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Travelling from Central QLD to Melbourne via Sydney
Hi all!
Hubby and I have two weeks off in October/November of this year and we are wanting to take a driving trip from Emerald to Melbourne via Sydney to visit my family and also to go to the Melbourne Cup on the 2nd Nov. Now, I've done a little research on a route and we have decided to travel down the East Coast (Bundaberg, Maryborough, Brisbane, Sunny Coast, Ballina, Coffs Hbr, Pt Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, Woolongong, Batemans Bay, Lakes Entrance and across to Melb). Obviously I have not listed all the towns between here and there but I am hoping this gives you a general idea of the route down there. As for the trip home, we'd prefer to go inland but we're not sure of the best route to take, hence this post. I'd love to hear from anyone who has taken this trip themselves or just knows a great route back to Central QLD with a few sights along the way. AP |
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Travelling from Central QLD to Melbourne via Sydney
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Travelling from Central QLD to Melbourne via Sydney
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. -- Posted via http://britishexpats.com |
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Travelling from Central QLD to Melbourne via Sydney
KnAPowell wrote:
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. We live in Airlie Beach and have done the coast road as far as Sydney several times in recent years, but it's been a long time since we went down to Melbourne by the coast. Mind you, it takes us three days to get to Brisbane, because we don't drive long days and we stop and look at stuff along the way. (The first day gets us to Rocky, so you won't have that bit to cover.) We then take three days from Brisbane to Sydney, though we could do it in two days if necessary. Sydney to Melbourne by the coast road would take us three days or more, again because we'd do a lot of stopping and sightseeing. A report of one of our trips between Sydney and Airlie Beach (the one when we moved up here from Sydney) begins he http://www.avalook.com.au/eastcoast/ebltrip98/index.htm Yow! We've been here six years! Amazing. Jean |
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Travelling from Central QLD to Melbourne via Sydney
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