The 1st of 92 days is done! We’re all trying to keep cosy in a comfy little unit in Jindabyne – it’s a chilly 2º outside this evening at 8pm. We would like to acknowledge the Ngarigo people, who are the traditional owners of the lands around Jindabyne. We recognise their continuing connection to the land and waters, and acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. (Edit: I neglected to include an acknowledgement of country in my first version of this post – it’s something I really wanted to include as we visited each place on this journey, but I initially forgot!)
The morning went super smoothly this morning. Everyone was up and ready to go in good time, and we packed the last few things into the car, did the final check through the house to make sure we had everything, put one last load of washing on (thanks mother-in-law for hanging that out!)… and at 8:15am, we were on the road.
There was a couple of moments of “is this really happening?!” between Debbie and I as we drove down our street – but the excitement soon kicked in.
The first stop of the day was in Goulburn, at the Big Merino. We’ve planned to try and see as many “big” things along this trip, so it was great to have the first one only a couple of hours in. The timing was perfect too, after a couple of hours in the car. We did our obligatory photos in front of the merino, and then headed into the gift shop. What I don’t think I’d realised is that there was a whole section “inside” the merino with huge amounts of information about the history of Australian Wool production! So we wandered through there for a short while, before having a quick snack from the back of the car. And then onwards to Canberra.
First stop in Canberra was to visit Parliament House. The kids hadn’t seen it before, and even if we were only spending a short time in Canberra, we thought it would be a good spot to get out and have some photos at, roll down the grass – you know, the traditional thing. Thankfully, it wasn’t at all busy today, so parking was super easy and close. We intended to just look around the front and on the grass, but realising that Parliament House was open, we wandered inside to the Marble Foyer. We ended up being in there for an hour or so, looking at different portraits, and also at the House of Representatives. But time was against us to stay any longer, because we wanted to get over to the Royal Australian Mint!
I can’t remember exactly why this came on our radar when we were planning the holiday – but it was a brilliant visit. The tour that we joined was short, but informative, and the tour guide kept the kids entertained throughout. And it was fascinating to learn more about how coins are made in Australia (and for five Pacific Island nations, apparently). Interestingly, coin production / demand has only slowed by a few percent, despite the trend changes that a lot of us are seeing in how we pay for things (less cash, more card) in the last few years).
I should add, that as we arrived at the Mint, we had our first holiday sandwiches – quick peanut butter and/or honey sandwiches, made in a semi-rush from the boot of the car to eat in the spare 10 minutes before we had to head in for our tour. Great success! Thanks to the friends that suggested that idea of having a little box in the back of the car with some spreads, loaf of bread, and a knife. That’s going to be super handy for lunches on the road.
The plan after the Mint was to start to make tracks for Jindabyne. But Daniel had mentioned that he really wanted to get up onto Parliament House’s roof to get a closer look at the flag – and we hadn’t had time earlier in the afternoon. So we decided to head the 10 minutes back up the road to Parliament House again, and back inside. This time, we took the lift to the roof, and gazed up at the enormous flag that sits above the centre of the building. Daniel had learnt a few facts about the flag along the way somewhere (before the holiday), so he enjoyed reminding us that it is the size of a double decker bus, and that it’s changed every 4-6 weeks. But enough with the facts – it was time for some rolling down the grass hill!
We arrived in Jindabyne this evening. The kids got stuck into writing in their travel diaries for the first night, and actually really seemed to enjoy it, which is a great start. I headed into Woolies to grab a few things for dinner, along with the inevitable couple of minor things we didn’t pack. It’s been a really wonderful first day of adventures, and thankfully, the kids were keen to get to bed and seem to have gone off to sleep quickly… because tomorrow is going to be huge (and freezing)!
Looks like a great start 👍🥰