I did just over 2400 km on my trip to Penrith and the Blue Mountains. The car ran well apart from the cold mornings upsetting the fuel relay and there also seems to be a smell of diff oil which I will have to get checked out. The diff looks a bit wet but I haven’t crawled underneath to physically check it out. There does seem another noise somewhere but I’ll have to get the mechanics to check that out.

I was pleasantly surprised with the fuel consumption while on gas, it was returning over 8 km to the litre which was not bad for the olde Ford. With fuel prices only on the way up it was very satisfying.

I broke the journey in two by stopping at Tuncurry to see Val, she seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders which isn’t good, and I just hope that when she sells the business that she takes time out for herself. We haven’t seen each other for about 8 years but we just picked up where we left off. This was the case with Jenny and Brett and Graham and Sandra, we just feel so comfortable with each other and the time from our last meeting seems to vanish in an instant. I hope it won’t be as long till we catch up again.

The coast road was a good choice, it’s boring but at least the road surface is less demanding on the car and me for that matter. On the inland and rural roads you are concentrating so hard on avoiding the pot holes which are sometimes hidden by shadows, the poor car took a battering but came through it relatively unscathed…….I think……..

The Pacific Highway is more or less complete from north Sydney all the way to Brisbane apart from Coffs Harbour and I can’t remember the other section, but it was only short. The road surface is mostly concrete which is a bit noisy but it also has the machining grooves which almost feel as if you are stuck in train tracks. From time to time it felt as if the car was on auto as it was getting directed by this texture. Speed cameras and police were everywhere and you really had to be vigilant, it’s easy to let your speed run away from time to time.

The highway made the 1000 km journey way easier than the inland road, having the cruise set to just under a 100 kph was comfortable for the car and myself. One thing I did notice though was before my next trip I’ll have to update the Tom Tom as it wanted to take me on a mystery tour sometimes and I’ll also need to check out LPG availability, the only place I found LPG was at Coffs which would have been an issue If the olde Ford was not duel fuel.

Staying in the Blue Mountains was a great choice, in fact if I had the money I would consider moving there instead of Rockhampton. The atmosphere of the mountains was magic and I could easily spend my days exploring the mountains and visiting cafes. The only problem of course is the amount of folk that visit here. I know it was school holidays but the main highway was at a standstill several times which would piss me right off if I had to deal with it on a daily basis. This is the biggest problem of living in a popular tourist area. I don’t feel Rockhampton is this way as it seems to be more of a transit town where you go west to the Outback or of course north or south.

I got back on Tuesday around tea time. Wednesday I stayed home all day and sat on the couch, I was knackered and my legs felt a wee bit like jelly from all the walking I did. This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, I’m still a bit weary but I’m sure after today I will be ready for life as we know it. Today will be another day on the couch, I did go shopping this morning and that’s it until around 5pm when I have someone coming to look at the house which is fandabbydozy……………