Eastbound again

 For some reason both of us were awake very early on 16 December so we packed up the Mazda and headed off at 0600.  Frances drove the first leg to get in some practice at city driving: on discussing this we concluded that she hadn't done any big-city driving (neither Canberra nor Adelaide count - although the driving style of Adelaide motorists makes it a trickier place to drive than most).  The route was very simple: along Commercial Road (which becomes Malvern Rd) and a right turn on to the Monash Freeway.

The traffic heading East on the Freeway was notably light at this time, but from around Dandenong Rd onwards the Westbound lanes had already clogged to stop-start.  I would hate that commute.

At some point a copmobile was on the shoulder flashing a sign about "debris on the road"  There surely was: lumps of tyre all over the place.  A little further up the road a small lorry was parked.  It had double back wheels which on the drivers side were displaying the naked rims.  I'm glad we weren't behind it when they let go!

The sun was quite awkward in a few place where we were driving East, as it was only just above the horizon and the windscreen was a bit grubby.   Fortunately the road pointed SE most of the time.  This ceased to be a problem when we got into the La Trobe valley as it was foggy (or at least a heavy mist) from Drouin to Traralgon. 

We stopped for a driver swap in Rosedale.  This was very well timed for Frances since as we left about 30 schoolgirls turned up to use the female facilities.  I suspect there would be a 15 minute delay at least.  I took the helm at that point so Frances was duty photographer approaching Stratford.  She was able to capture the elephant memorial ...

... and the fishing Santa on the Avon Bridge.
It wasn't possible to get a snap of  the newly painted water tank to the East of the town as it isn't so visible Eastbound. Next trip.

After a brief stop at Bairnsdale we pressed on.  Just after Orbost we crossed Fat Cow Creek. This led to discussion of encouraging people to put up signs illustrating names.  For an easy example
The next watercourse (Brodribb River) was a bit more difficult but ...
The features named after people might be difficult and those with common names (Stony, Deep, etc) might challenge inventiveness.

After refueling at Cann River, where the temperature was 37C, we got back to Angophora Drive (31C) at 1225 hrs.



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