James family adventures: Car Capers

We've had some big driving days, going from Alice Springs up to Normanton in three days. Each has been about 8+ hours of driving and the boys have held up pretty well. We don't have a DVD player going and we only allow them to play on electronic devices for a short while during that time...so, what do we do?

... one day we had a karaoke session. We each picked what song we wanted to have played and did a solo. James boys being James boys, it then became competitive and there was knock out and finals organised.

... we've had on audio books. The whole of the Chronicles of Narnia have been done now and though we did these in the car several years ago, the younger ones were able to appreciate them more this time. I actually found that "The Silver Chair" has gone up in my list of favourites to #3. Other audio books will follow.

... there's been "newspaper nirvana". That's when Andrew gets to sit in the passenger seat and read the paper on the iPad while I drive. He often reads out snippets and we talk about it. Zac has the newspaper on his iPad too so there's two copies in the car.

... have I mentioned I am keeping all the op-shops (thrift stores) running? We have been buying so many used books and chew through them so quickly. Loads of sporting bios have been read; some Aussie classics - I am reading Mary Durack books and Zac is reading Robbery Under Arms at present; Mark is getting into Secret Seven and Famous Five; Adam is reading "Gifted Hands- the Ben Carson Story" and I found a Cairo Jim book for him. We are swapping with each other and still running out of things to read! Stephen has been reading for schoolwork and hasn't read too many of the other ones floating about.

...the boys have developed a car cricket game. They write up the whole scorecard very properly and it's the Ashes, of course. The batsman gets runs based on the colour of the car that goes past. A white car is one run, grey/silver - two, blue/black- three, yellow/green/orange - four, gold/pink/purple are six and a red car is out. In one innings, Adam got 467 and in another, less than 150! I guess some days have more red cars than others.

... on Sunday, we had a sermon in the car as we just drove right through that day. It was great to catch up on one from church that we'd missed and to be reminded of home.

TRAVELLING TIP:
There's plenty of free camp places along major highways. They are well cared for, offer basic services and give you a place to crash for 24 hours. We used 2 on this three day trek. It meant no power, but we had gas and we lit a fire. We had marshmallows and now have firm opinions about which brands perform the best and I made my first damper.