Easter Long Weekend: Charlie’s first long distance trip, 15hours Sydney to Brisbane and back

15 April, 2022

 

Did an epic drive up to Brisbane in one go yesterday, leaving Sydney at 9am and arriving in Sunnybank Brisbane at midnight! Charlie had been good, sleeping when the car was moving. We still had to stop the car quite a few times to help him stretch, make sure he was not overheated, and feed him. In addition to the frequent stopping, there were some congestions on the road which delayed us by 1.5hours. I had to drive as well, because it wasn’t safe for my husband to do all the driving himself over such a long distance. It wasn’t a good feeling to be pumping my breasts in the car, but feeding expressed milk was the most efficient way to feed him when we were driving, as we didn’t have to stop the car when we did that. We brought a cooler bag, ice pack, milk warmer, cooled boiled water, and steam steriliser, which are all very important equipment for feeding! The cooler bag and ice pack acts as a “minifridge” so that excessive expressed milk and the pump containers don’t spoil during the car trip. We even brought the baby mobile, so there will be some familiar soothing music for him in the new environment. By the time we got to Port Macquarie, I felt I was going nuts already! One of my university classmates also came to Brisbane with his family, but they flew up instead of driving up, and I began feeling very envious of them. They flew by Qantas, which has its own domestic terminal, which they said was not congested with people like the other domestic terminal. Don’t think I will ever agree to my husband about doing a drive like this again in the future. There was a cot prepared for Charlie in the motel, but Charlie got very scared in the strange cot, so we had to place Charlie in between us on the bed. Not the most ideal situation, but nothing much we could do.

 

16 April, 2022

 

Thought my milk production would decrease big time due to all the stress of travelling like we did yesterday. Surprisingly, it didn’t! Maybe it’s the magic of the Taiwanese food in Sunnybank. Met up with the family that flew up from Sydney to Brisbane yesterday. Their 6 month old is only approximately 20 days older than Charlie and is smiley and friendly to everyone. Charlie is more reserved. Charlie is calm with strangers but only tend to smile to people he knows well. Sunnybank is actually a pretty good place to visit when you cannot go back to Taiwan for Taiwanese food. We haven’t been back to Taiwan since January 2020. Began meeting up with relatives and friends today.

17 April, 2022

 

Had a family portrait session with our wedding photographer Alex. Although it was quite tiring, it was something worthwhile doing, especially with a 6 month old baby, as this is a time when babies reach some important milestones. Furthermore, it was a rare opportunity where we could have professional photos with Chris’ relatives. And most importantly, photos taken at home cannot compare with photos taken by a highly skilled professional!

18 April, 2022

 

This is the day when we realised “it’s a small world in Brisbane after all”. We were taking it easy and didn’t arrange to meet anyone in the day time, but bumped into Chris’ cousin whom we had only just met for lunch the day before, and an aunty who had played an important role in Chris’ life whom we only just met for dinner the day before. Don’t know if it’s simply easy to bump into people in Sunnybank and Calamvale, or it’s God’s providence.

 

19 April, 2022

 

Did another 15 hour drive today. Left Brisbane at 7am and arrived in Sydney at 10pm. The traffic was really bad on the way towards Gold Coast. We stopped in Tweed Heads, as I’ve never been there before. It is actually quite a nice place to take a vacation. Then, we were intending to stop at the service station in Ballina but the misleading signage led us to exit the highway before reaching the service station and we couldn’t get back onto the highway without going to the tow centre! At Ballina, we took a photo of the big prawn. Charlie was tired. Then, the next stop was Coffs Harbour, and we stopped by the big banana. Charlie could barely open his eyes. By the time we got to Taree, it was dark already, and we didn’t bother taking a photo of the big oyster as it is too ugly anyways. The weather was pretty good until the last 30 minutes of our drive. When we got home and placed Charlie in the cot, he began grinning happily. When we placed the baby mobile back onto the cot, Charlie pressed the start music button using his hand for the first time! He used to press the button with his feet before! That’s quite a leap in his fine motor skills at 6 months and 9 days!

The way down south

 

Did the first half of our south coast trip right after my wedding last year with relatives and friends visiting from Taiwan, 9-12Sept, 2019. Got to Mogo and didn’t have time to go further south, because we already booked accommodation in Canberra on 13Sept, even though I really wanted to go all the way to Merimbula/Pambula/Eden where I did my GP training ten years ago.

