Day: October 28, 2025

I rolled into the Junction Motel on the road out of Wagga Wagga to the west, so in the direction I think I’ll be heading tomorrow morning, just after 2.00 pm after a drive of just over 5 1/2 hours from Sydney. I stopped once for a break after 2 1/2 hours in which I took a nap of about 20 minutes as I slept so badly last night, then for a a pee and finally to buy fuel when entering Wagga Wagga.

It was dull and cool the whole way with a strong wind and I’m wondering if the wind ever drops in this corner of Australia. The roads were modern highways in excellent shape and the landscape for most of the way after leaving the urban environment of Sydney behind comprised vast open rolling tracts, some with livestock (both cattle and sheep) and mostly kept very trim and in good order.

I’ve passed by a few wineries but the Canberra wine country was sign-posted off to the left and I’ve seen no vast vineyards such as you’d see in France, for example. The terrain hasn’t been completely flat but the hills on either side of the highways have been more like humps although some have had very steep sides.

I sussed out the fuel situation after my first fill-up. My hired MG5 has phenomenal fuel consumption and with a full tank shows a range of over 960 kms. This means that I can fill up as and when I want to as none of the legs I’m driving comes anywhere near that, so I can take advantage of wherever fuel is the cheapest. I didn’t know that and on my way north from Melbourne, not knowing how frequent petrol stations would be, I made my first purchase at the rate of Au$1.895 per litre.

I didn’t know at the time that this is the highest price out there for the grade I need. The car has to be filled with L91 gasoline and when I topped the tank up in a Mobil garage on entering Wagga Wagga I paid Au$1.695 as I have done previously elsewhere, but not in the cities. By way of comparison, this equates to 1€ per litre. In France I pay around 1.63€ for diesel and 95 gasoline comes out at around 1.69€. Here the prices are reversed – diesel is considerably more expensive than gasoline – and that explains why you see considerably more 5.0 and 5.8 litre Ford Mustangs in Australia than you do in France!

Wagga Wagga is bigger than I thought it would be. It even has its own regional airport, so I suppose it’s a bit like Bergerac. The motel I’ve stopped at is quite old-fashioned, I’d say 1980s, but it’s clean and the bed seems comfortable. It has a kitchenette area so what more could you want for a stay of just 1 night?

I’ve brought with me the last of my Rice Krispies and a couple of English muffins left over from the pack I bought in Jervis Bay. They’ve been kept in the fridge except while travelling so they should be OK for breakfast tomorrow, but I’ll need to find something else along the way for the day after. I bought two large pot noodles for evening meals tonight and tomorrow, I’m also well covered for milk and tea and still have an apple from Jervis Bay, so what more could I possibly want?

I’ll be departing tomorrow morning for Geelong, another 500km, 5 hour drive. Geelong is on the Tasman Sea to the west of Melbourne so then I’ll be right back down south from where I started. I just hope that tomorrow my neck will be less painful than it was today.