Greetings, from Goulburn,

I got away from Wangaratta at 7:15am, heading for the hills. Filled up the tank in Bright, then had a great run through all the twisty bits up to Mount Hotham. On the summit it started to rain, forcing me to put the top up. Down to Omeo, where I grabbed the usual, and had morning coffee in a picnic area by a creek, a couple of blocks off the main street from the bakery. From there, I had three choices; go south to Bairnsdale, go north to Tallangatta via the Omeo “Highway” (which has a couple of stretches of gravel road), or retrace my steps back to Bright, and take the Kiewa Valley Highway north towards Wodonga. I thought I’d risk taking the Omeo Highway, and I’m glad I did, as it was a great drive. Parts of the gravel section were good; a smooth hard-packed clay. Others weren’t so good; covered in large, loose gravel, which I had to take slowly. Generally the overall condition was good, with very few potholes or corrugations. I had lunch by a creek, somewhere near Mitta Mitta.

From Tallangatta I headed east to Corryong, then to Kiandra. Another great drive, especially the steep descent and ascent before Cabramurra. At Kiandra, I turned north to Tumut, where I had planned to stay for the night. When I arrived there around 5pm, all the motels had their NO Vacancy signs on. Same in Gundagai (about 20km away). So, I decided to head for Goulburn, and if I couldn’t get a motel there, I’d head for home (although I really didn’t want to “push on” any further, as I’d have been on the road for over 12 hours). Arrived in Goulburn around 8pm and had no trouble getting a motel.

With all the mountain roads and mountain scenery, this would have to be to the best day’s driving I’ve had so far. I’ve covered over 4500km in all. Time to come home and plan the next trip, probably a trip to Tassie on the ferry from Sydney.

See y’all soon,
Julian