On the Road Again

Trip Start Oct 15, 2007
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Trip End Aug 24, 2008


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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

We were back on the road, and the radio was terrible. Kirsty was driving the last stint and was flicking through the local stations to find something to listen to. Jacob was snoozing. This was a shame, as it meant that he missed the unquestionable joys of "Skin Complaint Hour", the radio special that Kirsty finally alighted on.
 
It's a wonder that Kirsty didn't drive us off the road, she was laughing so much. One man had asked about the dry flaky skin on his penis and had been given the advice "See a doctor and don't phone in to radio shows with that sort of thing!". Another had phoned about his black eye, which is arguably not really a skin complaint. He didn't much care about advice, he just wanted to announce to the good people of Marlborough and the surrounding district that he had called his wife a bitch, so she hit him. Six times.
 
It's the sort of thing you probably need to hear to really appreciate, but it gives you an idea of the quality of entertainment that we were experiencing. It seemed that now was a good a time as any to stop for the night and turn the radio off.
 
The following day, we drove again. We passed through Maryborough, which is the home of P.L. Travers, who wrote Mary Poppins. There was a large wooden cut out of Mary Poppins as you entered the town, but we didn't stick around to see if there was much else.
 
Jacob phoned in to the local radio station to join in with their discussions on the tooth fairy. The Australian tooth fairy, it turns out, collects the teeth of children from a small glass of water beside the bed. Jacob explained that this is not what the British tooth fairy does and described the tradition of leaving the tooth under the pillow of the child. What a debut on Australian radio that was.
 
A little while later, we passed a bunch of kangaroos in a clearing. We stopped and walked back to take pictures and generally play the part of the overexcited Pom tourist getting their first glimpse of the native fauna.
 
That evening, we drove through Brisbane, stopping for food at a KFC (apologies to our respective tutting Mothers). We stopped overnight in a layby north of Frederickson, which allowed us to pop in to Freddo's pies in the morning for breakfast. Jacob had emu, Kirsty had chicken satay. Both were delicious.
 
We were hoping to get back to Sydney before the Indian Embassy closed at 3pm. It looked like we might make it. Onwards...
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