Longreach Trip – Summary

Our fourth annual road trip in classic cars was the most ambitious yet.   There is nothing better than using these cars as they were designed, while seeing parts of Australia I would otherwise never otherwise venture to.   All while in the company of a great bunch of guys.  It is not the destination that is the point of these roadtrips.

The formula for these trips has remained the same across all four.  A max of 10 classic cars, each over 30 years old.  The cars should be able to cruise at 120km/h and could be from any marque, although so far they have all been classic Mercedes-Benz.   We avoid motorways at all costs and focus on the back roads and out of the way towns.  We attempt to drive only on sealed roads.

This year was a little different.   Instead of having a centrepiece event like the first three, it was more of a roadtrip through northern NSW and outback Queensland.  We did it in winter as some of these areas are flooded or extremely hot in summer.  Longreach was the furthest point of our trip, but not the core of the trip like the Adelaide Rally, MBCV Concours or the Euroa show.

As with the last three, our trip was a big success.  We all had a great time and all the cars and drivers returned home without incident.

Our Route

A full description of our route is available here.   We started in Maitland, avoiding the Sydney traffic on day one.   The goal of the way up to Queensland was to take some of the great roads that cross The Great Dividing Range.   This included the Oxley Highway, Waterfall Way, The Gwydir Highway, Bruxner Highway and Mt Nebo.   Each were different ranging from tight twisting corners to sweeping bends.   Most of them had great views and interesting places to stop.

On the way up we would also take in the National Transport Museum at Inverell.

Once we passed Brisbane, we were into the outback portion of our trip.   In some areas it was hundreds of km between towns and service stations.   There were 53.5 meter road trains to pass and different scenery as we pushed further inland.

We stopped at Longreach to check out the Qantas founders museum, before turning back the inland route.   Some of these roads were even more deserted.   As we returned, we passed well known towns such as Lightening Ridge, Coonable, Coonabarabran and also went through the Warrumbungle National Park.    We finished our adventure driving through Bylong Valley and the excellent Putty Road.   Our total distance over eight days was 4,950km.

The Cars

A full description of each of the cars and how they went is available here.  They were all Classic Mercedes ranging from 1978 to 1993.  All but one was on historic rego.  All the cars were 126, 123 or 124 models.

There were seven cars that completed the trip, with an additional car, a 1989 420SEL, making a cameo appearance.  Each of them completed the journey on its own four wheels.   We had a few minor issues along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be solved at the side of the road, or lived with for the journey.

Over the seven cars, three had participated in previous road trips and the rest were making their debuts.   The Lapis Blue 380SEC has done all four trips and has travelled 15,900km across them.

On this trip we pushed the cars pretty hard – on the way up through the twisty sections and on the way back passing road trains.   They all performed brilliantly.

The Drive

We all made our way separately to Maitland on the Friday afternoon and evening.  In keeping with the spirit of the trip, I avoided the motorway and took the back roads into town.   A few of us met up for dinner in Maitland, and then got an early night ready to roll out the next morning.

The next morning, we left very early as we had to drive further than expected due to a landslide on Thunderbolts Way.   Leaving early allowed us to witness a really nice sunrise as we left Maitland.    Highlights of the day were the Oxley highway which had some really tight corners and twisty sections, and Waterfall way which was more cruisy but also good.    We stopped at Ebor falls to admire the waterfall and then took the back roads into Grafton.   A more detailed overview of Day 1 can be found here.

The next morning we left at our more usual time at 6:30AM and headed to the Gwydir highway for another great road over the great dividing range.   The bends were not as tight on the Gwydir highway, making it a faster road.   After taking the Gwydir highway, we headed to Inverell to visit the National Transport Museum.   Our afternoon drive kept us going north on the New England Highway and then the Bruxner highway which was quite good.   We finished in Boonah, Queensland.   A more detailed overview of Day 2 can be found here.

Day three we started with a very foggy day and skirted Brisbane, before taking Mt Nebo road over the range again.   After that we cruised past Lake Wivenhoe and stopped at Cormorant Bay, which was a lovely spot.   We continued north until our lunch in Nanango, where our friend from Brisbane had to return home.  After Lunch we had some great road that were really deserted and we hardly saw a town for 300km.   We finished the day in Monto.   A more detailed overview of Day 3 can be found here.

Next day we headed west, into outback Queensland.  We covered the longest distance today, but the roads were mostly straight and flat so speeds were higher than the twisty roads of the last three days.  Our breakfast spot was in Moura, and then we headed through some of the outback towns of Emerald and Rolleston.   We stopped at a couple of lookouts, the one at Virgin Rock was the better of the two.   In the afternoon we headed to Barcaldine.   This was mostly a straight flat run, with plenty of road trains to pass.   A more detailed overview of day 4 can be found here.

For day five, we headed into Longreach.  We checked out the town and attended the Qantas Founders Museum.   After that we drove the short distance to Ilfracombe to see the Machinery museum and have lunch.   After lunch we started to head south, stopping at Blackall and then to our final destination for the day, Tambo.  As with the day before, the roads were mostly open, with just the odd road train to pass.    A more detailed overview of day 5 can be found here.

Day 6 was a short day.  We were in a very isolated part of Queensland and there were few towns.   We stopped in Morven for breakfast and a refuel, before heading to our final destination in St George.  While we covered over 500km, we passed few towns and the roads were pretty empty other than the road trains and the occasional land cruiser.  A more detailed overview of day 6 can be found here.

On our penultimate day, we crossed the border back into NSW.   We stopped at the towns of Dirrenbandi, Lightening Ridge and Walgett, before having lunch in Coonamble.   After lunch we headed over to the Warrumbungle National Park.   The road through the national park was pretty good, as was the view from Whitegum lookout.   After Whitegum lookout we headed to the Observatory at Siding Springs, which had good views, and also the virtual solar system tour.   Our final evening stop was Coonabarabran, which seemed like a vibrant town, where we had a succulent Chinese Meal.  A more detailed overview of day 7 can be found here.

The final day took us southwards from Coonabarabran.  We saw the rest of the virtual solar system, before taking Bylong Valley road to our lunch destination at Jerry’s plains.   After witnessing a Police operation, we stopped for lunch and were joined by a couple of the guys from last year’s drive who couldn’t make it.  A few of our group had to leave early, and missed a great final drive through the Putty road into Windsor.  A more detailed overview of day 8 can be found here.

By the time we returned, we had passed 4,950km for the trip.  Our group of high mileage Classic Mercedes had taken us on a grand adventure.