A long time ago I got into a habit of naming our ‘long’ trips and somehow, they took on a musical theme.

First there was “It’s a long way to the top” (AC/DC or Acca Dacca to most Aussies) on this trip we went to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. After traversing the country from the bottom to the top and back again we found this sign at the entrance to our final caravan park….

The next year it was “Go West” (Village People) – as we trundled up the Western Australia coast. “Rolling North” was most obviously a mistaken name as our destination was Rollingstone and I hadn’t realised at this point that I was naming them by songs. Heavens I must be thick because even the cabins at Rollingstone are named after Stones’ hits. Then came “Road to Nowhere” (Talking Heads) the year that we decided to just run with no plans. 2018 started with “Bound for South Australia”, yes, it is a song a rollicking sea shanty, but I really should have named that trip “Running on Empty” (Jackson Browne) after we twice limped into servos on little but the smell of diesel. That effort was quickly followed by “Cunnamulla Fellas” a tribute to Slim Dusty when we visited Cunnamulla. Don’t tell Woody but I am secretly working my way through the towns that Slim mentions in that song… Charleville, Cunnamulla, Dirranbandi. Which brings us to last year and ‘Up the Guts’. Our dismal failure of a trip to Darwin certainly doesn’t qualify as a song and perhaps that is why the car engine died, just not enough music. At least things were redeemed with the replacement trip that we called “(I’ll) Follow the Sun” (The Beatles). Now it’s time to ponder the next one but we’d better work out the destination first.