Sydney to Melbourne Road Trip
Our destination, Melbourne. Our reason, visit an old friend from our South East Asia traveling days and attend the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix!
A mere 1046 Kilometres from Sydney, our journey will take us down the east coast of Australia through some of the countries most beautiful regions. Our trusty car "Mindy" the 1996 Mitsubishi Magna!
Princes Highway
Once out of Sydney we started our journey along the Princes Highway which is part of the massive "Highway 1" road thatcircumnavigate the entire Australian continent. It's total length is around 25000k. The road takes you through numerous towns and cities but also makes access to "Tourist Trails" very easy.
Coastal roads
Deviating towards the coast whenever possible we headed towards Huskisson, a small town in Jervis bay. While there is a Jervis Bay village there's very little there to speak of so your best bet is one of the many campsites and hotels in Huskisson town. The pretty little beach and view of the bay is breathtaking. We borrowed a friend's 2 man tent which i could barely fit in to but still it helped us have a very cheap night's accommodation.
We popped to the local pub for a "Schooner" (you wont find many pints in Australia!) where a local band were playing. Australia doesn't really do pubs as we know them. Most of their pubs resemble English football club function rooms with bad florescent lighting, dodgy tiled carpet and an abundance of space with very few chairs. On the plus side they know how to do a pub garden pretty well! Why be indoors when it's so sunny outside!?
After breakfast at a cute, busy and understaffed cafe we headed on down the coast, marvelling at the names of towns and creeks. Town names are a mixture of colonial, often named after founders or governors from the 19th century, or Aboriginal names that either sound funny or are difficult to pronounce. Every creek, swamp and river the road gets anywhere near is also named and has a handy sign post at either end. We weren't sure why every trickle that ran past really needed a name but they were a constant source of amusement. Great names such as Dinner Creek, Cabbage Tree Creek and Duck Creek to name but a few.
Eden
Our next stop was Eden. 307km from Huskisson, the road hugs the coast and passes through amazing forests, many of which have been control burnt by the New South Wales Government to prevent forest fires. Bright orange earth, charred black trees still full of leaves and beautiful blue skies were our vista for the entire drive. Arriving in Eden we checked in to the Twofolds Motor Inn located in the centre of the quiet little town. After camping we decided we needed somewhere more cosy to stay for a couple of nights.
There's not much to do in Eden itself other than admire the gorgeous views of bays and visit the Killer Whale Museum. Eden was once a busy whaling port for over 80 years until the mid 1930s. A famous Killer whale known as "Old Tom" actually helped by herding the massive Blue Whales into shallow waters where the whale-men could easily harpoon them. We went for a drive out of Eden to a nearby secluded bay where the whales used to be carved up and their blubber melted down to produce the very lucrative whale oils. Not much remains on the sight except the original house. You get much more of a feel for rural Australian settlement life out here.
As ever in Australia the real tourist attractions are the landscapes. The roads taking you through thick cultivated forests, hugging coastal cliffs and stunning lakes. The appropriately named "Lakes Entrance" is a small town full of motels and holiday parks where the Pacific Ocean and sand banks help create lakes with a multitude of wildlife. Watching Pelicans gliding above sandy islands surrounded by calm lakes is always an amazing scene.
With Melbourne in our sights we head off in Mindy. Just a couple of hundred kilometres to go. Very much looking forward to savouring the sights of Australia's cultural and sports obsessed city.
