Hume Highway
 to Albury ...]]
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Colloqually driving through it is termed "Up(down) the Hume". There are other roads that can be used to travel between these two cities, but the Hume Highway is by far the shortest, quickest and safest, if the least interesting to the tourist. The longer, not so safe and more picturesque route is the Princes Highway which goes via the coast rather then inland.
The Hume Highway travels through the states of New South Wales and Victoria and got its name in the 1920s during a nationwide highway naming scheme. Before this, the road was known as the "Great Southern Road" in New South Wales and "Sydney Road" in Victoria. The road is named after Hamilton Hume, a famous explorer in the early 19th century who in conjunction with William Hovell first found an overland route between Sydney and the infant colonial outpost of Port Phillip, the original name of Melbourne.
In Victoria, the Hume Freeway (M31 in blue) runs from Wodonga to Melbourne
The Hume Highway is approximately 900km (550 miles) long, of which over 80 per cent is now dual carriageway or motorway standard. The principal towns through which it passes are Liverpool, Campbelltown, Camden, Picton, Mittagong, Goulburn, Yass, Gundagai, Holbrook and Albury in New South Wales; and Wodonga, Wangaratta, Benalla, Euroa and Seymour in Victoria.
On the Victorian side, freeway conditions from the outskirts of Melbourne to Wodonga(99%). Normal dual carriageway for the remaining sections.The freeway has high grade bitumen surface. On NSW side, approximately 400km of concrete freeway with remainding road consisting of a two way road with frequent overtaking lanes.
On the NSW side, Sydney-Campbelltown 100km/hr, Campbelltown-Coolac 110km/hr, Coolac-Gundagai 100km/hr, Gundagai-Sturt Hwy Junction 110km/hr, Sturt Hwy Junction-Albury 100km/hr.On the Victorian side, constant 110km/hr until outskirts of Melbourne.
Foreign tourists should also keep in mind that despite the comparatively light traffic, good-quality road, and usually good driving conditions, in Australia speed limits (110 kilometres per hour on dual carriageway, usually 100 km/h for the remaining single carriageway sections) are vigorously policed and unbendingly enforced, including the frequent use of fixed and mobile speed cameras.
Heading north from Melbourne, the road passes through the hills of the lower Great Dividing Range, some of which is covered with box eucalypt forest but of which much is cleared for farmland, before levelling out through flat, mostly cleared farming country through to Wodonga and the Victoria-New South Wales border.
Whilst hardly the true Australian Outback, a dry summer can leave the almost featureless ground parched and give travellers from greener foreign lands some idea of the actual outback that lies to the north and west. All of the Victorian section of the road is dual carriageway, and all the towns have been bypassed. There is not much of note to see on the highway itself. Mount Buffalo can be seen in the distance at one point, and a museum commemorating Ned Kelly is located just off the highway near Glenrowan.
After crossing the Murray River, which doubles as the Victoria-New South Wales border, the highway passes through the only place not bypassed on the route - Albury. From there, the road continues to the north-east through similar country, gradually becoming more hilly as it passes through the remaining cities and then the mountains that presented an impassable barrier to early explorers from Sydney.
Almost all towns enroute in both Victoria and NSW are bypassed by the Hume Highway. On the Victorian side, from Melbourne, practically all towns are bypassed; they are in southwards order from the NSW border, Wodonga, Chiltern , Wangaratta , Benalla , Euroa , Seymour and Broadford.
On the NSW side, from Sydney, southwards to Victorian border, the bypassed towns are Camden, Picton , Mittagong , Bowral , Moss Vale, Goulburn , Yass , and Gundagai. The highway passes through Holbrook through to Albury until the Victorian border.
Lies 60km south west of Sydney on the Nepean River, and the town (now city) dates back to 1840. It retains a lot of character where many historic building of interest remain and there is an aviation museum at nearby Narellan. Sydney urban sprawl has made it part of the Sydney metropolitan area.
The old section of the Hume Highway follows a winding southwards track through the Razorback Ridge passing through pretty towns such as Picton and Bargo before heading towards Mittagong. This section today is State Route 89 and renamed as Camden Valley Way. The current alignment of Hume Highway takes a completely different and more straight path. The old Hume Highway meets with the current Hume Highway at Yerrinbool, just before Mittagong.
Lies 110km south-west of Sydney, just off the Hume Highway at the start of the Southern Tablelands. It is lined with various species of deciduous trees from the Sydney entrance (the previous Hume Highway) and has busy town centre. Once trucks would be rolling along it until the bypass was built as the continious stretch of Hume is broken by the town centre. In winter it is also busy with skiers' traffic on the way to the Australian Alps. Today the Hume Highway baypasses Mittagong and all the towns of Southern Tablelands.
The first regional city along the Hume Freeway upon leaving Sydney and the primary city of the Southern Tablelands. It is is also now a farming and municipal centre and also the gateway to Canberra.
Near Gundagai, another tourist attraction is located, named the "Dog on the Tuckerbox". This place is named after a story where some travellers' bullock carts got stuck in the mud near Gundagai. Nothing they did managed to get their carriages free. Everything ended up muddy. To add insult to injury, one person found his guard dog sitting (and defecating) on his tuckerbox which was the only thing that lay above the mud.[1] The story was retold in a popular Australian poem by Jack Moses. The town is also well-known by a folk song of the early twentieth century "The Road to Gundagai". Consequently, a statue (with souvenir shop next door) was erected five miles (eight kilometres) from Gundagai depicting the scene. The spot serves as a waystation for many travellers on the route.
Lies on the Hume Highway between Gundagai and Albury and like Albury, is one of the few remaining towns yet to be bypassed. Notorious for its speed traps. There is also the large HMAS Otway Submarine that cannot be missed as the town is approached from the north.
Albury's history is linked with the two famous Australian explorers, Hume and Hovell, as the town/city's location sprung from their discovery of the Murray River. Albury, commonly associated with its Victorian twin, Wodonga, are one of the few rural Australian cities to experience a boom, mainly from industrialisation in recent times. Albury is by far the most noticeable city that is yet to be bypassed by the Hume Highway.The city of Albury itself is reasonably more attractive than Wodonga, with the outstanding parks along the Murray River and the well laid out city centre.
Wangaratta is one of the larger towns in northeast Victoria. It is located on the Old Hume Highway and the Ovens Highway. The area around it was first discovered by Hume and Hovell in the 1820s and the township was founded in 1837 when the surrounding area was open for farming.
The attractions around town include Merriwa Park, a sunken garden adjacent to King River, Airworld at Wangaratta Airport, old goldfield areas of nearby Beechworth and gateway to Victorian Alps for skiers.
A large town located just off the Hume Fwy between Melbourne and Wangaratta. Founded in 1848 but growth was slow until the goldfields rush. It had many associations with the Kelly gang and the courthouse was the venue for a number of their trials.
The last town in Victoria to be bypassed by the Hume. The area around Euroa was first discovered by Hume and Hovell in the late 1830s. Euroa is famous for a Ned Kelly robbery. The town itself is pretty with gardens.History
Track
Road standards
Speed limit (outside built-up areas)
Views
Towns
Camden
Mittagong
Goulburn
Gundagai
Holbrook
Albury/Wodonga
Wangaratta
Benalla
Euroa