Monday, 19 October 2026
It was a HUGE driving day today. Leaving Sawtell just after 8.30am we made our way back to the M1 (Pacific Highway). As we merged onto the motorway Syri gave instructions to continue straight on for 349km! The weather was pretty ordinary, grey and overcast with occasional showers of rain, as we motored down the coast.
After a couple of hours of driving, Bernie took the exit for Taree Services so that we could have a driver changeover. After our quick pitstop, I piloted the truck back out to the M1 continuing our journey southbound. The plan was to change drivers again when we reached the Services area at Newcastle. Good plan BUT, with the new bypass around Newcastle now open, there didn’t seem to be a services area. Last time we came through we recall the highway dog-legging through Heatherbrae and there being lots of fast food and fuel options along the way. It seems none of that infrastructure has been moved to where it can be accessed easily from the bypass road??
So … I continued at the wheel until we reached Wyong Southbound Services. I was very happy to pull in after more than two hours behind the wheel. We grabbed some sandwiches from the Oliver’s outlet since it’s supposed to be a healthier fast food option. Dang, it was so healthy that Bernie had to go next door to the Foodary to buy his Coke!
With Bernie back behind the wheel, we had just over 270 Ks to drive in (thankfully) improving weather. Bernie piloted us around the Sydney Ring Road motorways whilst I was oblivious, recovering from my turn at driving with a snooze! By the time I was conscious again, we were on the Hume Highway for the final Sydney to Melbourne leg of our journey home.
After an entirely uneventful drive, we arrived in Goulburn where our accommodation was booked for tonight. We drove past the Best Western Plus Goulburn to drive into the town centre. Finding the Coles supermarket we purchased a couple of kiwi fruit for breakfast in the morning.
Next we drove out to the BIG Merino. You can’t visit Goulburn without a photo of the huge merino ram on Hume Street!! With closing time (5.00pm) fast approaching we went into the store before taking our photos. I managed to resist all the merino merch and only purchased a couple of greeting cards. As luck would have it, the Ampol Servo was across Hume Street from the BIG Merino. Bernie had determined from Petrol Spy that he could top up the tank with Ampol Amplify Diesel while we were in Goulburn so that was fortuitous that it was located near the BIG Merino.
We drove back through town to the Best Western Plus and checked into our room for the night. Tonight we are in a King Spa room right down the back of the property where we will not be disturbed by passing traffic. While were checking in, the Goulburn Workers Club was recommended to us for dinner.
Google told us that it was an easy 1.1 kilometre walk into the town centre. With the weather much clearer at day’s end than it was further north this morning, we decided to walk to the club for our dinner. With so many hours sitting in the truck today we certainly needed the exercise! It was steak with chips and salad for two this evening.
Tuesday, 20 October 2026
The final push to home today with another 665 kilometres along the Hume Highway to return to Melbourne. With the truck re-packed for the last time, we were ready to pull out of the Best Western Plus just after 8.30am with Bernie at the wheel. Syri took us along a back street beside the railway line to merge back onto the Hume HIghway without having to pass through the town centre.
Bernie drove through to Gundagai where we made the obligatory stop to photograph the Dog on the Tuckerbox, use the facilities and change drivers. As I pulled out we seemed to have developed a rattle. Some investigation by Bernie, just before we re-joined the Hume Highway and he decided it was a bolt on the roof rack causing the noise. He determined that it was not going to fall off, just rattle intermittently, so the truck was declared good to continue.
There was much less traffic during my driving stint today. Approaching Newcastle yesterday the traffic was very heavy. I guess south of Sydney some traffic terminated its journey in Sydney, some has peeled off to continue south via the coast, leaving only some of the cars, caravans and heavy vehicles to travel on the Hume?? Anyhow it was just me and the Tesla ahead of me catching up to the slower traffic, overtaking, pulling back in (on repeat) for kilometre after kilometre, with nothing catching up to us until the roadworks approaching Albury.
My buddy in the Tesla exited into Albury while I stayed behind the wheel to drive the truck back over the Murray River and into Victoria. The first opportunity to pull in after crossing the border was at the BP Barnawatha. I peeled off the highway to sweep around and over the Hume to pull in at the servo. With no fuel required we both jumped out, swung our arms about and walked around in circles until we achieved a Stand hour and un-kinked a bit from being cooped up in the truck.
Bernie resumed the driving taking us to our next stop in Glenrowan. We know from past experience that the bakery does excellent salad rolls, so we decided before we left this morning that we would make Glenrowan our lunch stop. Coming up to 1.30pm they still had salad rolls made up and in fridge ready to go. Bernie went the ham & salad and I went with cheese & salad. The rolls did not disappoint!
Our lunch was followed with a quick visit to the conveniences and a walk along the street to photograph the larger than life Ned Kelly statue. On our little walk we spied an ice creamery … just when we thought we had already enjoyed our last ice-cream for this holiday. Two ice-creams later we were back in the truck with the SatNav estimating that we would be home by 4.30pm.
Straight down the Hume Highway until we were directed to exit onto the M80. We were only on the Ring Road for a couple of hundred metres before we scootched across to take the exit onto Edgars Road. A short distance heading east on Mahonys Road, before turning towards the city on High Street near Keon Park Station. We made our way southward through Epping and Reservoir before turning onto St Georges Road. Back on our local roads Bernie turned off the SatNav to travel the final couple of kilometres along the usual route we take to the market.
Syri’s travel estimate was pretty spot on today with us pulling into the driveway at Home Sweet Home right on 4.32pm. We set out two weeks ago with the odometer reading 132,948. At the end of our journey we have added another 4145km to the clock … which is why the truck is booked in for a service on Friday. The MU-X has had a very big year touring all around the country.
