Good day from Griffith,

After waking before 5 this morning, unable to get back to sleep (too excited?), I departed at 7:10, after showering, breakfasting, and packing the car. I was in Yass by 9:45, where I filled the tank, and spent a few minutes chatting with the proprietor, about Pajero diesels (the service station was part of the local Mitsubishi dealership). I then frequented a bakery that I frequently frequent, to stock up on victuals for the rest of the day.

I had morning coffee at a rest area just outside Yass, and was back on the road at 10:30. I left the Hume Freeway near Bowning, heading along the Burley Griffin Way. Shortly after leaving the freeway, I came out from under a blanket of fog that had enveloped me, with varying degrees of visibility, since Goulburn. It was a relief to get off the freeway, away from morons who tailgate you at 110km/h, overtake you, then pull in two car lengths ahead, without any indication! Don’t get me started on the B-double that overtook me; he must have been doing 130km/h, or more!

I could have followed the Burley Griffin Way all the way to Griffith, but I elected to take a less direct route, as I wanted to pass through Leeton. At Wallendbeen, I headed for Leeton, via Cootamundra, Junee, and Narrandera. I stopped for lunch at 12:10 at a rest area in Illabo, between “Coota” and Junee, and was on the road again at 12:30. I arrived at the motel in Griffith around 3:30.

Sorry, no photos today. I was planning to take a shot of the Walter Burley Griffin designed water tower tops in Leeton (the dude was everywhere; he planned Leeton, Griffith, Oak Flats,…). I expected they would be visible from the main street, but I didn’t see them, and couldn’t be bothered searching for them.

Today’s leg was 581 km. Here’s a map of the route:

I’ll be heading north tomorrow. I elected to go west today, rather than north-west, through Dubbo, to take in some routes that I haven’t done before. I probably have been this way, as a child, but I don’t recall doing so; mum and dad were inveterate car tourers (but tenting, or caravanning, rather than “motelling”), and I must have inherited the gene for it.

Cheers,
Julian