road trip

As a new day dawns we bundle up the babies, hold our breaths and hit the road. The slide show of neatly lined up houses dressed in crisp white and navy giving way to a sea of prehistoric grasses ever reaching for the sky. There's the endless stretch of slate coloured asphalt, dipping in and out of the snack stash and Mumma playing DJ - Jack Johnson, Missy Higgins and Playschool.

The babies sing and eat, play and doze and as each kilometre clicks over I add more stitches to an ecru knit. The landscape blurs. When the bumpity bump of the road cages us in we pull over and let the fresh outside world in. Scrunched up limbs unfurl to stand, to walk, to run and spirits revive with each breath of cool air.

City lights and menacing road signs. Darting from the the far left lane to the far right. Frantic map reading, missed exits, tunnels beneath the earth and Old MacDonald Had a Farm for the hundredth time. Bribing with chocolate and realising the person who has said "Are we there yet?" the most has been me.

Our destination. Vines meander up curlicued steelwork. Cerulean seas and tree lined avenues. Crispy Autumn leaves and being grateful for the extra scarves and cardigans I have packed. New places to dip our toes in laced with good coffee and beautiful new friends; kindred spirits.

An adventure of the grandest kind etched onto our memories. A time of laughter, of exploration, of digging deep. A time of family.