Longreach Trip – Day 2 – Gwydir Hwy and New England NSW
The second day of our classic car road trip to Longreach and back started in Grafton. As we were able to stick with the planned route, we slept in and met at 6:15AM for a 6:30AM departure.
Our first two legs were to take us on the Gwydir Hwy across the great dividing range to Inverell. Our route up NSW has largely had us criss-crossing the great dividing range. Yesterday we took The Oxley Highway and Waterfall way, and today it was the Gwydir Hwy.
Each of the roads has a distinct character and all were great to drive on. The Gwydir Hwy was faster, the bends were not as tight and allowed us to cruise along quite well. Starting early meant there was very little traffic.
Our first stop was Heffron Lookout. There were not really any towns to stop for breakfast so we brought our own, purchased from Coles the night before. Considering the amazing scenery from the windows of the cars driving up, Heffron Lookout was a bit of a disappointment.
Appropriate for its colour, we noticed a distinct fuel smell from the petrol blue 280CE at the lookout. On closer inspection, a fuel hose was dripping fuel onto the ground. The hose was situation in front of the rear passengers side wheel, and I think this short hose is related to the evaporative emissions system. I had some spare fuel hose in my car, as well a set of Aldi hose clamps. While my fuel hose was a wider diameter than required, given this hose is not under pressure, it did the job of stopping the leak.
While I was there I also adjusted the kick down for my 560SEL. At a previous repair, my mechanic had set the linkage to the factory position. I find this too lazy and prefer the kick down to happen at about half throttle. I find it makes the 560 motor very responsive. For general driving it does not kick down, but if you want to move you get an instant kickdown. The owner of the Lapis Blue 380SEC did the same adjustment on his car.
The road was great until we hit Glen Innes. Then there was one of those average speed cameras The whole way between Glen Innes and Inverell. In NSW these previously only covered heavy vehicles. Since the state governments focus on cameras for traffic enforcement has resulted in more deaths on the road, naturally they want to double down on this policy.
I’m not sure if this is one of the cameras that has been switched on. We were not taking any chances. Driving this section of road I found myself watching my speed like a hawk the whole time, resulting in not being able to pay as close condition to road conditions. I also found myself entering corners at less than ideal speeds since I was so focused on my speed. This policy is going to result in more road deaths, so of course the government will respond with more cameras.
Once we arrived in Inverell, we went to the National Transport Museum. It was a large museum which has a wide variety of vehicles, including pre-war cars, trucks, post war classics, motorbikes and memorabilia. Most of the cars were driver condition rather than show cars. There were some quite interesting cars on display including things like original NRMA road service panel vans. Also part of the display was a 1990 Mercedes 560SEC which would have fitted into our group rather well.
After the museum we again stared at our speedometers for the drive back to Glen Innes, before turning up onto the New England Highway. The New England Highway isn’t the most exciting road, but its not too had and we cruised along until Deepwater, where we had lunch at a local pub.
We continued north after lunch on the New England Highway. I had heard the views to Bluff Rock were quite good and had planned to line the cars up for a photo, but the view from the lookout wasn’t as good as I was hoping. We refueled in Tenterfield, before heading back over the great dividing range again. This took us on the Bruxner Hwy, which was another great road to drive on.
The rolling hills of the New England region were quite picturesque, although I am not sure why they called it New England as I don’t see the resemblance.
After Tabulam we headed north. The roads between Tabulam and Urbenville were more pothole than bitumen. This section wasn’t all that pleasant to drive on, and if I was doing it again, I would probably try continuing on the Bruxner Hwy to Casino than heading north from there.
From Urbenville the roads got better. There were still a lot of potholes, but it was more tolerable. After we passed Woodenbong, we crossed into Queensland. At the border there were a bunch of cameras, and a checkpoint Charlie style hut, possibly from the border shutdowns of Covid. It was all closed when we went through.
After stopping to regroup at a rest area, we drove the final 30 minutes at dusk into Boonah. I had a Kangaroo leap out in front of me, but was able to evade it. It is generally our preference to avoid driving at dusk where possible.
The distance for the day was 619km, and I got 12l/100km in the 560SEL. I think that is pretty good for a big V8 and a heavy car. I’m certainly not trying to maximize fuel economy as I drive. I had been another successful day.
