Brisbane Melbourne round Trip

[brismike]

Just did a round trip from Brisbane to Melbourne & back. Went down the Newell Highway via Dubbo to Melbourne and then back to Brisbane via the Hume & Pacific Highways with a stop in Sydney.

All up did 3716.3 k's on the round trip which included a side visit to Geelong to go see the Ford Discovery Centre. The XR6 used 304.4 litres of fuel during the trip. Total driving time was 44hr 14min. Average Speed including some City Driving in Melbourne and Sydney was 84kmh.

Mileage was 8.1 litres/100k's including the city stuff. Not bad as I usually get around 12's driving in the Brisbane suburbs.

The Hume Highway is greatly improved from the last time I drove it in 2003. Almost dual highway all the way from Melbourne to Sydney except for one small section that is currently being fixed by a bypass construction around Holbrook.

Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane is also much improved but still has some horror sections between Port Maquarie and Kempsie and Coffs Harbour, Grafton & Byron. Looks like there is another 20 years of roadworks before all that is sorted.

The XR6 just gobbled up the highway using cruise control, mostly sitting on 110 or 100k's ticking over at just over 1500-1700 rpm. These cars are just made for this type of work.

The Ford Discovery Centre in Geelong is well worth the visit and cost $9.00 to get in. Here are a few interesting pics from there.


Cutaway of a BA Falcon

Cutaway showing the tailshaft under the rear seat

Test Crash Vehicle BA Falcon

1973 ACT Police XB Falcon

Prototype BA Falcon King Cab

Mike