The task in question involves comparing the traceroute for data packets to travel from network-tools.com to Curtin and my computer in SA to Curtin. I found it interesting that there were 2 more hops getting from SA to WA than from overseas yet the time taken was significantly less.

My conclusion from this is that there are a number of factors that influence the equation of comparisons. Some of these may be network congestion, distance, traffic, and network speeds.