T minus 3 days or so

Once again, a trip is approaching and there's way too much to get done and far too little time. I'm sure that when 10:30 Sunday night rolls around, we'll be on a 747 heading for the Pacific. Sane? Not so sure.

Since we didn't take our son anywhere really fun last year, we decided we would absolutely, positively go overseas somewhere this year. With airfares to Australia ridiculously low this summer, our minds were practically made up for us, so on Sunday we're off to Oz. And no, I've never been before, although my husband was there 21 years ago. I'm sure not much has changed. After wracking our brains for many weeks, reading all our different guidebooks, and so forth, we still couldn't decide where exactly we wanted to spend our 14 nights. Australia, you see, is vast, like the U.S., so without flying (which gets expensive and stressful), you can only see so much. We didn't initially consider Melbourne, as we thought we "must see" the Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rock. However, our son is a nervous flyer, can't swim, and probably wouldn't think all that much of a large rock, however unique and spiritually charged it may be. So we decided to go on a car trip. Leaving Sydney, we'll make our way to Melbourne via the Blue Mountains, take in the Great Ocean Road, and find a different route back to Sydney. It's still a lot for two weeks, and I'm sure there's much we'll miss. But our trip has become a holiday, instead of an ordeal. Sometimes it's better to downsize one's trip ambitions, if you're looking for a vacation!

We plan to post an update every day, but we're not sure about internet access in all the little towns we hope to stop in. And there may be days when family time trumps computer time. But we'll do our best to make it a daily affair, and take you along on our adventure Down Under.