Having finished breakfast we packed up the caravan and headed off. Our plan was to take the freeways around the western side of Sydney and avoid the worst of the peak hour traffic and it worked well. We had cleared the city and were on our way down the Hume Highway by 10:45.

Sydney – Canberra

Kilometres seemed to be going by quickly now we were clear of Sydney’s traffic.

Once again beautiful wattle was in bloom. You can see why it’s Australia’s national flower.

Goulburn

It was perfect timing to see the Goulburn turn off as we were due to swap over who was driving.

We stopped near the Tourist Information Centre. There was a traveller sculpture there, seemingly waiting for a bus.

We walked around the nearby gardens. The historic courthouse building was most impressive.

Big Merino

As we resumed our driving we passed the ‘Big Merino’. Pretty impressive, we thought.

Within five minutes we were at the Canberra turn off. We were heading that way to catch up with Karen’s old housemate from the days when we first met. We would be staying at Sutton, just outside the ACT (Australian Capital Territory).

It had been a wet winter, even up north where we had been. Clearly there had been lots of rain in this part of the country too as you can see from the flooded paddocks.

We arrived at Capital Country Holiday Park about 13:00 and had the caravan set up in time for a late lunch. We had booked a special pet friendly site, which was fenced on all sides, so Mel could roam around if she wanted.

Distance travelled = 320 kms

Karen rang her friend, Jacinta, and we arranged to meet up with her at a dog friendly cafe. It was soon apparent that it was too cold to sit there long no matter how many hot drinks we had or how much clothing we were wearing. So back to caravan we went to chat more and have more tea. The temperature was six degrees. Brrr.

As darkness arrived Jacinta headed off back home and we cooked dinner before sitting in bed to watch TV. It sure was cold, even with the heater function of the air conditioner on.

We did go outside briefly for a bathroom stop for Mel but we quickly returned to bed.

Next time we cross back into our home state, Victoria.