number one road trip crafting

Around here, we love a good road trip holiday. Load up the kids, fuel up the car, and head off in search of adventure. This year, it was a 28 hour round trip for a long weekend in Thredbo. Last year (and many before that), it was the outback in search of dinosaurs and beautiful open landscapes. As our babies grow and set off into the world, it is truly a joy to me that the holidays they choose to spend with us are those weeks of travel days and unpacking and repacking and how-many-k’s-can-we-do-in-a-week kind of trips. Even more joyous, was the text we got a couple of months ago.

“If I organise to bring a few mates home in the holidays, what are the chances I can have the car for a week for a road trip?”

Clearly, we’ve done something right on these trips that even as an adult, planning a holiday with friends, his first thought is “outback road trip”. My first thought? I wonder if I could make them t-shirts….

Absolutely not, I was told. Which, rude. But I couldn’t let a road trip pass without something, and so when I spotted travel mugs for $3.50 at BigW, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

When we were down in the big smoke in mid-July for parent’s weekend, it wasn’t long after the announcement of the 2026 university rankings and UNSW was leaning in HARD to that number one spot, which Bear and his mates found hilarious. Of course, that then made the perfect launch point for road trip crafting, and soon enough, four travel mugs labelled as “Australia’s #1 outback trip” lined my desk.

The boys very graciously accepted their mugs with only a small eyeroll from the one belonging to me, and on his return, Bear told me, and I quote “yeah so the travel mugs turned out to be super useful actually”.

You’re welcome, child.

Today, that large child is at work, and we are counting down the days until we have to farewell him again on the weekend. The two middles are also at work, so it’s just Beetle and I at the school table, trying to power through the last of this terms school work and dream of impending holidays. I’m contemplating adopting the Queensland calendar this term because this mama is so ready for a break. My craft room needs cleaning AGAIN. There’s the last of the road trip gear to clean and pack away, the dishwasher needs to be properly reinstalled after repairs last week, and the washing pile is tormenting me with memories of last weekend at the beach…take me back, because real life is kicking my tail this week! Let’s see if maybe we can sneak some crafting in, somewhere…maybe between serving dinner and scout pick up? We’ll see!