Hume or Princes?

[dr nick]

if you were travelling from sydney to melbourne (or vice versa) which route would you take?

i'll be travelling the coastal route. it will take an extra 3 hours, but you go through some nice towns and its more scenic.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Princes wouldnt ya? Is that how its spelt? I always thought it was Princess

 

[Destructive]

I usually went to Melbourne by bus on the Hume, but its been 5 years since I was there.

 

[Lethal]

Only driven to Sydney on the Hume. Most boringest drive imaginable.

 

[Harry]

I'd go up the Hume because it's close to home but I'd rather take the train from Benalla or fly from Albury and let someone else drive while I read a book.

 

[happy_in_hell]

Originally posted by rfctigerarmy
Princes wouldnt ya? Is that how its spelt? I always thought it was Princess

Yeah, its Princes as in 'that is the Princes Freeway'

 

[catattack]

I take the Hume Hwy, because that's the way the bus driver goes.

 

[Darky]

When I drove from Melbourne to Sydney last year, I headed north on the Hume Hwy. For the return trip, I headed south to Wollongong because I was already on the Princes Hwy in Sydney, and didn't have a street directory, so I wanted to stick with main roads. I've been to Wollongong a few times before so I know the main roads there, and was able to find the road that connects back to the Hume Hwy via Moss Vale.

Hume is almost a non-stop run (except fuel & rest stops) from Craigieburn to the Sydney tollways, so that's an easier drive as well as being shorter and quicker.

No doubt the Princes Hwy would be a more scenic drive if you can spare the extra few hours. Also might depend on what part of each city you are travelling to/from, as it might add or subtract 30 minutes or an hour at each end.

 

[BomberGal]

Probably the Princes, because it goes through here anyway.

 

[Richoagain]

If you're in South West Vic it's a lot quicker to drive to Melbourne, veer around the ring road, then take the Hume...

But personally, though the Hume's a long quicker, it's freaking boring as. I'd take the Princes so that I didn't get distracted and crash and burn. Possibly the Princes from Melbourne, then the Cann Valley/Monaro highway to Canberra and the Federal to Sydney if you wanted to break things up even more.

 

[Mr Q]

Originally posted by Lethal
Only driven to Sydney on the Hume. Most boringest drive imaginable.

You've quite clearly never driven along the Eyre / Stuart / Barkley / North West Coastal highways.

Last time I drove from Sydney to Melbourne I took a route that could best be described as indirect. Sydney - Kiama - Bowral - Canberra - Thredbo - Albury - Mt Hotham - Lakes Entrance - Phillip Island - Melbourne. Needless to say I wasn't exactly in a hurry.

Out of those two choices, I'd probably take the Princes Hwy.

 

[Richoagain]

Yeah, Sydney Rd is a bugger - completely not worth the effort.

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by nicko18
i tried to follow the ring road back out but accidentally kept on doncaster road which began taking me into the city. took almost an hour from carlton to the highway because of the ridiculous traffic on sydney road which for some reason is only one lane

Sydney Rd is one of Melbourne's busiest. Shops for about 5km on BOTH sides of the whole road, narrow road, roadside parking, and trams.

Open road once you hit Craigieburn/Kalkallo is good, but you have to sit though a fair bit of city traffic to get there.

Originally posted by nicko18

sat on 120 on the hume the whole way. (PS i noticed that victorian drivers are a lot more observant of speed limits.)

A NSWman I know that moved here recently said there was a huge difference in the culture relating to speed and red light cameras. In my experiebnce drivign to Sydney and back, speed cameras on the main highwys/freeways were marked out in triplicate...
1) a sign several hundred metres ahead saying "spped camera xxx metres ahead"
2) a sign immediately before it saying "slow down now, here's a speed camera"
3) a sign virtually pointing to the camera "look its this thing positioned on this pole"

In Victoria, they'll be positioned on the four-lane freeways where 300,000 cars a day travel without fatality or serious accidents, positioned on the backs of road direction signs. Of course Bracksy says they're a safety initiative.

 

[evade28]

Originally posted by Darky
Open road once you hit Craigieburn/Kalkallo is good, but you have to sit though a fair bit of city traffic to get there.

will be good once the craigieburn bypass is opened.

 

[BomberGal]

Originally posted by nicko18
by the way, whats the deal with the melbourne tollways? i wasnt game to travel them because i once heard someone say they dont take cash, you had to buy an etag or something (which is absurd for tourists) and i thought i'd get a fine if i went through one. what do you have to do?

You can pay money there, but you have to have the correct change! Etag is really only for regulars.

And there really is less speeding in Victoria, from what I know - the maximum speed recorded on the Princes Hwy between Geelong and Melbourne is something like 116 (maybe 106? Doubt it though). But does anyone have any stats or something to show crashes, speeding fines etc on different state's roads?

 

[dr nick]

yes, that roads limit is 100, and the max recorded speed it goes up to is 107. i had my speedo exactly on 100 through the radar and it clocked 98, so they are ripping me off with my odometer reading

 

[Aucklander]

Whenever I drive up to Sydney for a Warriors game, I always take the Hume. Leave around 10-10.30 at night and normally arrive around 10 the next day.

Obviously plenty of stops for tea and coffee, and driver changes, plus a sleep and breakfast at Maccas at Yass.

 

[BT]

Hume easy!

If you plan your departure well enough, you could limit the Sydney Rd problem.

It's all duel carriageway not long after Kalkallo all the way to the border.

Over the border it gets a tad dodgy.

Not spent enough time on the Princess to rally compare but it looks longwinded on the map.