Braidwood

You did have an excellent outfit on.

What were you wearing? I was wearing a vintage, when I say vintage, secondhand dress that I had got like at a kilo type sale in a vintage place in Marrickville with a jacket that I had bought at a sort of a thrift antique store in Braidwood, which is a tiny town in the south of New South Wales.

Um,

Your thrifted game is high but also your re-wear game because we were together at this gala dinner for Charitable Recycling Australia.

It's around 520 kilometres and approximately five and a half hours behind the wheel without stops.

We head north along the Hume Highway, crossing into New South Wales at Albury, then continuing past Holbrook, Gundagai and Yass, From there, it's onto the Barton Highway towards Murrumbateman, before heading east through Bungendore and Braidwood.

Now Braidwood is familiar territory, having visited Braidwood Showground Park Run for bush rangers and barcodes.

But beyond Braidwood, the landscape changes dramatically.

The road winds through the hills and forests towards Bateman's Bay, with plenty of corners changing elevations and spectacular scenery.

And fortunately, I've brought along what I reckon is the perfect vehicle for the job, my Nendi WRX.

"I searched the bridge in Gungahlin and places in the city, and some people recalled seeing him, though only a few years ago.

Some said he was seen near the Queanbeyan Showground, and another said he was in Braidwood wearing a pirate hat," he said.

The family last saw Claude eight years ago when he visited his mother, Anna, at her home in Townsville in Queensland.

Over the years, his visits grew infrequent and the phone calls eventually stopped.