City shock has now hit home since returning to Melbourne - this time as a car driver. Heading outbound at 3pm on the Monash it is bumper to bumper with the pace at a gruelling crawl. The daily commute consists of torturous agony for several kilometres along a four lane highway. Who’s to blame? Road works, freight trucks and Melbourne’s relentless reliance on the wheeled machine.
For the last couple of years I have been living in the smaller cities of Australia. Primarily Darwin, Albury, Adelaide and Townsville. To explain my position I will explain what is typical involved as a regional driver.
Country-bumpkin: The week day begins with a quick breakfast with Koshie, and you hop into your car to start work. Your side street is empty and you pull out. Turn the corner and you’re on a main road. Four minutes later you pull into work. Park, enter work and avoid your boss to carry on with your packed mornos. Motivated and proactive you start work.
Country-bumpkin turn Melbournite: The week day begins with a quick breakfast with Koshie, and you hop into your car to start work. You wait for the opposite neighbour to pull out then follow suit. Three lights left and you’ll be on the highway into town. First light turns green as you approach smooth sailing. Second light a solid red and you sit 11 cars back. Your left turn lane blocked by 15 cars backed up - no compassion.
Country-bumpkin turn Melbournite cont’d: 18 minutes after departure your finally on the cruising on the Monash. At 100km/hr you cruise with roads busy but traffic flowing. Red brake lights come out of nowhere. To a rocking halt you see into the distance backed up traffic and await your 1.5 hour commuter doom. Welcome to the daily grind.
What happens when you neglect calling ‘that’ number on the highway signage for a month?
Debt accumulation totalling $56.20, thanks CityLink! Alas, no-one else to blame but my own complacency.
Country-bumpkin on a busy Preston tramway: Priceless
Related Articles: 30 Minutes Over… $55 Thanks Melbourne Parking Inspectors
There is talk that this beast may come in to replace the old Holden Crewman.
The Holden Crewman came out as a 4-door alternative to the existing holden ute. Then it got dumped because of it being too long and tight on passenger leg room. Pissed off and back with avengence the GMC brainiacs put the Denali XT on display early Feb ‘08 at the Chicago Auto Show. The great thing is that it’s Australian made and imported for sale over to the states. Read the rest of this entry »
The Tour Down Under has been won by Andre Griepel taking the honours and his fourth stage win. Overall the German Greipel won the tour with Allan Davis trialing by 15 seconds Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil trialing by 33 seconds.
Australians that have won the Tour Down Under
In 2006 Simon Gerrans took the jersey for Ag2r, 2004 Patrick Jonker won for team UniSA and 2002 Michael Rogers was victorious for the AIS. Let’s not forget about the amazing Stuart O’Grady winning twice in ‘01 and ‘99 for Credit Agricole. Read the rest of this entry »
As I depart by car from my beloved Adelaide I journey up my old favourite cycling challenge. For the past five visits to Adelaide I’ve conquered Mount Lofty. Located at the end of the Mount Lofty Ranges it towers above Adelaide at 710 metres.
On most occasions when I get to visit my hometown Adelaide for holiday leave I try to always bring my bicycle - the amazing 2005 Learsport 7700. I am an avid cycling enthusiast and not a professional. I enjoy the fitness, the views and the challenges of ‘getting up that hill’ and ‘going the distance’. Hopping on the bike and doing the kilometres is what I should be doing. However due to circumstances out of my control (insert excuses here) I could not bring down the bike for this visit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today I test drove the 2006 BMW 320i. I liked the look of it sitting there in the BMW dealership and never had the BMW experience. There is a benefit to being 25 years old. You’re at the age to be trusted by BMW dealers to test drive their vehicles. Of course I had to sign for insurance before I could get it out of the car yard. Read the rest of this entry »
In two and a half days I have driven 2800kms. Australia is a big country! A massive thanks go out to the Driver Reviver stations potted out along main connected highways. Without their gold-coin-donation coffees and bikkies I would have been a goner. Drive - Revive - Survive! Driving from Townsville QLD to Albury NSW is no easy feat to do by oneself. Every two hours have a ten minute break. A lot of the time the reviver stations provide a brew and double for a toilet stop service stations do the same. Yeah petrol is like $AU1.45 in some places - budget for it a few months before.
Alarm bells should be ringing the moment you do that quick little ‘yawn’. Stop, walk around and stretch, water and get back into it. When it’s 1250AM and your doing that boring straight in regional wherever try not to speed. If you start singing along to a track that’s ok. When the CD stops and you’re still singing, you start seeing people on the side of the road when at the third glance its a dead tree, you try to stay within the lines and resort to ‘that’s good enough’, and you yawn is so big you have to close your eyes - STOP. Grab the quilt and crash out in the backseat - I did and I’m still alive and breathing.
‘Don’t die for a dead line.’ These highway safety messages are engraved into my memory. They are on all the highways in Australia. Hopefully the holiday death toll stays down this year.
Big motivation - When you haven’t seen your girl for 3 months you’ll do what it takes. 
Ingatz
A map of this journey is available however it is too big to fit into a minimap. See my google map Sturt St (Townsville) to Dean St (Albury) that I drove. Enjoy!
