December the 24th 2010 early morning my family and I were packing our stuff, we are going on a holiday to Queensland. It was summer holiday and my family had been planning this trip since last year. We wanted to go around Australia and see different places, so we did. We plan to take the trip by car, so we did and make our way towards our first stop near the border of Victoria, the small town called Wodonga.

7It took us 8 hours to get there through alternative road and given the fact that we had to stop 4 times for break plus we had to pass through farms and off road tracks. Certainly worth it though because we like the view of the farms and the weather was great as well so no complains throughout the trip. We arrived at Wodonga around 6pm we stayed at Barkley motel, there was nothing much we did that night all we did was have dinner and then went to bed early. The next day early in the morning we continued our journey towards Queensland, we’re passing through the borders of NSW and continued our way towards our next stop which is a town called Newcastle. Throughout the journey we still took the alternative road just to see the farms and hills along the way apparently we all liked the view. Not much to tell from the trip but we arrive at Newcastle we plan to stay there for 2 days, the town was beautiful near the docks it’s nothing like the big city or the country side it was more in between. We walked around buying souvenir and visit historical sites. I would say that I enjoy that place but after spending time in Newcastle we hit the road this time climbing mountains and passing The Great Dividing Range making our way towards Brisbane.

8Throughout the journey we had trouble with the congestion and it was unusual because the traffic happen in the alternative roads, we turned on the radio and tuned in. Apparently as we knew Australia is in the worse state at the time natural disaster running across the land. Bushfire, floods, strong winds and many more, so as we made our way towards the border of Queensland we are stopped and asked to turn around apparently the flood ahead was deep. So we stopped at the gas station many cars and people were there chit chatting but we heard rumors about another alternative road so we took the risk going there. Since we didn’t want to lose our money of paying the hotel so we had no choice but to try, on our way a lengthy water flood on the road stopped us. My dad had doubt to move forward but I told him why don’t I checked the depth of it, so I made my way towards the water getting towards the middle it becomes deeper but cars still able to go through. After I checked I wave the sign to say it’s okay to go on, so we went on. We arrived at Brisbane at 10pm, exhaustion from all of us. We checked in and clean ourselves and went straight to bed. The morning we travel around Brisbane, it was the most beautiful city in Australia in my opinion. Anything that you want you can find, we spent our time in Queensland for quite a while but we were also cautious about the news of the flood. It seems the river is feeling up with rainwater. After several days in Queensland we head back to NSW for new years.

9On our way back to New South Wales we stopped by at Gold Coast apparently it’s one of the most popular beaches in Australia and certainly the biggest too. After playing and swimming we continued our road trip we arrived at Canberra late at night and stayed there. The next day we went around the city I was surprised because the capital was quite but my dad told me that the capital is supposed to be quite because this is a place for governor and facility is less. We still made our way around Canberra and we stopped and visit the parliament house and my most favorite place AIS. Australia institute of Sport is one of the places I wished to attend to because it’s the most prestigious place for athlete to be in. so we looked around and the facility was amazing every tool and sport center is there for athlete to develop their skill. After looking around and visiting sites in Canberra we made our way toward Sydney. It was New Years Eve the next day we went around the city to go shopping and visiting famous sites such as the Botanical garden we walked around and took photos and occupying ourselves until late at night. It was around eleven at night people gather around under or near the Sydney Harbor Bridge, waiting for the fireworks to lit up. There was police, ambulance and firefighters around just in case if there’s an accident happen around. Luckily there was none, my family and I enjoy the fireworks and enjoying the whole summer season. The next day we wake up early and drove ourselves back towards Melbourne this time no alternative but the toll roads. We used the M1 line and make our way back this time no stopping by towns and sites so we plan to get there late at midnight the least.

We arrived at home around 12.30, all of us were tired but we enjoy our road trip. I must say it was the most fun trip I have ever experienced. It certainly the best trip anyone could ever imagine taking a drive towards Brisbane from Melbourne passing 4 big cities and 3 states, it should not be a missed. This is my trip and my adventure, I had a blast and I enjoyed the moment.

By: Mohamad Anugerah Ramadhan