, we played word games. Nathan laughed his face off as we took turns adding sentences to a story. He thought it was all so hilarious.

As the sun started to set, we neared Katoomba - a little town in the Blue Mountains. By then, we were all pretty drained and hungry.

We had dinner at one of the few restaurants that were still open, then went back to our motel and called it a night.