We approached this with a little trepidation as it would be our first go at a Victorian Border Control.
This was made a little more tricky as my printer (in Canberra) has gummed up, after not being used for a year, and only did half the black and white business. And it wasn't the black! So we were relying on the copies of the permits emailed to us: another innovation.
The departure was fine: as always I was concerned as to whether I could fit the mountain of stuff into the Jetta and as usual it just swallowed it all. Off we went.
All was fine, although I did notice that the quite heavy traffic coming towards us was coming in pulses: road clear for some time and then 20 cars in a stream This smelt of road works in our future. So it was. A short distance after Bunyan we found the traffic stopped. Here is the situation:
We joined the queue at the maroon line and sat there for 17 minutes and 22 seconds. It turned out they were resurfacing the road (blue line). My guess is that for 10 minutes the road was closed in both directions. Of course there was no warning of this, which doesn't really matter as the only alternate routes involved massive detours: via Badja adds on 93 km of crappy road and via Namadgi adds on 45 minutes (although only an extra 20km the road is again crappy).
Then, soon after turning on to the Monaro Hwy to Bombala, there was another bogan holding us up. After 5 minutes I wandered up to ask how long the hold up would be and the response was "As long as it takes. Ge back in your car, its dangerous." He was advised that his attitude was dangerous to his continued employment - although given the attitude of the companies which do such contracts it would probably make him employee of the month. Total delay here possibly 6 minutes.
Getting on to Imlay Rd we found a log truck going our way, but he was moving right along and once there was a straight bit flicked his indicators suggesting he wanted me to go past, in which I obliged. These drivers, on this road at least, are always very thoughtful.
We got to the road block with two cars close behind us (I'd been driving on the speed limit, always a good start to a traffic jam) and two being serviced. The service recipients soon cleared out and a cop looked at Frances iPad, showing the permit. All quickly and pleasantly resolved.
On getting home we found the vegetables had been growing!
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