The final leg of our journey from Shepparton to home was about 185 kilometres. We were packed up to leave by about 9.00 am and we headed south down the Goulburn Valley Highway.
We were spoilt by the quality of outback roads and by comparison, this Victorian road is a shocker! There has been sustained criticism of the quality of roads in Victoria as the government has wasted a lot of money on other things and there is little to spend on roads that need repair. The surface was bumpy, there were patches on patches and they weren’t even at the same height as the road surface. We had better roads in outback Queensland than this road in country Victoria.
We stopped for a few minutes to visit the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk in Seymour. This trip began with our attendance at the Vietnam War 50 Years Commemoration in Canberra and stopping at this memorial closed the loop for us. The wall contains the names of every Australian who served in Vietnam
We arrived home at lunchtime after stopping at the supermarket for some essentials – bread and milk. I have to say that unpacking is not as much fun as packing to go – there is no sense of anticipation and it’s a laborious exercise to get everything back in the place where it belongs.
Overall, we travelled 9350 kilometres over 40 days. We spent a total of 174 hours driving at an average speed of 61 kmh and used 6.7 litrees of petrol per 100 kms. I think that the average price that. we paid for petrol was around $2.00 per litre.
Tomorrow, the car goes in for a service. Somewhere in deepest, darkest, Queensland, the front camera failed and that resulted in us getting four warning messages every time that we started the car. This camera controls functions such as the lane divergance warning, front end collision warning and pedestrian warning. It also reads the speed signs and displays the current speed limit on the screen. I didn’t know how much I relied on it until it stopped working.
It was a wonderful trip.
Couldn’t agree more about the state of Vic roads. Gail and I took a few days away in NE Victoria at a very nice holiday mansion at a place called Lancemore at Milawa in the King Valley.
We traveled up there via the Melba Hwy. and Yea, Mansfield and Benalla. The roads are in a disgusting state. The Minister for transport should be sacked. Too much money is being wasted on tunnels etc. In Melbourne.
Welcome home Bruce andJill. We have followed every kilometre of your trip and enjoyed it all.
Thank you for sharing it with it us.
What an ambitious undertaking and challenge. Congratulations to you both, it has been a wonderful experience for us all.
Tony and Marg
Have loved every kilometre of the journey. Great fuel economy, you really take all on wonderful trails with you. Where to next?
Welcome back Bruce and Jill.
You certainly covered a lot of territory. Thanks for your descriptions and photos of the country through which you were traveling. They were very interesting and gave us itchy feet.
Best wishes,
John