Jump in my car for the great holiday road trip

Do you always stop at the same place? Where and how you stop seems to be a family tradition, stuck hard and fast.

Most holidays we make the almost-600km trek from Canberra to my home town, Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter of NSW, to see my mum and dad.

After cleaning the house (I don't know why, but it has to be immaculate before we leave and in a way that it never is when people are actually living in it), Tetris-ing the car, plying the children with devices and getting the dog comfy in her crate, we head off, with a more Griswolds than Kerouac vibe.

The first place we stop is McDonald's at Sutton Forrest, like the rest of Canberra travelling north on the Hume Highway. The carpark is always full of blue ACT number plates and although Canberra now has a population of more than 450,000, I always assume I will know each and every one of these people. I rarely do.

Maccas gets a lot of stick from various critics, but when you're travelling alone with kids, it's a beacon of safety, consistency and familiarity. I've never felt a sense of unease at a Maccas the way I sometimes have at those isolated highway servos.

So after a toilet break and all McMuffined-up, with some cherries purchased from Frank's Fruit Box, we're back in the car. By now the portable DVD player has lost power and the are-we-there-yets start to ramp up. (But, in all honesty, my kids are pretty patient with the very, very boring ride).

The trip north has been revolutionised by developments such as the M7 and NorthConnex tunnel. NorthConnex, which takes motorists off the dreaded Pennant Hills Road, alone bypasses about 21 sets of traffic lights. Sheer. Bloody. Bliss. And all those pretty fairylights really distract me from the thought I am travelling on a nine-kilometre tunnel almost 100 metres underground!

Next place we stop is the Ourimbah rest area on the Central Coast, about 80km north of Sydney. We call it the "bush turkey stop" because we've spotted one or two there over the years. I just Googled it and apparently the correct name is brush turkey. We won't be changing after all these years, soz.

I like the Ourimbah spot because it has grass for the dog, a playground for when the kids were little. It's sheltered from the highway by thick vegetation. There are toilets and tables to sit for a little while. And a Driver Reviver, that great Aussie lifesaver of a free cuppa and some Arnotts bickies from friendly volunteers working from a caravan.

Although, on our most recent trip a couple of days before Christmas, the Driver Reviver wasn't open. It's supposed to open at peak holiday times. When is peak if not two days before Christmas on the M1? It's still listed as one of the 180 Driver Reviver sites, so I can only assume it did open at some point. Regardless, thank you to all the volunteers who man these sites.

Truth be told, I'd still go over and buy the $5 cup of coffee from the mobile coffee van across the carpark. But the general bonhomie created by a Driver Reviver is lovely. People do stop and talk and let their dogs sniff each other's bum. It's a good break.

Which leads me to another point - do you pack your own lunch? My mother is a stickler for a well-stocked picnic basket every road trip. Out comes the the table cloth, the flask for the tea and a Tupperware container of sandwiches - usually white bread, lots of butter, corned beef and pickles. It's the best. I need to get more organised.

The last stop before we reach our final destination is Singleton, just south of Muswellbrook. It's usually where the kids go to sleep, with just half an hour of travelling left to go. This trip, we got E10 petrol for $1.52 a litre. A true Christmas miracle.

ACT number plates get very thin on the ground north of Sydney. If I do spot one, I always annoy the kids by saying, "Oh, look they're from Canberra. I wonder if we know them". I can't help it. It's my road trip tradition.

Safe travels everyone.