My Wodonga work trip started with a 7:55 am pickup and a quick stop at Sunshine Station to grab a colleague, and before long we were cruising up the Hume. I took the front seat and did a lot of heavy listening, which is my favourite kind of road trip mode. The best treat on the way was a coffee with ice cream and whipped cream on top. Not exactly a flat white, but it was a road trip, and a road trip is a road trip.
Wodonga and Albury
Lunch was a Thai Hard salad, with dessert of homemade honey joy by Lisa, followed by a long finance workshop with the team. Then came my favorite part of the whole trip. We worked the day in Wodonga, Victoria, then drove over the Murray to check in at the Mantra in Albury, New South Wales. I love the idea of working in one state and sleeping the night in another. Crossing a state border daily feels like such a small, silly joy, but it makes an ordinary work trip feel like an adventure.
Thank god I packed extra clothes, because when I came down for dinner, everyone else had changed into fresh outfits too.
Team dinner was at Saigon Bites. I would have much preferred Din Din, but I went with the sizzling beef steak served with bread. It was sweeter than savoury, a bit unusual, and actually good. Steak with bread on a Vietnamese menu is most likely a French influence, a little leftover from the colonial era that has become its own thing. Good on me for skipping the rice. We also shared prawn rolls, pork rolls and salt and pepper prawns.
Back in the room, SBS Food was on, but I had forgotten my glasses. So I read instead, called Amma, and then spent two hours culling my to-do list. Wired, of course. I also stressed about having only read 25% of the book club book.
Running in Albury along the Murray River
I snoozed my alarm three times, then laced up for a run in Albury along the Murray River. This was the run I had been looking forward to, running beside the very river that separates New South Wales from Victoria, with Wodonga just on the other side. Then the rain came. Thankfully, I had my cap on, and I turned around and ran back to the hotel before I got completely soaked. On the way in, I bumped into a colleague.
After checkout, it was coffee and quick reading, then back across the border for a factory visit in Wodonga, another round of finance discussions, and the drive home to Melbourne.
Albury Wodonga and Melbourne
Lunch was at Zombrero, where I ordered the toasted burrito with rice inside, which was really good. The conversation back was lighter than the day before. We talked about food and horror the whole way. The rest stop coffee, made by a kid, was the worst coffee of the trip. Ugh. My colleagues also teased me for not knowing what Spotlight is, which I am apparently never going to live down.
Once I was dropped home, I rushed straight to gym session, caught a friend just finishing hers, showered, and finally relaxed with tofu from the Geprek Fafa picked up and two episodes of The Diplomat.
This Wodonga work trip reminded me that even the most routine work travel can hold little thrills. A French-inspired steak that surprised me, a rainy run in Albury, and the simple joy of crossing a state border twice a day. I would happily do it all again, maybe with dinner at Din Din next time.
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