It takes a special kind of crazy to book yourself into two conferences, back-to-back over five days, 412 kilometres apart.

Then as if it’s not difficult enough, you invite the family to accompany you to one of those conferences.

I’ve just spent five days listening to an assortment of creative people talk about their experiences in both blogging and literature. It as been enormously inspiring.

At The Digital Parent’s Conference I travelled alone, stayed in a four-star hotel, slept spreadeagled across a king sized bed that could have easily accommodated the entire Von Trapp family and managed to get myself into a Harlem Shake video just to embarrass my children. Because frankly, if you do get time away from the offspring you really should take the opportunity to go viral with some crazy dancing.

As I departed the hotel on Friday morning I contemplated how calm my life would be if I could just have someone sneak into my house every morning, make the beds, sweep the floor and scrub the bath. And perhaps I would eat more healthily if somebody presented me with a platter of fresh fruit, neatly cut each day?

I made it home with just enough time to wash my clothes and the kid’s school uniforms before collecting the family and heading off back to the highway to the picturesque little town of Bellingen for the Readers and Writers Festival.

As I’ve blown the budget in Sydney the family and I were staying in a pub in Bellingen, the four of us in one room.

“Do they have room service?” enquired the Princess Child as we carted our bags up the stairs. The first hint she might not have quite grasped the idea of “pub accommodation”.

In another case of didn’t-really-think-this-through a rock n’ roll band played into the night downstairs as we attempted to sleep upstairs. In the end you can be so tired you will doze off to “Highway to Hell” if you have to.

Having overcome the trauma of no room service, Princess Child was dealt another blow when she discovered there was no en suite.

“You mean the shower and toilet is down the hall, and OTHER PEOPLE WILL USE IT TOO?”

Well yep.

Although I have to agree that attempting to get dressed in the shower cubicle was an exercise in geriatric aerobics which nearly did me in.

The family was appeased by the amazingly good food at the pub restaurant which did win me some brownie points for my choice of accommodation. These little food connoisseurs can be brought with Scallops Mornay and Fig with Blue Vein Cheese toast. An expensive tactic but effective.

As it turned out, in Bellingen we may have just discovered Hippie Child’s spiritual home. The dreadlocked, quirky artistic community alongside the beautiful scenery and beach not to far away was her idea of heaven. The Hippie was so desperate for the “awesome” boots she found she was willing to negotiate a deal with her dad that she will wash the car inside and out every week for a month!  Now if we can just take her shopping in Bellingen each week we may be able to get that bedroom cleaned up!

Coming up in the next couple of days I will give you some posts dedicated solely to the experience of each event, in the meantime here’s the video, I’m sitting at the second table on the left (because you wouldn’t want to miss my highly rhythmic performance).