Sofala, Mount Panorama and a Sydney Arrival from Hell!
Some days on the road are filled with amazing scenery, memorable stops and relaxed country pub visits. And then there are days when the GPS loses the plot, the traffic comes to a standstill, and you start questioning every life decision that led you to getting behind the wheel!
Welcome to our journey from Goondiwindi to Sydney.
We were up and organised before sunrise, ready for a big day covering around 871 kilometres. The plan was to visit the historic Royal Hotel in Sofala for a beer and lunch, take a lap around the legendary Mount Panorama race circuit at Bathurst, check out the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains, and finally arrive in Sydney.
Sounds like a great day of touring, doesn’t it?
Well, as we were about to discover, the best-laid plans can go pear-shaped rather quickly!
An Early Start and a Maccas Stop
Once the car was packed, we hit the road and headed south towards Moree in New South Wales.
Our first stop was McDonald’s for coffee and a bacon and egg muffin. Now, plenty of people like to have a crack at Maccas, but I’ve got to say, a bacon and egg muffin is pretty hard to stuff up. Add a decent coffee and you’ve got yourself a convenient breakfast stop when there’s a mountain of kilometres ahead.
The McDonald’s at Moree was rather cold, though, and we weren’t particularly keen to hang around. Breakfast sorted, coffee consumed and hands warmed up, we climbed back into the GLC300 and continued on our way.
We had a big day ahead, and the Royal Hotel at Sofala was waiting!
The Royal Hotel at Sofala — A Bucket List Pub
One of our planned highlights was the Royal Hotel in Sofala, which features on our Aussie Bush Pubs book bucket list.
Sofala is a quaint historic country town with buildings that reflect its gold-rush heritage. It’s the sort of place that makes you slow down and imagine what life was like when the town was buzzing with people chasing their fortunes.
Getting there, however, was a bit of an adventure in itself.
Our car’s GPS decided the shortest route was the way to go, and the directions it chose were a little unusual. We encountered some thick fog that lingered well into the morning, along with a section of flooded road. Fortunately, the water was passable in our Mercedes-Benz GLC300, so we didn’t need to turn around and retrace our steps.
Another little touring adventure ticked off, although we could have done without the fog and mystery-route navigation!
Eventually, we made it to Sofala and the Royal Hotel.
The pub itself was a nice old country establishment, and we were pleased to tick another venue off our Aussie Bush Pubs list. The beer prices were a little on the dear side, and unfortunately, there were no meals available when we visited.
That was a bit of a downside, as we’d hoped to enjoy lunch there. Still, we’d made the detour to visit the place, so we settled for a beer, took in the atmosphere and chalked up another pub visit.
With no lunch on offer, we weren’t hanging around all afternoon. It was time to get moving towards Bathurst.
Mount Panorama — Home of the Bathurst 1000
Being so close to Bathurst, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drive around Mount Panorama.
For Australian motorsport fans, Mount Panorama needs little introduction. It’s one of the country’s most famous racing circuits and the home of the Bathurst 1000, where drivers tackle its challenging combination of straights, corners and steep elevation changes.
The interesting thing is that Mount Panorama is also a public road, with houses and residential areas alongside the racing facilities. When it’s not being used for a major racing event, you can drive around the circuit and experience the famous road for yourself, subject to the usual road rules and access arrangements.
We both had a drive around the circuit, which was a great opportunity to see this iconic piece of Australian motorsport history up close.
You can watch the racing on television for years, but there’s something different about actually being there and seeing the layout of the circuit with your own eyes.
Mount Panorama was definitely a worthwhile stop. Unfortunately, our next planned destination was about to test our patience rather more than our driving skills!
The Three Sisters — A Public Holiday Traffic Nightmare
Our next intended stop was the famous Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains.
We headed towards Katoomba along the Great Western Highway, expecting to enjoy some spectacular mountain scenery along the way.
Instead, we found ourselves crawling through traffic that seemed determined to make every kilometre feel like ten.
