I just got back from a 4-day mini-holiday in the Victorian countryside. My brother-in-law had a teaching job in Ballarat and another in Horsham so he decided to bring the whole family. This is the first post of a series about our trip to Ballarat, The Grampians and Horsham.
I’ve always loved driving (or in my case, riding) around Melbourne and the outlying countryside because of the great condition of the roads, and the seemingly lack of traffic. Australia is almost the same size as mainland USA, but unlike the United States, the population of the entire country is only at 21 million (Metro Manila has about 11 million residents). This means less people in the streets, less people on the roads, just less people, period. When I first came here, I told my sister I’d love to drive in Australia, since the roads are pretty empty. She was quick to refute my argument, saying that it’s much more dangerous here. Emptier roads meant people tend to drive faster. The higher the speed, the higher the chances of a car crash, which in Manila would just mean bumping the car in front of you. I realized what she meant, when I saw a car grazing the rear bumper of another on the road to Ballarat, during the first trip we made there last February.
Now on our second trip to Ballarat, there was another accident along the freeway. We didn’t actually see it, but it was a bit unnerving to hear about it, seeing as we passed the same stretch of road just minutes before. According to the reports, four teens were inside the car that careened of the highway, hitting a tree by the side of the road. The car burst into flames upon impact. Police and witnesses says that the car must have been travelling at 160km/h.
After a drive around the city, we emerged from one side street, right across our home for the next two days, Lake Wendouree Tourist Park.
Coming up next: our day in Ballarat, review of Lake Wendouree Tourist Park, and driving off to our next destination.
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This post was last modified on Sunday, 3 October 2010 23:14
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