Road Trip 2009
I recently spent the best part of two weeks on a road trip -- my first in a few years. My girlfriend and I travelled from Brisbane to Melbourne, the east via the Great Ocean Road before turning around and taking the coast road to Sydney and home.
Our route was so long I had to split it into two Google Maps. Click through to Part 1 and Part 2 to check out the path we took.
The best bits for me were the winding roads -- between Ipswich and Warwick; around Marysville; the Great Ocean Road; and the Snowy River trail around Buchan. I have to give my girlfriend / co-pilot for finding the best roads for us to enjoy!
Rachel especially enjoyed the various wildlife we encountered. She got to pat an echidna, get within about a metre of a wombat, and play with baby sheep and goats. We also saw whales playing in a bay along the Great Ocean Road, indignant calfs blocking the highway, kookaburras hanging out on road-side posts, and usual menagerie of Australian wildlife.
For those thinking of doing a similar trip, we learnt a couple of valuable lessons:
- The inland way from Brisbane to Melbourne is boring, however it does go past the Parkes Observatory.
- From all accounts the Hume Highway from Melbourne to Sydney is the same. We avoided it and went the coast way.
- The Great Ocean Road has a surprisingly large amount of inland road passing through lucious grazing land. Quite a nice drive, just not what I expected.
- Phone coverage was surprisingly good out of metropolitan areas (I'm on Optus).
- Our Garmin GPS decided to not take us on the freeway during Sydney's peak hour, instead taking us through busy roads. A double check on the iPhone got us back on our speedy way.
The best part of any holiday is the photos, of course. I've included a gallery below for your enjoyment.
blog comments powered by Disqus