I've just got back tonight. I've missed writing in my journal. Here's some thoughts on driving. More on the trip tomorrow.

When I was young, maybe 7 or 8, it used to be a two day trip to drive up to Auckland from Wellington. It's about 350 miles or something, but the roads were a lot worse, we had a small car, and three young kids. We'd get woken up at what seemed like 4am, me and my two younger sisters. It would be cold at that hour and I remember having orange juice to drink and we'd pile into our tiny car, with pillows and blankets, and snuggle in the darkness watching the world come alive as we drove. I loved that feeling. Just a few lights on in houses as we drove by, wondering why people were up that early. Wondering if they were doing something as exciting as I was.

As we got older we had bigger cars and it only took one day to make the trip, but I've never lost that sense of adventure.

The trip to Auckland is redolent with memories. That rest area where we always used to stop, that curve in the road where it snakes back on itself in the middle of the Desert Road, lunch stops in Taihape and riding along the Auckland motorway in the dark.

We'd sometimes play games of "I Spy". Or listen to the cricket on the radio. Or make up games in the back seat, three kids having fun.

I used to pride myself on not falling asleep in the car, sometimes just me and Dad would be awake as we drove. It felt like a man thing to keep awake with him. Like I was sharing the burden of driving.

I'm going to stop this entry here. It's close to midnight, it's not quite going where I want it, but I'm too tired tired to figure it out.

I hadda good time though. And I'm even looking forward to work tomorrow!