Planning a 4,800km road trip to outback Queensland
The last three of our big classic car road trips have headed south towards Victoria. This year it was time for something different. We are heading north to Queensland. Due to extreme temperatures and the propensity to flood, we are going in Winter.
I’ve never been that far from the coast in Queensland, so this trip was an opportunity to see a totally different part of the country in our classic cars. The last three events have been built around an event or car show. This year it is more about the drive and the places we will see along the way. It is also a longer trip than we have done before, at 8 days.
Ultimately, the furthest point from home will be Longreach, Queensland. As with last year, all the cars will be classic Mercedes. This is not a requirement, cars just have to be 30 years or older and able to cruise at motorway speeds. On the trip we will have four 126s (2x 380SEC, 560SEC, 560SEL), two 123s (2x 280CE) and a 124 (320CE) with a 126 420SEL making a cameo appearance.
The idea is that we will mostly hug the great dividing range on the way up, before taking the more inland route back home. The most direct route to Longreach and back only covers 3,367km.
Day 0
We learned on the first of these trips that it is a bad idea trying to get out of Sydney on Day 1. Too much time in heavy traffic. Therefore, everyone is going to make their own way to Maitland, where we will start the journey proper.
Those wanting to keep to the spirit of avoiding motorways, can take the old Pacific Highway. While the exact distance will be different for everyone, I will be covering around 185km.
Day 1
Originally on the first day, we were to start in Maitland, and take The Bucketts way up towards Gloucester, before turning onto Thunderbolts way. Thunderbolts way is a good drive and I tested quite a bit of this route on my way to Queensland earlier this year. However, in late May, major floods in the area destroyed about 40km of Thunderbolts way. It is still not repaired.
There are not really other sealed roads through this area. Therefore, we had to deviate back to the A1 on the coast, until we hit the Oxley Highway (B56), and go inland. The Oxley highway is apparently a great driving road, and I considered it when originally designing the route. I didn’t use it for time and distance constraints. The destruction of part of the Thunderbolts way forced my hand.
The original plan was to take all of Waterfall way (B78) back towards the coast. Instead, we are now going to about half of Waterfall Way – as far as Dorrigo. We’ll then take Armidale road up towards our destination in Grafton. Our total distance will be 727km, 120 more than planned.
The new route should be just as good, but we’ll need to start early and we’ll finish later than I would prefer.
Day 2
On day 2, we’ll cover 621km. We’ll start in Grafton, and take The Gwydir Highway inland towards Inverell. This is also apparently a great driving road. At Inverell, we’ll go and see the National Transport Museum. This looks to be a great automotive museum.
From Inverell, we’ll head north via the back roads and finish our day in Boonah, about an hour out of Brisbane. We will have covered 621km.
Day 3
On day three, we’ll start by skirting Brisbane, before taking the scenic Mt Nebo road west, and drive past Lake Wivenhoe. We’ll travel through Esk, before heading northwards. We’ll head through Queensland towns such as Yarraman, Nanango and Durong before finally arriving at our destination in Monto. Day three covers 611km.
Day 4
Day four takes us westwards. We’ll move from the undulating countryside near the great dividing range into outback Queensland. Our route takes us through towns like Biloela, Bauhina and others, before arriving in Emerald for lunch.
In the afternoon, we’ll head west until we hit Barcaldine, which is our stop for the night. This will be our longest distance day at 758km, but the roads will be mostly flat and straight.
Day 5
Day five gets us into Longreach, the furthest point from home. In Longreach, we’ll check out the Qantas founders museum, plus check out the town. Qantas is one of the oldest airlines in the world and started here in 1920. The name (Queensland and Northern Territorial Aerial Service) still harks back to this origin.
The museum has a number of exhibits from the early days, including famous aircraft such as the DC3 and Lockheed Super Constellation, right through the aircraft from the Jet age such as the short body 707-138 and the 747-238B. I can still remember seeing Longreach painted on the side of the Boeing 747s that were in operation.
In the afternoon, we’ll leave Longreach and start heading south. We’ll pass back through Barcaldine, before turning off through Blackall and then finishing up in Tambo. We’ll have covered 424km.
Day 6
Day six will be another shorter day of driving, only 507km. This is primarily due to this part of Australia being quite sparsely populated, and having to line up places to stay.
We’ll start out in Tambo, before driving south through Morven and Mitchell. Our destination is St George. We’ll have most of the afternoon free to explore the town.
Day 7
On day seven, we’ll continue to head south. We’ll have breakfast in Dirranbandi, before heading south to Lightening Ridge, an opal mining town. We’ll stop for about an hour in Lightening Ridge.
After that we’ll continue south through Walgett and stop for Lunch in Coonamble. In the afternoon, we’ll head past Warrumbungle National Park, stopping at Whitegum lookout and Siding Spring Observatory. The virtual solar system is located around Coonabarabran, the astronomy capital of Australia. Day seven covers 542km.
Day 8
Our final day has us heading out of Coonabarabran, past the rest of the virtual solar system. We’ll take Bylong Vally way towards Jerry’s plains, where we’ll stop for Lunch. From there, we’ll do our final leg down the Putty Road, before splitting up at Windsor. With the added distance, we should have covered close to 5,000km by the time we head home, and I’ll have covered 566km on the final day.
