I am in Oberon NSW today where I am doing some work for Oberon Council. This is my third visit here and every trip has not been without its dramas. This trip I flew up in the morning instead of the night before. So it was up at 5.00am to be ready for a taxi to Tullamarine airport at 5.45. I got to the airport without much trouble and then things started to go downhill.
All flights into Sydney were delayed. My 7.15 flight had been put back to a 7.58 departure. We eventually got away a few minutes after the revised time. Once we were in the air we confidently advised that the expected flying time was 1 hour and 5 minutes, about 20 minutes faster than scheduled. That seemed too good to be true and it was. By the time we were over Canberra we were advised that we going into a holding pattern due to congestion at Sydney. It was 10.00am by the time we were inside the terminal, 1 hour and 20 minutes late.
On my previous visits to Oberon I have flown on to Bathurst but this time I hired car and drove. I had booked a full sized car and was allocated a Subaru Outback AWD. Compared with the MX-5 at home, this thing is like a truck - big, sitting up high and sluggish. After working out the controls, especially the button operated electric parking brake, we hit the road. Left Sydney on the M5, M7 and then the M4 to Penrith and the foot of the Blue Mountains. Climbing up the range, the overcast weather deteriorated into drizzle and rain. Coupled with roadworks, this resulted in slow trip to a lunch stop in Hazelbrook.
After lunch it was back on then road, through Katoomba and Mount Victoria before dropping off the west side of the Blue Mountains. At Hartley it was time to leave the Great Western Highway and head off cross-country to Oberon. Finally arrived a little after 2.30 in then afternoon. Hopefully the trip home tomorrow will go better.
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