Originally posted by KnAPowell
Thanks a heap Geodyne!
You have given us a good idea of which route to
take back home and it
certainly sounds like a wonderful one!
Has anybody taken the coastal
route from Central or North QLD to
Victoria? I'd love to know how long
it took and what sights there were
along the way.

If you are
referring to going straight down the coast and around into Melbourne
that way, take more than 4 days !!!

Look @ at least 5 - 7 days for
that trip. It is winding and scenic.

Down through Qld you get
Sugar country and in northern NSW its the same then into Banana country.
The Glasshouse mountains north of Brisbane are worth a look. Mt Warning
around Murwillimbah is also worth that look.

For NSW travel have a
look @ http://www.travelmate.com.au/MapMaker/MapMaker.asp
There are probably others but it is just after midnight WST :-)

The
hills out the back of Byron bay on the highway are extremely scenic.


Detour to Lismore @ Bangalow and come out @ Ballina via Alstonville
(no relation to that odious senator, thank God) You will travel through
what I reckon is God's own country

Grafton area is tremendous. As
an historical aside, you can turn off the Pacific Highway just before
Grafton and go via Maclean. This is where john howard spent his
childhood and you will then understand why he is like he is. Time seems
to have stood still in Maclean.

Continuing down the coast you go
through the large river valleys with the Great Dividing range in the
background. You can detour @ Taree and go to Newcastle via Wingham and
Gloucester. It is very scenic in that it goes through the mountains and
some inland coastal valleys. See the URL above for details.


Newcastle through Sydney to the southern suburbs - get a set of maps
from your State motoring organisation. Sydney isn't that bad. If you
can handle QLD (or WA) drivers, just think a lot faster :-)

When
you come out of Sydney, around Menai (from memory) detour to the left
via the Royal national Park (one of the first in the world). Its fairly
nondescript but if you live in Sydney, its the real thing as far as
wilderness is concerned :-))

Whilst going through it you will meet
the usual NSW grab for $ somewhere, tell 'em you are from QLD and
travelling through and don't intend to stay. Make sure you take the
road that brings you out @ Stanwell Heights (check that map you got from
RACQ) You emerge through an overhanging tunnel of trees to a lookout
that is well above sea level and looks down across the Illawarra coast.
That is fairly mindblowing.

Just south of Woollongong take the road
off to the right to Robertson. Do this on a clear day. This goes up
the Illawara Highway up the escarpment. This incredible.

Continue
down to Canberra and go out via Bungendore to Batemans Bay. Here you go
back down the escarpment. That too is very scenic - make that a day
trip. Or if you want to take you time go to Maruya via Captains Flat
and the Araluen Valley.

Past Moruya check out Tuross Head.
Especially check the old part of town and the views from the Lake back
up to the mountains.

Tilba is just south of Tuross and it is quite
touristy

Further down the coast @ Narooma and just outside the town
is/was a road marked for Bellbirds. Go there and stop the car and
absorb.

The Coastal trip is quite good down to the Gippsland Lakes
in Victoria. That is worth a look.

From there you swing inland and
travel stright up to Melbourne travelling through East Sale (RAAF
Roulettes), and Traralgon and the former large brown coal producing
valleys.

Its a scenic trip but a long one.


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