Long Car Ride

We are doing a long road trip this Christmas from Adelaide to northern NSW. My girls are 6,4 and 9 months. Last time we did it pre kids it took 23 hours. This time we are stopping overnight twice on the way there and once on the way back. One of the stops is with DH friend who's wife C will be 37 weeks pregnant (really dont think we should stay with them but DH and his mate and wife are insisting!) the other two are motels. If C isnt up to visitors or has bub early I have planned the trip so we can go straight to our destination without needing to find accommodation but it will make for two very long trips.

Anyway what am I missing that we might need on the road trip so far we have

Stable tables, portable dvd players and movies, colouring in, mini puzzles, books, my ipad

Food wise we are taking an eski and Ill make lunch for the first day plus drinks, fresh fruit, pre packaged cereal bowls for breakfast, milk and other snacks

I also have a spew bucket (FX we dont need it) wet facewasher in a glad bag, toilet paper, tissues

Navman, maps and a first aid kit

Anything we might need? Any other tips?

We are going from darwin to Newcastle with a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old. I brought an organiser at the back of the head rest so right in front of them. I armed it with a new colouring book a notepad coloured pencils their sunnies and own waterbottle. I have also packed wet ones (can't remember if that was on your list) we also have a DVD player so brought along some DVDs. Their comfort blankets. That's about it other then all the things u mentioned all ready. We are bringing a trailer so we are also carrying extra fuel. Enjoy the trip :)

We did adelaide to Gosford last Christmas with 18mo DS1 with one stop over night. Then after Christmas we drove to melb with a 2 day stop in Eden.
We've just gone to melb & back with 2y4mo & 6wko and took pretty much the same thing.
We took books he could 'read' by himself, CDs of kids music, fruit & vegies all chopped up and easy to eat, wet wipes, biscuits & crackers, lots of water, cars & other toys, coloring stuff.... But I think you said all that in your original post! Hope it goes well!

Oh & don't forget all the games you played in the car as a kid like I spy. DS1 is a bit young for letters so we do colours or size or noise instead.

Torch, batteries and spare water bottles (for the car).

Have a great time!!

Sunscreen - tints aren't as UV proof as they claim to be. I keep some in my car all the time for the backs of my hands but when I'm doing a road trip I chuck in a kid's one as well.

Books are for the stopovers, yes? In the car reading can make people motion sick.

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Books are for the stopovers, yes? In the car reading can make people motion sick.

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They certainly do this with me :(

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. Hadn't thought about sunscreen but yes definitely on my list now as is a torch and batteries.

Car games will be interesting as DD2 has no concept of ispy, everything starts with T! I have a blanket each and their own bottles (boosters have cup/bottle holders yay!) thinking about travel pillows but not sure if they will take up too much space

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thinking about travel pillows but not sure if they will take up too much space

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D'you have a few old flats? They won't take up any room, but you can roll up a couple together for each child and make a neck roll if you need to.

great idea :) I might pop them in a pillow case like we do at work, much cheaper and easier idea ta

Don't forget a ball or something so they can run of excess energy at the pit stops.

We travel between Townsville and Melbourne twice a year. The first trip with the kids was when the eldest was 4 weeks old. He is now 6 and the youngest is 4.

Main thing is you don't get stressed and yell as that makes them get upset and act up. If it is getting too much, pull over and get them to run laps (or shoot each other with water pistols then strip them off to get back into the car).

It can be great fun or hell depending on how you handle it.

Oh, and don't forget Panadol or Nurofen in case of illness. Whenever we don't pack this, one of the boys will get sick. When we do pack it, they are always healthy. Murphys Law!

Find a little potty that the girls will use. When we drove from western sydney to Cairns those inevitable "I need to wee!" never synced with rest stops/toilets & squatting on the side of the road was not something DD was willing to do! I had the potty in the car for her which made it much easier.

sounds good so far.
But add some music, kids music, family friendly music, etc. Always fun to have a sing a long of long trips.

I have a deck of cards called "50 things to do in the car" or something like that. Has different game ideas like everyone talk like a pirate, a shared story where everyone takes turns adding to it, spotting cars of a certain colour, making a puppet out of a paper bag etc. we find it useful on car trips for dd when she gets sick of the iPad

PHENERGAN and DIMETAPP great for car sickness and allergies and (a forced sleep if need bee as well)

we did a melb to darwin trip with my youngest then was 18 mths and the phenergan was a great thing as the suffered with car sickness and it stops that too :)

MG I might lookm up some similar ideas and put them on scraps of paper and get the kids to pick

Beans - we are planning on taking the ipod and we have a little device thing that means we can listen on the car speakers :)

Efjay I was thinking of a potty but Im scared they might decide to do a number two and I really dont want to clean that up on the side of the road!!! Might bite the bullet and take it (and I dont like squatting either so it might get some extra use ;))

Bub No 3 I know many people reccomend phenergen etc but unless my kids are sick I prefer not to give them medication, especially sedatives when we are travelling and they may be sleeping in sub optimal positions to start with then adding medication that might reduce their respiatory effort is a worry to me. Each to their own though :) but I might be regretting that comment if any of them start vomiting!

I will add it doesnt sedate them if they arent tired and it isnt enough to compromise resp effort .....

Phenergan can have the effect of hyping children up on occasion. I can't imagine anything worse than trying to drive with your children bouncing off the walls (except perhaps being stuck in a plane with them).

I think hyper kids on a plane would be better than the car, at least in a plane they can't distract the pilot!

True, but in a car you don't have to put up with the hatred of a hundred people and the pity of a hundred more. It's the pity that burns :(