ExpeditionOz Services blog » 200803 Melb/Syd/Can Roadtrip

Day 2 – Melb/Syd/Can Roadtrip 200803

Mick — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:59:01 +0000

Written at 0300hrs on the 8th of March

20080307

Drove into the Sydney CBD from my mate Andrew’s place out in the western suburbs of Sydney (Winston Hills) in the morning and it took ages to find a parking station that would take the height of DSCVRY (2.3m), but i finally found one and it was right around the corner from The Blacket hotel where i was staying for the night.

After checking in and attending the AIMIA board meeting (I’m a national board member) i wandered into Strand Hatters and checked out some Akubra hats that i have been looking at for a while now…the Akubra Adventurer, the Akubra International, the Akubra Swing and the Akubra Henry Lawson. I was thinking about picking up an Akubra Adventurer, which is a Fedore (Indiana Jones) style hat that was originally made for sale only in the old Gowings Store in Sydney…which i used to love shopping at. The didn’t have an Adventurer in black, so i thought i would pop back in later after working out if i really needed another Akubra hat ;)

Went back to The Blacket and got ready for the 14th Annual AIMIA Awards (which was being held at the NIDA theatre) and then caught a cab down there. It was a great night and all of the winners were of a high standard…as one would expect.

It’s 3am and i’m finally back at The Blacket, so i figure i can get about five hours sleep before heading back out to Winston Hills to meet up with Andrew and his family and then head out to the Blue Mountains :)

Day 1 – Melb/Syd/Can Roadtrip 200803

Mick — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:00:24 +0000

20080306 1000hrs – Melbourne
DSCVRY is packed and I’ve left the ExpeditionOz Melbourne HQ and I’m heading through Melbourne to join the Hume Highway which heads north to Sydney town. The odometer is sitting at 122,264km.

20080306 1100hrs – Melbourne
One hour after leaving the ExpeditionOz Melbourne HQ i reach the outer edge of Melbourne…this short part of the trip takes longer everytime i do it :(

20080306 1400hrs – Albury / Wodonga
Just crossed over the Murray River near the towns of Albury (NSW) and Wodonga (Vic) which marks the State border between Victoria and New South Wales.

20080306 1900hrs – Sydney
After a nine hour drive, i have finally reached the outer edge of Sydney. There was lots of roadwork on the Hume Highway as they are finally trying to finish the work which will make the Highway a freeway-grade dual carriage-way (two lanes or more both ways) all the way from Albury to Sydney. The Melbourne to Wodonga part of this work was finished a while ago and the plan is that the NSW side will all be finished by the end of 2009…its a huge project, but i can’t believe it has taken this long…

March 2008 Sydney Roadtrip

Mick — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:35:38 +0000

This Thursday I leave sunny Melbourne and head north up to sunny (and humid) Sydney for about a week to attend the AIMIA (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association) Annual General Meeting, an AIMIA board meeting (I’m a member of the National Board), the 14th Annual AIMIA Awards and to give the keynote presentation at the “Our Space: Asia Pacific Online Conference” which is being presented by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

Of course in amongst all this “work stuff”, a long time buddy (from my 10 years in Sydney) and I are also planning to do a two-day 4wd expedition through the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and Blue Mountains National Park…it will probably follow a similar path to the one I did in September of 2002

The equipment is all packed and loaded into DSCVRY (my 2001 Land Rover Discovery) and an Expedition diary, photos and videos are all planned…now i just need to finish my keynote presentation so I can get my head into expedition mode :)