Dear Mannie

Dear Mannie,

It’s the end of the first day of the rest of the tour.

How dramatic is that??

We already miss you :( Damn you for getting nasty pneumonia! You had better be resting or I’ll kick you up the date and Bridget will give you her infamous Teacher Eyes. So rest up, bish!

It’s funny, I hadn’t realized how much you actually talk during long car trips. You’re a regular comic chatterbox and we didn’t even know it (about the chatterbox part)! Sadly, I haven’t been able to do you justice as my own voice is a bit broken right now, but Paul is doing a splendid job. Since my voice has died I’ve never seen Paul and Bridget so happy. Hmmm.

The Tarago vs The ManVan

The Tarago is so *quiet*, the van sounds like a jet warming up for take-off and that’s just when it’s been started!

The Tarago doesn’t have the awesome petrol smell when you fill it up. The van does (which I love!).

The Tarago has windows on all sides!!! We are extremely gleeful about this :)

The Tarago goes from 0-60kms in roughly 20 seconds. The van goes from 0-10kms in 30 minutes.

It’s pretty feckin’ cool :) And may I add that I LOVE cruise control?

We arrived in Byron for a late lunch and were carefully guarded by Nigel the numpty no-foot seagull. He was extremely cool. While driving to Coffs Harbour we hit the most apocalyptic storm I’ve ever witnessed. It was mental! We were ready for the storm, though (a ha haaa). At one point we had debris and I was convinced a cow was about to fly past our windscreen a la Twister.

Omg, we pulled up outside a motel outside of Grafton that looked like something out of the Shining – seriously! We wanted to go inside and see whether or not ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ was plastered all over the walls. No maze, unfortunately, but there was a genuine ‘Stralian flag!

Paul is being extra manly in his farting to make up for your absence – it amuses him no end. Bridget is still maintaining her ‘ladylike’ status. We’ll just see about that :)

So now we’re at the Toreador Motel in Coffs Harbour, which is down from the Matador Motel, the Taco Motel, the Sombrero Motel and the Carlos Santana Motel. We have the smallest kettle known to man – Paul’s travelling coffee mug is bigger than this little piece of crap.

And now we’re, to quote my eloquent sisters, getting maggot on cider and Malibu and pineapple juice.

We just spoke to you and you pretty much know the story now, but we want you to feel extra special by writing publicly to you :) Rest up, that’s an order.

Love you long time my little strudel!

Nuala xxx