2018 – Part 33 – Return journey to Sydney
We had two choices of how to return to Sydney; take the Hume highway that we took for several hours from Canberra into Victoria state, or a more scenic route. The choice was obvious, the scenic route between Melbourne and Sydney!
Escape from Melbourne
After a filling breakfast, we checked-out of our hotel and headed to the highway. Our initial departure from Melbourne was delayed due to this lovely vehicle that triggered over-height warnings as we entered the highway’s tunnel. 
Instead of reaching highway speeds, we were shunted into one lane and crawled along the whole tunnel at 40 km/h. Fortunately it did not appear that the truck had done any damage to the tunnel, however I could only imagine how disruptive this would have been had it been rush hour!
Once out of the tunnel, traffic was light as we headed through Melbourne’s suburbs. Our first stop — something Lego!
I’m Rick James Bricks!
I first found out about this Lego store from a picture online. We could have dropped by the store on our way to the Penguin Parade on Philip Island however we didn’t as we would have arrived near closing time. I’m very glad to have stopped by the store.
The store is located in Packenham, east of Melbourne. The store is run by Rick, and Caroline (his spouse). As Lego fans it was easy to strike up a conversation and compare which Lego related items we had both visited, seen and experienced. They run an excellent store with a large range of Lego sets, and accessories. We found a few items to supplement our mini-figures, and Rick even gave us his mini-figures.
Rick was quick to notice that the prints on our mini-figures are old. The story on that is for another day (I think it’s a cool backstory). After a quick picture outside we stopped for an early lunch, and fuel, before continuing east.
I didn’t know car wash facilities had to branch out to alternate items that could be cleaned in their wash bays:
The drive itself out to Eden was good. Somehow being a Saturday had us with light traffic the whole way. After a few stops, I realized that — again — we would be driving after the sunset. Unlike our epic drive to Mt. Gambier, our time after sunset was minimal, less than an hour. Also with this being the only other road in the area, there were other vehicles around us significantly decreasing my concern about Kangaroos appearing from the shoulders of the road.
Eden
We arrived in Eden after dark, and easily found our motel for the night. With one main street in Eden, one would have to work very hard to become lost in the town. After check-in, we took the motel owner’s suggestion and headed to the Great Southern hotel for dinner. With it not being busy our food was served quickly.
The portions weren’t small and certainly filled us up.
After dinner, and before retiring for the night I played with the camera given the night sky was filled with a full moon. I played with the settings and liked this one best as the moon made the shot almost appear as if it was daylight outside:
Instead, it was really this bright out when I took both of these pictures;
I returned to our room for the night and quickly fell asleep.
Eden to Sydney
The route from Eden to Sydney was straight forward — follow the ocean north:
The following morning we had an early start to our day. After picking up some snacks at the local store we headed to the park at the southern edge of Eden. The park provides a panoramic view of the bay, and at the lookout were signs to help give historical context to the area. This also explained why a small town in the southern reaches of NSW had such a large Whaling Museum.
As usual, our drive needed refreshments. Here, Amber’s requirement for tea is a larger quantity than what I needed (it was hot chocolate):
Our drive for the first half was very quiet and relaxing. I suspect it was our early morning start. The scenery along the A1 as we trekked up the coast was scenic as expected:
Tomakin
During our drive we stopped in Tomakin as Amber had found an impressive aerial shot of how close the river and ocean are in this town. As the town was on our way towards Sydney it was easy to stop by, take in the ocean and river all in one spot.
Tomakin beach & river
Tomakin
Tomakin
Tomakin
Traffic during the drive after lunch started to build and soon enough our road had morphed into a divided highway. We definitely had driven through Sydney’s cottage country on our way back to the airport. Somehow, after two weeks of driving this vehicle, my plan to drive only during daylight hours finally worked. We arrived at our hotel as the sun was setting. After checking into the hotel I returned the rental car as it wasn’t needed to get us to the airport the following day, as our hotel was located across the street from Sydney International Airport.
Read more about our trip by clicking here.