Amazing what you can learn travelling home to family in the country at Christmas. This year, I was not prepared for a shocking disparity in petrol prices.

In Woolloomooloo, Edgecliff, Randwick and Marrickville, petrol stations were charging over $1.23 per litre for unleaded fuel. We expect high prices in Sydney. Why?

I arrived in Albury, still in NSW, and guess what I noticed? Petrol prices for the same fuel cost $1.13 per litre, and in other towns, the price was even less. Victoria had $1.21 per litre, so it was cheaper on the NSW side of the border.

This does not make sense. We expect prices to increase as we travel away from the city docks as we pay for the cost of transporting the fuel are understandable taking into account of the price. But when the opposite happens, you know that someone is ripping us off.

I hate wasteful use of greenhouse gasses. I only use the car when it is the only alternative.

I know Ethanol can be produced cheaper now and engines like this cleaner fuel.

Surely those in the city, however, are sick of being hostage to this current rip-off scam in petrol pricing, yet we feel too guilty to complain. In this case, the rationale does not include any levy's here on carbon emissions taxes. It is just plain greed.

Fletch...I had the same experience over Christmas... 29/12

Bairnsdale price $1.14/L
Melbourne price $1.21/L

Crazy.

This could possibly be a reflection of purchasing costs. Consider that metro service stations most certainly would have had to fill up more recently than country ones, so may have had their most recent purchase at a higher price. This would make some sense given that both Sydney and Melbourne were higher than country areas. Of course there is the "rip-off" element too. However, I have trouble feeling too much sympathy given that country motorists have for years had to endure prices that were well above the additional cost of freight from metro areas. About time it turned around for a while!