Road Trip! Day 1 – Dog on the Tucker Box, Gundagai & Wangaratta

January 30, 2015

Australia, Countries, Family holidays & travel, Glenrowan, Gundagai, Museums, New South Wales, Victoria, Wangaratta

LetsGoMum

Our feet were becoming itchy and the road was a-calling….time for a road-trip! With very loose plans formulating in my head, I pointed the car towards Victoria and set off down the Hume Highway with me (47), my mum (a lady never tells her age), Brooke (9) and Samantha (7) excitedly chatting – and although it’s been a bit of a long day, it was a lot of fun!

First stop was dropping the cat off at the cattery – unfortunately, we ran over a snake in their drive way! Urban myths of snakes flicking up under cars and then biting the occupants as they got out formed in my head – but we have survived the day!

Then we were off on our holiday-proper, me: “kids, look at the view!” “look at the clouds” “look at the trucks” “can you read the town/creek/anything signs?” “would you like a sandwich?” kids: “can we turn the ipads on and watch a movie? (no)” “can we have Twisties-lollies-lemonade?(after your fruit, yes!)””Samantha/Brooke pushed me/took my toy/rolled her eyes at me! (shhhhh! Can you see I’m driving? Here, take the Twisties!)

After numerous service-centre stops, we pulled in to the Dog on the Tuckerbox, 5 miles (that’s 8km’s to you and me) from Gundagai. Time for your History Class, kids! I force-fed them (one version of) the tale of the Dog on the Tuckerbox, how he was left to mind the grub whilst his owner, Bill the Bullocky went in search of help to get his bullock cart unstuck from the river. Bill never returned, but the dog waited patiently, minding the Tucker Box until the day he died.

The Dog on the Tucker Box Souvenir Shop – everything doggy!

After you’ve snapped a pic of the kids in front of the Dog on the Tuckerbox, don’t miss the shop next door, particularly if you are a dog-lover. There are literally thousands of dog ornaments, signs, oh, you-name-it – absolutely everything doggy in this eclectic shop – well worth a look, and you can grab a cuppa whilst you’re there – ahhh! Check out this funny sign we found in the souvenir shop window!

A sign in the window of the souvenir shop – I am definitely supervising in this shop!

Back on the road, but not before I did a quick youtube search for “The Road to Gundagai” song and plugged it in to the stereo as we drove past Gundagai – ah, nostalgia – got to love it! We drove the further 2 hours to Albury Woodonga and exited the highway to drive through the town for our crossing of the New South Wales / Victoria border – over the Murray River we drove – weee! We were immediately confronted by all the graphic Vic Road signs telling people not to speed/drive tired/text on their phones whilst behind the wheel. You’ve got to love Victoria, they just don’t muck around and it’s probably very effective too.

I weighed up finding a hotel, but decided that as it was only late-afternoon we could press on a little more (30 minutes) to Wangaratta. We pulled into the Parkview Motor Inn ($130 per night – family room) – pretty much because it was the first central motel we came across, but it was perfect for our needs. Roomy, comfy & clean with tea and coffee facilities, great shower, free wifi and super-friendly staff – plus the one thing that the girls adore – a pool!

The Parkview Inn motel in Wangaratta is a great place to stop for a night or two

The Parkview Motor Inn motel in Wangaratta is a great place to stop for a night or two

We ordered Italian for dinner (D’Amicos – not the greatest food for the price), mainly because they delivered (I was tired – single parents are allowed to relax just a little too!!). Then the kids went and threw themselves in the pool, despite the fact it was only about 18 degrees and early evening – brrr! I took the option of just watching them. Finally fed and showered, the kids collapsed into bed and I could settle back to – well, get on the laptop of course – now about those 200 emails…

Today’s route:

You can read our daily Road Trip! blogs here…

Next we’re headed to…Glenrowan and the Ned Kelly Museum, then wherever our itchy feet take us – we’ll check in with you tomorrow! Have you ever been to the locations we’re visiting, or want to? Leave us a message in the comments box below – we’d love to hear from you!

Brrr - pretty cold in, but the kids don't mind! A cool-off in the Parkview Inn pool

Brrr – pretty cold in, but the kids don’t mind! A refreshing cool-off in the Parkview Inn pool

Post Tagged with dog, gundagai, on, the, tuckerbox, victoria, wangaratta

About LetsGoMum

Hi, I'm Barbara, mum of the Let's Go Mum blog. We'd love to hear from you! You can contact me anytime with ideas on where you think we should go or what you think we should try...just drop me a line at barbara@letsgomum.com.au!