Melbourne to Sydney: The Drive

Let me begin by saying that despite what all the tour books, maps, and friendly advisors tell you, the drive between Melbourne and Sydney does not take "about 10 hours."

It takes a full 16 hours at least.

Under the misnomer that it was a much shorter trip, we got up last Sunday and headed northeast, cruising through Gippsland and making our way to the Victoria/New South Wales border. We paused for a detour to Ninety Mile Beach and found the most amazing and pristine white sand, warm water and deserted beach I have ever seen. Truly a happy place for me to go to next time the yoga teacher tells me to put a warm light in my heart. However, it also had some of the strongest winds (maybe why no one was lounging on towels) and we were only able to wander the beach to gather some shells for about 15 minutes before having to seek shelter in the car.


So maybe not the most perfect happy place...but a happy place nonetheless.


We carried on to Lakes Entrance where we figured we had made it far enough and overnighted. The Ferryman's Cafe on the water provided a huge bowel of bouillabase (sp?) filled with fresh out of the water prawns, clams, mussels, and fish. A nice local red finished the meal and Kjersti and I toasted our good fortune and progress while watching the black swans float below our deck.


Then Monday. 13 hours of driving later and we finally hit Sydney. We arrived late Monday night and had to negotiate the one way streets and foreign traffic signs (all while driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the street) in order to find our little Pensione Hotel for a quick overnight.

Thankfully, Kjersti is an excellent driver (oh yes, I have given up control!) and I am an excellent navigator and despite the white knuckles, we make a great team. The hotel was located, the parking facility found and by 10.30 pm we found ourselves sipping on a lovely glass of wine, enjoying the warm night air, and taking in the view over the Sydney skyline at Darling Harbor.

The night ended with me and a cockroach entering a gentleman's agreement in the guest laundry room at the hotel. The agreement was this: I agreed not to smash his guts all over the laundry room floor and he agreed to stay in his corner.

Both parties held their end of the agreement.

I still can't yet post any photos but if you want to see what I've been seeing on the drive and around, I found a great photoset on Flickr that pretty much covers it...EXACTLY. Click here and enjoy!