The road that connects Victoria and New South Wales is very long and very beautiful.
I am intrigued by the road itself, which is called the Princes Highway. And it is very very long. It runs from Adelaide (South Australia), all the way along the southern coast, through Victoria, into New South Wales. In total it's over 2000km. Then it keeps going, up to Brisbane and all the way up to Cairns, only its name changes to the Pacific Highway. How do they work out the Post for people who live on that road? Do the houses start at number 1 and just keep going? And what about bin day? Impertinent questions, but valid nonetheless. Australia's sheer size baffles me sometimes. The distance we drove puts any other road trip in Britain to shame. It's further than driving from Lands End to John O'Groats. Quite a lot further. And I used to think driving to Leeds from Manchester was a long way. Because the road is so long and in some parts so far from civilisation, the sign posts become very agressive. DROWSY DRIVERS DIE and WAKE UP were just a few examples. Unnerving though they are I suppose they make sense, if you're planning to do the entire trip from Melbourne to Sydney in one go it is 1040km (644 miles), and does take over 12 hours, so you probably will get drowsy at some point.
We decided to break it down into manageable chunks, a bit like bitesize revision. We drove from Melbourne to Lakes Entrance on day 1, Lakes Entrance to Eden day 2, Eden to Woolongong on day 3 and Woolongong to Sydney on day 4.
Day 1 - Emotional Wrecks (318km)
We had had a heavy one the night before. Of course we had. But we had planned our departure so that in theory all we had to do then was collect the car from the city, drive it to the house, pack the bags into the car and set off. Sounds simple enough.
We couldn't find the car rental shop. Isla's directions kept telling us to go under a building that didn't have an underground. I won't go into trivialities because its making me angry again, but it took us an unreasonably long time to collect the car. Then we had to say bye to two of our bestest friends in Melbourne. And that wasn't easy either. So we stopped for a KFC to recuperate. I then proceeded to fall asleep in the car for the majority of the drive to Lakes Entrance, so I'm afraid no descriptive writing about scenery for that leg of the journey.
We arrived at our motel in Lakes Entrance and headed down to the docks for something to eat. Lakes Entrance is one of those lovely seaside villages no doubt overridden by tourists in summer, but in mid spring was peaceful and picturesque. The harbour has a long boardwalk which lets you meander past the moored boats and appreciate the sea breeze. Our guidebook recommended a great little restaurant that was on board a boat docked at the harbour, so we ate delicious fish and seafood whilst being rocked gently by the waves. We got chatting to an enthusiastic and inquisitive middle aged couple who loved the novelty of our accents and asked an overwhelming amount of questions about our travels. They enlightened us (a day too late I'm afraid) on the Australian highway code, and a preposterous manouvre called the "hook turn" used only in Victoria, which bizarrely and dangerously requires you to take the left hand lane in order to turn right at a cross roads, meaning that you have to career across four lanes of moving traffic whilst also avoiding any trams or pedestrians. Australians do like to make driving unnecessarily complicated. We talked them through our plan to travel the east coast, and were given the blunt and slightly unnerving advice, "Don't go to the Gold Coast because it's full of Asians, you won't like it."Australians are an endearing and lovely people on the whole, but the casual racism along with the assumption that everyone else is also a racist may perhaps be their main character flaw as a nation. Especially a very young nation made up of immigrants. Somewhat hypocritical I feel. That brought our discussion to a rather abrupt end, and we headed back to the motel.
Day 2: Whale Watching (241km)
We began early, grabbed a quick breakfast at a cafe and hit the road again. We had decided in advance that today should be the shortest leg of the journey, as Eden has a reputation for being absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect for spending the day outside; bright, fresh and clear. The drive to Eden is relatively straightforward and cuts inland through a long stretch of forest. We arrived mid afternoon and intended on hitting the beach. The wind at the coast had picked up however and it felt a lot like being attacked by a sand blaster so we turned to the visitors centre for advice. The helpful lady at the desk told us that late October was whale watching season and that there was a peninsula just up the road that made an excellent vantage point. So that's where we headed. The moment the car dipped over the tip of the hill we could see out over the Pacific, and lo and behold a whale breeched at that moment! Even hundreds of meters out to see it was spectacular to witness. The splashes they make as they hit the water again are enormous. We were momentarily overwhelmed with girlish excitement and squealed uncontrollably. We hurriedly parked the car at the top of the hill, took a picnic and a blanket and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the whales. It was one of those days that make you feel incredibly lucky to exist.
That evening we ate at what appeared to be the only place open, and from the outside looked dingy, a bit grotty and unatmospeheric. However we were pleasently surprisedd to find it busy, bustling and the food was excellent. Impressed with ourselves, we headed back to the motel and proceeded to invent our very own card game, called Isla's Shed.
Day 3: Batemans Bay (396km)
Between Eden and Woolongong there is quite a long way. We spent most of the day driving with only a short stop at Batemans Bay to break up the journey. It's a long stretch of beach which was almost deserted. We got our first taste of NSW summer time and basked like walrusses in our pale English skin. Back on the road we arrived in Woolongong, and as we hadn't booked anywhere to stay the night we had to drive around for a while to find somwhere suitable. On the whole we weren't impressed with Woolongong, it was a relitavely large town only an hour or so from Sydney, yet there didn't seem to be much going on. We mooched around looking for somewhere to eat, settled on italian, and then spent the evening playing cards again.
Day 4: Arrival (85.4km)
The last leg of the journey was over quickly. Luckily the car rental place was easier to find than in Melbourne, and only around the corner from our hostel. Elephant Backpackers would be our home for the next four weeks, and is a truly abominable place to live. But Sydney is fantastic.
I love the parks, and the fact that they are all connected. I love the trees with the roots that hang from the branches all the way to the ground. I love that the Harbour Bridge creeps into the background of your photos almost everywhere you go. I love that the people are tall, tanned, healthy and exercise openly in public. I love the outskirts; Surrey Hills, Glebe, Newtown; the beaches, Bondi, Coogee, Manly. I love that the transport system works, that the shopping centres are all inside air condidioned shopping malls, and that there are statues and water features on almost every street.
I think the main thing about Sydney that makes it so enjoyable is that it doesn't feel like England. Whilst I adore Melbourne, the cold winds and unpredictable weather, the quirky back streets and crazy bars make you feel almost like you could be back in Manchester. Sydney is different. It has a glamour and decadence that makes you feel like you are somewhere else. Which is good, because we are on the other side of the world.
More to come - Love from Lazerbeam
