Road tripping to 2009

Welcome to 2009! It has been a preposterously long time since my last post and I do apologize. I'm hoping in 2009 to improve on that and get back to a regular posting cycle.

I just came back from a seven day road trip today so I'm fairly tired and suffering from typical post-vacation depression, but I'm finding doing normal activities like blogging and reading help get me back in the mood for going back to work.

I went with pretty much the same crowd that I went to Thailand with, so it all felt comfortable and familiar. We had a good mix of boys and girls to keep the group dynamic from getting too girly or too blokey. The group operated like a well oiled machine where we all knew what had to be done and would be comfortable doing it. I think I appreciated this holiday more than previous ones because I felt needed. I could drive long distances, I could help cook, put up tents and just be useful whereas on previous holidays, I was more just a participant.

The driving was an highlight for me. Driving for most people is a necessary evil, but I enjoy a uninterrupted, interesting drive through the country. We had two cars, one being a latest generation Toyota Aurion and the other being an Holden Commodore Sports Edition. I loved driving the Commodore. Being a el-cheapo 98' Camry driver myself, it is great to be being the wheel of a powerful modern driving machine. I wasn't the only one however, since all the boys wanted first dibs on the Commodore.

In terms of activities and destinations, we didn't actually do all that much on this trip. In quick chronological summary:

• Day 1 - Brisbane
• Day 2- Noosa - Beach activities
  
• Day 3 - Gold Coast - Beach activities.
  
• Day 4 - Gold Coast - White water world theme park.
  
• Day 5 - Gold Coast - Shopping and lazing about
  
• Day 6 - Byron Bay & Coffs Harbour - Lazing around in an resort.
  
• Day 7 - Port Macquarie & Barrington Tops - Camping
  
• Day 8 - Back to Sydney. - Lots of driving back.
  

In all but Barrington Tops, we'd stay in serviced apartments so we did live in relative comfort. We evenly split cooking at home and going out. On the nights we cooked, we'd typically end up playing some sort of games such as the collection of Q's drinking games, Uno or Pot (a variant of Charades). I noticed our group is quite competitive where we try to make things a challenge to keep things interesting. Even on the drive home, we'd try and guess approximately when we'd arrive. It tends to feed my slightly competitive edge even though I did suck at a lot of those games, particularly the coordination based drinking games (as if it wasn't hard enough without the alcohol!).

It wasn't quite in the same league as our trip to Thailand, which felt a little bit more 'complete' and fulfilling, but it was still an enjoyable holiday away from the daily grind. After writing this post I feel a little more comfortable, but I still fear the first day back into work.