Leave Now or Abandon All Hope: Holidaymakers Warned to Begin Return Trek to The Shire Now Before Sunday's Holiday Traffic Devours Them Whole

Layne Hogg | Traffic Reporter | Sutherland Shire Gazette

24 April 2025

Local authorities, traffic experts, and several frazzled parents trapped near Nowra are issuing a blunt warning to Shire residents still gallivanting about regional NSW: start driving home immediately or resign yourself to a permanent life on the Princes Highway.

As the Great Easter-ANZAC Mega Holiday draws to its sluggish end, those who dared venture more than 4km from the Shire are now facing the logistical equivalent of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere in a wheelie bin.

And for the thrill-seekers who went north of Sydney? Godspeed. Not only must they re-enter Sydney from the top, they then face a harrowing cross-city crawl across a transport network that still resembles a series of goat tracks loosely held together by traffic lights, detours, and unspoken rage.

“You can technically take a toll road,” noted one exhausted dad queued at the Gosford on-ramp, “but it’ll cost you roughly the same as a return flight to Fiji. And at least in Fiji, no one’s screaming ‘I NEED TOILET’ every 14 minutes.”

Sydney’s proud collection of toll tunnels now resembles a high-stakes maze for the financially reckless, with drivers accidentally entering the wrong one and emerging three suburbs from their destination and $63 poorer.

Back in the Shire, Bev from Admin at the Sutherland Shire Gazette reports she’s already seen neighbours panic-mowing their lawns and fake-smiling at one another as the holiday denial lifts. “They’ve realised they only have three days to dry five loads of camping laundry and emotionally prepare for Term 2.”

So whether you’re in Berry, Byron, or Bellingen - the message is clear: pack up your esky, strap down the paddleboard, and start the engine.

If you’re lucky, you might make it home by Sunday night.

Shire holiday traffic