We hit the road to Broken Hill -- Day 1

So . . . like many Aussies our overseas holiday was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic.

What to do? Where to go? Like the rest of Australia we’ve decided to hit the road in search of a little adventure — to break the boredom at home.

Our destination is outback Broken Hill and we’re driving a bright orange Citroen C5 Aircross (beep if you see us).

Reckon we won’t see another car like this one out there.

Day One takes us from the Blue Mountains to Gundagai, you know the place with the Dog on the Tuckerbox — a distance of 410km with side excursions.

Normally we’d tee up a 4×4 Toyota diesel of some description for something like this — but hey — there’s nothing like living life on the edge.

We were a little concerned the turbocharged petrol-powered Aircross would chew through too much fuel, but we needn’t have been concerned.

At the moment it’s sitting on a miserly 7.0L/100km, which is better than the manufacturer’s own claim of 7.9L.

Day One took us first to Goulburn for lunch in leafy Belmore Park, with sangers and bottled water, and some of the local sights thrown in.

Then it was off along the old Hume Highway, past the wind turbines at Breadalbane, with slow drives throughs of Gunning and Yass, both sleepy little towns that have been bypassed by the main road.

This is Ben Hall country with many stories of the bushranger’s exploits.

On impulse we decided to turn off at Jugiong, which turned out to be a real surprise packet with some amazing roadside art, an electric vehicle (EV) charge point and a stretch of road that was once the most notorious speed trap in NSW.

It was here that cricketing legend Richie Benaud once went to school.

Our first day ended at Gundagai and Araluen Cottage where we spent the night after grabbing a beer and something to eat at the local club.

It was all peaches and cream until we were inundated by tiny flying insects brought out by the 30 degree plus heat.

More to come.