My husband actually made a trip down to Pambula/Eden while I was doing GP training there, but we “just missed each other.” We were attending the same church in Sydney at that time, but we barely talked to each other and he changed church even before we had the chance to get to know each other. Therefore, neither of us even realised we could have met up in Merimbula at that time.

Here's the link to the photo album from the two trips: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bC33fJer5iLyN5zf8 

25Dec, 2020

 

With border closures due to the recent COVID19 cluster in Sydney, we could only travel within NSW this Christmas (and we still haven’t diagnosed anyone with COVID in our clinic yet this year). Decided to complete the rest of our south coast trip. Passed through places like Batehaven, Broulee, Moruya, Narooma, Bermagui, Tathra, before arriving in Bega.

 

Checked out the Bega District Hospital where I did one week of locum during Christmas 10 years ago, and saw it was desolated! Turns out it had been replaced by a new hospital, the South East Regional Hospital! Everything was closed in Bega on Christmas day. Not even MacDonald’s was open! The kind motel receptionist gave us two boxes of frozen meals and a bag of cherries.

 

26Dec, 2020

 

A walk down memory lane, visited the places I used to live, walked on the main streets in Merimbula. There seems to be a lot more shops than ten years ago. Woolworth has been shifted to a much bigger building. First time eating at the MacDonald’s in Merimbula and the view was wonderful. Also ate some yummy local oysters.

Went down to Pambula and had a look at the places I used to work: Pambula Medical Centre and Pambula District Hospital. Also went down to the Pambula Beach to see if I can find the lazy kangaroos that lay by the beach. There are still many at the caravan park. I saw a Surf Life Saving rescuer use a drone to search the sea! Didn’t realise they utilise drones in their operations!

 

Went further south to the Curalo Medical Clinic in Eden where I used to work, and suddenly realised I never went further south than that place! I’ve never even visited the main street of Eden! So we decided to go further down along Eden. Had a $34 meaty lobster in the Eden Wharf. Went to Boydtown before turning back north.

 

Went to Tura Beach and realised there is also a large Woolworth. Went past a place called Jellat Jellat which had a strange metal fungus-like statue before returning to Bega again. Again, Bega looked like a ghost town and we were not impressed at all about the 50 minute wait for our Kebab at Master Kebab Bega!

 

27Dec, 2020

 

A blessed day today! The sunshine allowed me to see that beautiful aqua colour of the waters of the Merimbula Boardwalk, which I enjoyed walking on from time to time as a GP registrar ten years ago!

 

Had to hurry off though, because my husband wanted to see the Cooma Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre which closes at 2pm. Got to the Brown Mountain via B72 way, which is a easier drive than the Candelo way I used to drive as a GP registrar. But the Brown Mountain drive is still as difficult as it was back then!

 

Got to Snowy Hydro in time. Also went around town, had a nice lunch at the 123 Coffee House, checked out the Nanny Goat Hill lookout and the Mount Gladstone look out, before moving on to Queanbeyan. There is nothing much in Queanbeyan, but we had to book this place as the ACT border is closed to Greater Sydney.

28Dec, 2020

 

Woke up pretty early and went to the Googong Foreshores. Luckily the weather was still beautiful, even though the weather forecast said there was going to be a thunderstorm. Drove back to Sydney via some smaller country roads instead of the Federal Highway. Stopped by Bowral and had a look at the Dirty Janes Antique Market. Bumped into a good friend there! The weather started turning bad in the late afternoon, as we continued our way back to Sydney.

 

This marks the end of our Christmas New Year road trip. We probably won’t be going out much until the current Sydney COVID19 cluster settles.

 

Listened to a Christian speaker on the car during the road trip and began to understand why I have gradually been feeling distant from God: There’s been a lack of quiet time spent listening to and connecting with God, free from personal agendas. In other words, wanting to connect with God out of a true desire to connect, and not because I want to ask God for something. And despite knowing that I am nothing apart from God, who is the source of all living, that knowledge seemed to be in my head knowledge rather than a conviction in my heart. In retrospect, I realised I have walked across many “desert roads” due to my rebellions against God, where I thought I knew better than God about what was the best for myself and others around me, and tried to solve problems using my own ways. My own voice was too loud for me to hear God. Glad that I didn’t “miss” my husband in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti6eJosPOtk&list=PL3F52B8EC7E050087