Today we drove from Toowoomba to Dubbo. This was the longest section (over 700km), but it took a comfortable nine and a half hours including breaks every two hours, and a decent pause for lunch (at Narrabri).
The rig performed well, although fuel consumption was a bit high (17lit/100km). Having said this, running on lpg meant that virtual fuel consumption was half that, as unleaded was consistently twice the price. The most expensive lpg was 87.9 (Narrabri) and the cheapest 78.9 (Goondiwindi). A consumption of 8.5lit/100km whilst towing over a tonne is not to be sneezed at. We used no unleaded at all, with gas available all along the route.
The car pulled well and time in the passing lane was easily kept to a minimum. There was no sign of vehicular stress with coolant temperatures exactly the same as when not towing. There’s no doubt that the big Aussie sedan is a very suitable vehicle for this type of journey, with a great capacity to eat distance quietly and comfortably.
The country improved the farther south we traveled, and looks particularly attractive at the moment between Gilgandra and Dubbo. It was not so good to the north of this area, with a characteristic dead grey appearance.
It’s cold in the morning and evening, but very pleasant in the car with the sun shining. The fine weather looks like continuing for a few days at least. The ABC coverage is great – we could listen to Triple J all the way. This is a concession to my son – it’s not my usual fare.
To me this sound track was more than a little incongruous for this part of the world. There was lots of Rap – good music for the war in Iraq apparently.
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