The traffic between Bathurst and Katoomba was abysmal, and we quickly discovered that trying to visit the Three Sisters on a public holiday was not one of our better decisions.
Getting off the highway and making our way towards the attraction took forever. And after all that effort, there was absolutely nowhere to park!
By this stage, my frustration was becoming fairly obvious. If you’ve watched our vlog, you’ll probably notice that I wasn’t exactly delivering a cheerful tourism advertisement for the Blue Mountains.
We’d spent valuable touring time sitting in traffic, only to arrive at a place we couldn’t actually visit properly.
Sometimes you have to admit defeat. The Three Sisters would have to wait for another day.
Back onto the Great Western Highway we went, joining the procession of vehicles heading towards Sydney at what could generously be described as a leisurely pace.
Sydney, Vivid and the World’s Most Frustrating Car Park
If we’d thought the traffic in the Blue Mountains was bad, Sydney had a few more surprises waiting for us.
To make matters worse, the GPS was now trying to find alternative routes around the congestion. Unfortunately, those directions sent us off course, and we ended up having to backtrack, losing even more time.
My patience was wearing very thin by now. We’d had fog, flooded roads, a pub with no lunch, a failed attempt to visit the Three Sisters and a GPS that appeared to have developed a personal grudge against us.
And then we arrived in Sydney to discover something we’d completely overlooked when booking our holiday.
Vivid Sydney was on!
For anyone unfamiliar with Vivid, it’s Sydney’s major festival of light, music, ideas and creativity, with spectacular light displays and events across the city. It’s a fantastic attraction — provided you’ve planned around it.
We hadn’t.
Between the traffic, the GPS misadventures and the crowds, it was well and truly nighttime by the time we reached Wilson Parking in Harrington Street, The Rocks.
We thought the worst of the day’s driving was behind us. Oh, how wrong we were!
The car park was absolutely packed. Once inside, we found ourselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic, crawling around looking for a vacant space.
And crawling.
And crawling some more.
It took over an hour just to find a parking spot.
By then, I was well and truly fed up. In my opinion, the car park should have been monitoring capacity and managing entry once it was full, rather than letting more vehicles pile in and create a frustrating game of automotive musical chairs.
After covering around 871 kilometres, I was not in the mood for another driving challenge — particularly one involving endless laps of a car park!
Finally Checked In at The Rocks
Eventually, we escaped the car park and made it to the Rendezvous Hotel Sydney in The Rocks.
We were relieved to finally get checked in, drop our bags and put the day’s dramas behind us.
The plan had been to arrive in Sydney with enough time to explore Vivid, enjoy the atmosphere and ease into our stay. Instead, we arrived exhausted, frustrated and well past the time we’d expected.
Still, there was one thing we could do to improve the situation: find a pub!
We decided to have a quiet beer somewhere nearby and enjoy a little glimpse of Vivid from our balcony room. After the day we’d had, sitting down and not having to navigate anything was looking pretty appealing.
Harts Pub — A Well-Earned Beer
For dinner and a few beers, we headed to Harts Pub, only about 300 metres from our hotel.
Now, this was more like it!
A short stroll, a pub we knew, something to eat and a few beers sounded infinitely better than spending another minute behind the wheel.
After the dramas of the day, we were ready to relax and enjoy being back in one of our favourite parts of Sydney. The Rocks has plenty of historic character, great pubs and plenty to explore, so it was nice to finally settle in and start enjoying our stay.
We’d made it to Sydney, we’d survived the journey, and the car was parked. That last achievement deserved a medal all on its own!
Tomorrow, we’d put the driving frustrations behind us and begin two days of exploring Sydney, revisiting some of our favourite pubs and dining establishments, and hopefully enjoying a much more relaxed adventure.
The Three Sisters might have beaten us today, but Sydney wasn’t getting the last laugh.
Stay tuned — the Thirsty Tourists are back in The Rocks, and tomorrow it’s time for pubs, food and sightseeing!
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