To the ACT (Australian Christmas Territory) - Part 1

We spent Christmas and New Years Eve in Canberra this year with Elf's mum, siblings and their kids. Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah arranged to stay in a neighbour's vacant house across the street so the large house comfortably held the other ten of us.

Elf wanted to take the car to Canberra on the Spirit of Tasmania. So when we booked that I also booked us an Airbnb to stay at on the way between Melbourne and Canberra. This swapped two 5-hour drives on country highways for one 8-hour drive up the Hume. That worked out quite well, so then I did the same for the return journey.

Teenage daughters of a work friend of Elf's minded the house and mammals while we were away. So our pre-departure clean up was fairly intense. We left early on Dec 22 for the 4-hour drive north to Devonport to board the Spirit. Boarding started at around 6.30pm so we actually had to kill quite a lot of time in Devonport, but … it was better than trying to fine-tune it and then having to scream up the Bass Highway running late.

We went to the Devonport Library and hung out on the Bluff and took pictures of the lighthouse, until it was time to drive our car up the gangplank and into the boat.

Looking east from Mersey Bluff

Classic 'Sunderland strip' lighthouse paint job.

On the boat as we ate dinner we were surprised to see our South Hobart pals Steve, Meredith and Finton. They had not been able to find a place for their dog Mochi while they went to Melbourne, so they decided that Mochi would have to come with them - she was down in the pet cages on the car deck.

Then later we were even more surprised to see Marcus's girlfriend of about 6 weeks, Erin, also on the boat with her family. We have not been given very much information about Erin. But the next day on our long drive we managed to glean from Marcus that she originally hails from Adelaide and this was a family trip back there for the school holidays. He knew she would be on the boat but didn't think it was relevant to tell us. And maybe it wasn't.

The next day we woke up and had a hot damp breakfast (I thought they kicked you off the boat before breakfast time but I was wrong). Then we found our way north out of Melbourne.

I didn't want to drive all day but I did want to have an interesting non-Hume Highway drive, so I took us up the Maroondah Highway to Mansfield, via Healesville and a coffee break at Buxton. Mansfield was actually stuffed to the gills and seems to now be just an endless strip of cafes. It's the main town in the Vic snowfields I think so we were seeing it actually out of season. We lunched there and tried to flop down and relax in their Botanic Garden but its really lame. It has dry grass and some very normal trees and is about as botanic as our front yard.

By the time we had a snooze the afternoon was advancing so we took the quickest way (yes, via the Hume) to Myrtleford and from there found our way to our destination, Dederang which is on the Mt Beauty road an hour south of Wodonga.

(I just want to say this trip confirmed my dim view of the Hume Highway. People drive like utter dickheads. Speeding and tailgating and cutting in after overtaking.)

At Dederang we drove into the farmyard - I saw the house and thought, wow - this is going to be great! Then I saw a second, smaller house. Ah, now that would be ours. It was lovely and cool, beds so soft, and Di Goonan and her son Marcus were very friendly and hospitable. Quite a few flies though, courtesy of the dairy farm next door.

The Dererang district c/o Airbnb

My family and I flopped about like jellyfish for a while but I had seen a football ground as we drove through the tiny town, so I announced I was walking back to look at it. I did, accompanied by many flies. It was in fact a whole sporting complex; racetrack, netball courts, tennis courts, bowling club and footy/cricket ground. The latter is the home ground of St Kilda/Hawthorn ruckman Ben McEvoy.

The bowls club has this magnificent sign, made of old bowls.

The footy ground scoreboard is named after Di and her late husband Tom, who were scorers for many years. We had dinner at the pub under a massive honour board listing all the office holders of the sports club, and it was thick with Goonans. Di and Marcus even trained the last winner of the Dederang Cup.

Back at the farmhouse during the night Michael started throwing up. Elf and I took turns sitting up with him. It seems like the pub's pizza was the culprit.

In the morning the water was off due to some dam/tank electronic switch. But Di urged us to use her bathroom. I had a very interesting chat with her old mum while Michael showered. She emigrated to Australia from Germany in 1946, and was interned with her future husband at Bonegilla. She still lives in the house they built in Albury when they were released.

