Northmead to home

Sydney to Toowoomba typically takes us about 11 hours via Gloucester and the New England Highway. This time we were taking the longer Pacific Highway with a few stops for visits along the way. That called for an early start.

We were up at 5:00 am and on the road a little before 6:00 am. It was still dark when we exited the NorthConnex tunnel onto the Pacific Highway but the sun rose soon after.

Traffic was very light and Majella made better time than we usually do. We reached Raymond Terrace just after 7:30 am, changed driver and carried on. We changed again 2 hours later and Majella drove on.

Around 11:45 am we arrived at Tracey and Andy’s place north of Coffs Harbour. Majella had arranged to collect a piece of art she had bought from Tracey’s online store. Tracey served us coffee with a snack while we enjoyed a break from driving and a chance to catch up.

I drove on from there toward Judith and Bob’s place at Tweed Heads South. An hour or so south of there Majella called Judith to see if they were home. They were out visiting friends some distance from home. So that visit was off. We paused just before reaching the Tweed to buy a small amount of petrol ($2.17) to get us to the northern end of the coast.

Majella drove from there. We crossed the border at 3:00 pm AEDT and gained an hour so that we arrived at Bev’s place at Runaway Bay a little before 3:00 pm AEST. Bev served us coffee and snacks which we enjoyed while catching up on news.

Then we were off to Laura’s where the added attraction was that John, Shruti, and baby Avni were visiting from England. That was a quick drop in and out visit as they were about to take Avni for a walk and we were heading home. 

On the way to the highway we filled up for the last time on this trip ($1.97). A couple of hours later we arrived home to find Jane and Lea there. Jane had been using our Internet for work and Lea had come back from his weekend activities and was making their dinner of open grill sandwiches. He made some for us too, a bonus given we expected to come home to cheese and crackers. Before long we had unpacked and settled.