I love the nostalgia of a road trip. My recent stay at the Great Lakes caravan park Forster brought back memories of my childhood when Mum and Dad would throw me and the dogs in the back of the unseatbelted, unairconditioned, unreliable Kingswood and drive from dawn til dusk on bitumen turned molten under the harsh Australian sun to some far flung caravan park in the middle of nowhere because it was cheap. I remember spending a lot of time on the side of the road listening to the stream of expletives that spewed from my Dad’s mouth while his head was buried under the bottle green bonnet. No wonder I can swear like a sailor! Later, as newly licensed, cash-poor teenagers, we would pool our pennies for gas, pile into one of our bangers and speed out of Sydney most Friday nights with an exuberance reserved only for the young. Those were heady days and we reveled in that joyous space between childhood and being a ‘real’ adult where you are invincible. 30(ish) years on, I itch to explore all the world has to offer and travel means boarding a flight to fancy rather than starting up the family car. With one exception. Our annual group trip. As we settled into our Forster accommodation, the menfolk unpacked the cars, the kids ran excitedly from one cabin to the next and I nursed a freshly poured wine while taking a moment to study the now laugh lined faces of those once carefree young women I road tripped with a lifetime ago. And I felt blessed. Blessed to still have them in my life. Sure it’s a harder to get together now. Gone are the days when we would simply ring around on a Thursday night to see who was ‘in’ for the weekend as none of us yet possessed (or even imagined) smart phones capable of instant group chat. These days our technology has improved but hectic schedules, kid’s weekend activities, shift-working husbands and a general level of exhaustion must all be juggled with military precision to find time to catch up. Even though my grown up boys have long since stopped tagging along, I still enjoy the simplicity of these trips and spending quality time with a group of pals I love with all my heart. Read on for all the details …

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