Apollo Bay to Wodonga

We left the Seafarers’ Motel in Apollo Bay this morning around 10 in sunny weather and drove inland away from the coast towards Canberra. It was the mountain road with very different vistas than the coastal route. Rolling hills, trees, sheep, cows as far as one could see. Blue skies and puffy white Cumulus clouds abound that made Sigi nostalgic for soaring… The road was winding as the coastal one but in much better condition. Less bumpy because of less heavy bus traffic!

We made our way first to the freeway M 80 to drive around Melbourne, then on the M 31 (Hume Freeway) towards Canberra. Halfway there (after about 350 km) we decided to overnight in Wodonga that offered several motels. We picked one off the beaten path (Border Gateway Motel) with a nice swimming pool, big room and bath as well as some kitchen amenities. After checking in around 6 we drove into Wodonga for dinner and found a great Thai Restaurant on the main strip that served authentic food in a very nice setting and friendly service. We both ordered the “Volcano Chicken” – mild, mind you – although the name made us wonder… It was excellent. After dinner on the way back to the motel we shopped for some food stuff at the local Safeway. On the way here we had bought some local fruit from a road side vendor already. Tomatoes, figs (as big as baseballs!) and apricots. All in season here and very good!

Back at the motel we checked the status of the Sydney to Hobart Sailing Race that got underway today. (‘Wild Oats’ was front runner out of Sydney Harbour and still is at the moment, ‘Ragamuffin’ second).

Tomorrow will be the last leg to Canberra (about 350 km), and we plan to arrive there in the late afternoon. Have already booked a hotel room in Dicksen (2.5 km from downtown) in the “Pavilion on Northbourne”. Apparently Canberra is quite large and drawn out, even downtown, therefore not very suited for pedestrian exploration. We will know more tomorrow.