This is one of my favourite drives, and this gallery contains some photos shot while I've done it. First, get onto the M5 motorway which has a $3.80 toll, but is worth it. For part of the motorway the limit is 110, except where the nanny state has wagged its finger and made the limit 100 or 90.

Cruise past Sydney's south-western suburbs and the M5 gives way to the F5 freeway. Same road, you just don't pay a toll for it. Out past Campbelltown, Sydney's furthest most south western suburb, and Mt. Annan, the site of botanic gardens that I really must get around to visiting at some point. By the time you hit the bridge over the Nepean River, you're certainly in a semi-rural zone.

Beyond Pheasant's Nest, where there's a Mobil service station in the middle of nowhere just aching to be photographed, the F5 / South Western Freeway gives way to the Hume Highway, the main Sydney to Melbourne roadway. Dotted along the way you'll start to notice rest stops dedicated to Australians who have won the Victoria Cross; this is known as the Remembrance Driveway.

Now you have a choice; keep on the Hume straight to Canberra, or divert via the southern highlands towns of Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale? Finding decent places to stay there is problematic but doing a spring and autumn shoot in the Highlands has been on the cards for a while now. So far I've been limited to stopping off there for a rest break and to shoot a few images, and more of those will appear in the future.

Rejoining (or staying on) the Hume at Sutton Forest, it's time to settle in for an extended cruise through the countryside. You'll see the occasional orchard or winery which is prepared to sell its wares to the travelling public. Eventually you'll have the option of diverting to Australia's first inland city (as it styles itself), Goulburn. I've always given it a miss, in part because I don't want to drink any of their water there since they have relatively little of it. Getting closer now; a bit further on we split from the Hume highway and hit the Federal into Canberra. A row of attractive poplar trees (which I'd shoot if there was anywhere to stop) lines your path. Be vewwwwy, vewwwy careful near the town of Collector (population 150) because Highway Patrol cops have a disproportionate interest in that stretch of road. When not drought affected, this is a very attractive stretch of country marred only by the limited chances that you have to pull in and shoot it. Past (the usually dry) Lake George which has its own gallery, and we're on the last stretch.

The old familiar signs appear, and soon the ACT border marker is accompanied by a drop in the speed limit from 110 to 100km/h. Shortly after that, it drops to 80 with the warning of a speed camera ahead (which I can't blame them for; when you've spent 2.5 hours at 130 {cough}, I mean, 110 you need some encouragement to slow back down to urban speeds. Soon enough you're on Northbourne Avenue, and it's time to check into the hotel and see the sights.