Getting There

While Victoria is a fairly compact state by Australian standards, most of the popular holiday locations are still a 3-6 hour drive from Melbourne. On the Friday of a long weekend thousands of people go home, pack up the car and set off for the weekend in bumper to bumper traffic for most of their journey. Tired and frustrated, people begin to take risks and the inevitable accidents happen.

I prefer driving late at night or in the wee hours of the morning for my initial journey to get out of the city. I plan my drive to get to a location in time to start taking photos at dawn. This gives me time to relax with a coffee after work and get some sleep in a warm bed before heading off at around 11:00pm - midnight. If I sleep through the alarm then I was too tired to drive all the way and would have ended up spending the night in the car by the side of the road somewhere. I'd rather be in my water bed.

Pros

• There is very little traffic
• You don't arrive at a camp site in the cold, wee hours of the morning and then have to try to go to sleep.
• You get some sleep before heading off.
• The world looks completely different by moonlight.
• Frozen mud offers much more traction than wet mud. In winter, dirt alpine tracks around the snow line become wet and slippery during the day and are much easier to drive on at night when the mud becomes frozen. Solid ice, on the other hand, is a hazard at any time of the day.

Cons

• You can only see the whites of black cows' eyes. In some areas cattle are left grazing by the side of the road (eg. around Licola). By the time you see the whites of their eyes you're VERY close to them and stopping in such a short distance definitely gets the adrenaline going.

Bah Humbug

But you run the risk of falling asleep at the wheel...... Falling asleep at the wheel can happen at any time of the day on a long drive. I find a small break before heading off on a long drive a big help in staying awake. When returning home I usually pack up the car and then have a break before setting off. Nothing like a spot of fishing to prepare you for the maddening drive home.