Going for a visit - Time to try a new road...

I'm on my way to visit my Mum up in The Barossa Valley, South Australia. She's been having a bit of trouble getting her house cleaned up, fixed up and ready for sale... so when I floated the idea of popping over to give her a hand she jumped at the opportunity, and even offered a little payment to make it worth my while. Since the old job hunt is going a bit slow since relocating down to the coast, I thought I'd be crazy to pass up the opportunity of a road trip, visiting my Ma', and making some cash, all in one hit!

Laura's response when I mentioned it to her was "Well, what're you waiting for? Go as soon as you can!". Zeke was pretty keen to, so, with permission all-round, I hit the road yesterday afternoon (later than planned, of course).

Most times I head over to SA I'm running late (last major trip, back in September, I was running a day behind thanks to food poisoning from that dodgy pizza), so I just end up taking the tried & tested main drag along Dukes Hwy. It's flat and pretty straight, boring as hell, but at least I know exactly what my fuel economy is going to be along it, so I know what speed to sit on to get there with only a quick top-up towards the end. It's also the road that goes past the Bordertown Bakery... if that was the only reason, it'd probably still be my favourite road. This time, however, I have time on my side and I've already made up my mind to take the coast. I'll avoid 'The Great Ocean Road' section though, because I do still have a bit of a deadline, and all the tourist busses can make that route a nightmare (it's a great drive if you've got nowhere to be in a hurry though). Instead, I'm going to take the (slightly) inland road through Colac, then out to Warrnambool. This will give me an opportunity I can't pass up: a visit to the volcanic craters at Alvie!