Canberra, OZ
I've wound up in Canberra, winding my way here a few days ago, driving finally North from Wilson's Promontory (southernmost point in mainland Australia). I'd been told that the drive through the the Tarra Bulga Nat. Park was a pretty one, so when I saw the sign for it on the road, we turned left and headed for the hills. We made it as far as the Tarra Valley before dusk fell. We ended up staying in an empty motor park and were upgraded from an unpowered site to there best cabin complete with a DVD player (and they had a ton of DVD's) which cost us $20, for the both of us. So, we opted for the cabin that night, Lucille because of the heating, me for the movies.
The next day, we drove into the Tarra Bulga Nat. Park, a lush rainforest which the winding road snakes its way through. We creeped along my speed rarely over 40k, most of the time I was in 2nd gear. There was no other traffic which was well as the road was barely big enough for two cars to pass, all the the bridges were single lane, reminding me a bit of NZ. When we finally broke free of the forest we found the sun beaming down upon us, our first sunshine since leaving Melbourne, warm and welcome.
As the sun set in the rear view mirrors, I pointed Vaciendo East, putting down the pedal on the A1. We turned North onto the B23 as darkness fell, our nose finally pointed at Canberra, we began our burn North, making for the nation's capital.
From this point, I can only tell you what we passed through from the signs on the road. But I crossed the Snowy River and passed by the Snowy River Nat. Park before crossing the Great Dividing Range. There aren't so much of lights on the roads here in OZ, I saw a whole lot of darkness and other headlights in the night. Two of the more exciting parts to this leg of the road were that I finally passed my first car after a month of continually being passed (I'm no longer the slowest thing on the road, merely the 2nd slowest), and an hour or so of wondering A. where the next gas station was, and B. exactly how many kilometers did I get per tank in Vaciendo. At least 400k as it turns out, I noted as we pulled into Cooma to finally refuel.
We rattled into Canberra finally around 12.30am, making for a hostel in the city center. Lucille wanted a room for the night, so I dropped her there before finding a quiet place to park in Vaciendo for the night. Found one and slept late the following day, exhausted but what was finally 11 hours on the road, having left Tarra Valley around 1.30pm the day before.
Yesterday, I checked into the hostel as well, for a shower as much as anything else, but I wanted to go out last night, and night have to drive somewhere to sleep afterwards, as it turns out there's a bit of a price war on drinks going on here at the bars in Canberra, and there are $2 drinks till midnight, any day of the week. Definitely didn't want to drive. I plan to stay here a few more days, before completing this leg of the journey and winding it up in Sydney. It's only 300k from here so I should make my way there either Sunday or Monday.
The next day, we drove into the Tarra Bulga Nat. Park, a lush rainforest which the winding road snakes its way through. We creeped along my speed rarely over 40k, most of the time I was in 2nd gear. There was no other traffic which was well as the road was barely big enough for two cars to pass, all the the bridges were single lane, reminding me a bit of NZ. When we finally broke free of the forest we found the sun beaming down upon us, our first sunshine since leaving Melbourne, warm and welcome.
As the sun set in the rear view mirrors, I pointed Vaciendo East, putting down the pedal on the A1. We turned North onto the B23 as darkness fell, our nose finally pointed at Canberra, we began our burn North, making for the nation's capital.
From this point, I can only tell you what we passed through from the signs on the road. But I crossed the Snowy River and passed by the Snowy River Nat. Park before crossing the Great Dividing Range. There aren't so much of lights on the roads here in OZ, I saw a whole lot of darkness and other headlights in the night. Two of the more exciting parts to this leg of the road were that I finally passed my first car after a month of continually being passed (I'm no longer the slowest thing on the road, merely the 2nd slowest), and an hour or so of wondering A. where the next gas station was, and B. exactly how many kilometers did I get per tank in Vaciendo. At least 400k as it turns out, I noted as we pulled into Cooma to finally refuel.
We rattled into Canberra finally around 12.30am, making for a hostel in the city center. Lucille wanted a room for the night, so I dropped her there before finding a quiet place to park in Vaciendo for the night. Found one and slept late the following day, exhausted but what was finally 11 hours on the road, having left Tarra Valley around 1.30pm the day before.
Yesterday, I checked into the hostel as well, for a shower as much as anything else, but I wanted to go out last night, and night have to drive somewhere to sleep afterwards, as it turns out there's a bit of a price war on drinks going on here at the bars in Canberra, and there are $2 drinks till midnight, any day of the week. Definitely didn't want to drive. I plan to stay here a few more days, before completing this leg of the journey and winding it up in Sydney. It's only 300k from here so I should make my way there either Sunday or Monday.
posted by Bob Stein at 11:24 PM
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