The Road Trip - Part 1

And so starts the journey into the system.








But before that all happens I must be off on a road trip to get me, my car, half of my worldly possesions (you know the important stuff clothes, PS3 etc.) and my fiance up to Sydney where my new vocation and my foray into living life like an adult must start.








We set off from Melbourne (Boronia to be precise in the dark south east below the ominous....well they are pretty average mountains) via the scenic route, or what we hope to be a more scenic route than the boring trip via the Hume highway. We take the National Highway, A1 for most of our journey to Sydney with a few little stops that we would like to make on the way.





As you can imagine not much can be elucidated in great detail when you are trying to describe sitting in a car for hours on end looking forward to other (infuriatingly slow) cars and obstacles and back to.....well pillows and the handle bars of my road bike...there was no rear view to speak of such was the mass amount of nonsense that crammed into the back of my Subaru Outback (which will be henceforth be known as Sansa).

But the joy of this trip was very much in the company that I kept (Milana) and the music that was a constant companion as well (we started off with the Doors, a sound I felt befitting a road trip).

I honestly enjoyed in the drive particularly with the notion that we the opportunity to take in some interesting sites which Milana had taken great pains to research for all of 15 minutes the night before.

Detour

Precisely what a Subaru Outback was built for

We reached our first proposed stop, a climb up a mountain to Genoa Peak. A 1.5 kilometre trek to the summit and a purported 2 hour return trip. We got to the start of the climb at about 16:30 (I don't much like 12 hour time) and tackled the climb led by my trusty Sherpa...Milana up the winding track. We made terrific time, the bush land all around was rustling in concert with the fierce wind that obviously became more and more prolific as we neared the summit of this monstrous 1610...feet climb (that's 490meters, most of which Sansa drove us up no doubt).

Pfft moderate fitness!!

The views overlooking Eastern Victoria were a sight to behold and rather than trying to get all Banjo Patterson and trying to explain the glory of the vision before us, I will let the magic of photography set the scene for you.

Look out number 1

Not long to the top now!

That's right 1607 feet climb - with NO tools!!! hahaha I should stop hyping it.

Look out 2

Our hastily snapped photos do well to convey the landscapes but not the fun of the ascent and decent. The little jokes, the stumbles and the realisation that we are the only people in this area made for an absolutely perfect detour on our trip up north.

Peek-a-boo!

How's the serenity

Airing out the stinking hiking feet.

As we returned to the car (immensly impressed that we bested the suggested return time for the climb by 45 minutes) we realised that we were fast running out of time to make it to Sydney on the day we set out. So after some quick hotel searching we decided to try our luck at finding a vacancy at Merimbula during the silly new years holiday period....it wasn't easy.

Stop Over

We finally found one place and some shrewd negotiating let us talk down the owner from the lofty $150 for the night to a more reasonable (though barely) $90, so that we might partake in the offerings of this lovely little town on the Sapphire Coast.


If nothing else the sunset behind the motels were enough to keep us satisfied.

We quickly left our.... moderately appointed lodgings for dinner where we found a tasty Italian restaurant and a rather terrific meal. A little bit light headed from the wine...light weights we are, we headed home to brave the rubbish bed and get a good night sleep for the conclusion of my migration north.

Yes people probably get murdered here regularly

Stay tuned for part 2.