Day 1: Sydney to Bendigo

The first day was a long drive, with my son announcing afterwards that according to the van's odometer and sat nav, we'd covered almost a quarter of the trip — this proved to be an exaggeration, but only just! Our destination was Mount Arapiles in Victoria, a spectacular climbing site my son had visited earlier in the year and was keen to show me.

However, we departed Sydney later than planned, detoured via Canberra to buy camping and climbing gear, and dawdled at Gundagai for a photo in front of the Dog on the Tuckerbox and at Holbrook for one beside the beached HMAS Otway submarine. 

Dog on the Tuckerbox at Gundagai (click for larger image)

When we finally crossed the border from NSW into Victoria at Albury-Wodonga and turned west instead of southwest, the sun was setting, and we were tired. So, 13 hours after we'd left Sydney, we pulled into a rest area near Bendigo, 3 hours from Arapiles, and camped overnight, my son in his van and me in a tent. 

I wrote in my travel journal: "It was a good first day. Sounding out the journey and each other."