On account of Michael still feeling poorly, our third day of driving was straightforward, up the Hume with a lunch break at Gundagai. I noted with interest that the roo-shootin' ute seems to have really dropped off in popularity since last time I was in these parts. Maybe there had been a Bachelors and Spinsters Ball on that weekend, but there were utes with two-to-four massive antennas and a rack of spotlights parked all over the town that time.

I had pigeonholed Gundagai (based on the very large roadhouse by the 'Dog On The Tuckerbox' statue) as a place of; uh, large roadhouses and statues of dogs. But it's an interesting place. The main street has a lot of lovely and unusual buildings.

We ate pies, flopped in a park next to the Visitors Centre. We really needed coffee, and I noticed that the VC had a little sign on the door saying "INFORMATION TOILETS COFFEE". Inside it was all brochures and desks and no sign of beverages. I asked "Do you make coffee?" and was told "yes, but it's no good". I thanked them for their honesty and took a wad of brochures.

Instead we went up the main street and found the famous Niagara Cafe. It's a 1930s time capsule. An old Greek lady took fifteen minutes to make us four hot drinks, while an older Greek lady chatted to her.

The Niagara Cafe is lined with photos of famous people who have
waited there for a quarter of an hour for a simple coffee.

Jockey in a raincoat?

From Gundagai we just drove straight up the Hume to Yass, then down the Barton Hwy into Canberra. We arrived just after Chonk, Irma, Bea and Eric, and just before Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah.

In the next instalment, 7 days in Canberra will be examined in forensic detail.

A day on the road

A recurring theme of this blog is that we are very proud of our boys. They are both pretty tremendous kids and its a privilege to be able to watch their progress close-up. I hope my pride in their achievements and abilities doesn't come over as smugness. As Elf can confirm I am liable to burst into tears when anyone's kid is trying their hardest and doing their best in music, sport, chess or whatever.

Yesterday was Marcus's first day at Hobart College where he's doing Grade 11 maths twice a week this year. Every Thursday I'll pick him up there at lunchtime and ferry him 11km to Taroona High, back to his Grade 9 existence, and on Tuesdays I'll do the same in the other direction. He is going to miss some of his other subjects here and there, but his teachers all feel that he'll be able to keep up regardless.

Hobart College is part of Tasmania's unusual senior secondary system; separate state schools that are just Gr 11 and 12. The campus was built in 1972 as a tertiary institute, and I actually knew the architect, Brian Hardcastle - I shared a house in the 80s with his daughter Jan. She told me the whole place was built to make it easy to contain riots! There are over a thousand kids enrolled, mostly aged 15-17 these days.

The college is an island in a sea of bush, and feels like an outpost of Canberra in that regard. Copper must have been cheap when it was built as the amount of copper panelling in the admin area is mind boggling, and straight away brought Pete Smith to mind.

The main thing is Marcus fit in well, his teacher and the head of maths there are lovely, the kids were curious in a pleasant way, and most importantly he found the maths stimulating.

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Yesterday turned into a major road day, as besides the school transfer Marcus has soccer practice over the river, which coincided with the welcome barbecue for Michael's Grade 7s at Taroona.

This will seem boring and feel free to skip it, but as part of the blog's purpose is to provide a personal record, here is the day's car log. I know it pales into comparison with the driving parents do in bigger cities and with more kids involved in more things. It was 115km all up, and included 15 mins stuck in Sandy Bay Rd beside St Davids Park.

8.30 - take Marcus to HC.
12.15 - take Marcus from HC to Taroona.
[boys come home from Taroona by bus]
16.10 - pick up Elf in town.
16.45 - drop Elf and Michael at Taroona for welcome BBQ and take Marcus over the river to Warrane for soccer practice. [The only route is through the CBD]
17.33 - arrive a tad late for soccer practice after detouring to a drive thru for thick shake and nuggets. Turn around and head back to Taroona, get petrol en route.
18:15 - collect Elf and Michael at Taroona, turn around and head back to Warrane.
18:45 - arrive with 15 mins to spare.
19:00 - collect Marcus and teammate Leif and head back to South Hobart.
19:15 - drop Leif off to his mum at the roadside.
19:17 - home after 3 hours in the car.