This means there is a Day 0 where everyone makes their own way to the starting point and stays overnight.   Most of the group had a full work day, so most people arrived between 7:30 and 8:30pm into Maitland.

In the spirit of trying to avoid motorways for this entire trip, I met up with a few of the guys in Berowra at around 5:15pm and we took the scenic way up towards Maitland.   This involved taking the Old Pacific Highway, Peats Ridge Road, George Downes Road and Wollombi road through the national park up towards the Hunter.    In a sense it was a lot like a night drive up the old Pacific Highway.

This is a much better way to get to Maitand than the boring M1 motorway.

I started the drive with 342,537km on the odometer of my 560SEL.   By the end of our first leg we had covered a little under 200km.    We met up with most of the rest of the group in Maitland.   This was an opportunity to get our trip merch.   We’ve all got magnets for our cars, and I’ve also got a hat, a poster and two polo shirts.   I think its a bit of fun and provides some souvenirs from the trip.

I went with #117.  For this trip, I planned to take my 560SEL.  However, If I hadn’t been able to get the coolant leak fixed before the trip I would have taken a different car, which also has a M117 engine.

We then met at the local club for dinner.   Tomorrow morning is a very early start due to having to re-route the trip around a landslide on Thunderbolts way.

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The idea was to find some good roads for the classic car driver who wants to get out and explore the area a couple of hours around Sydney.

Mudgee via Bells Line of Road

The first drive I did was to Mudgee.   I took Cattai ridge road from Glenorie through Maraylya.  This is a drive I do quite a bit as it can be done in a couple of hours.   Instead of returning, I then took Bells line of road up through Lithgow and then up the road to Mudgee.

Bells line of road is always an enjoyable drive, especially during the week without much traffic.   The road up to Mudgee is a nice undulating road with some fast sections and some tighter sections.

I made the mistake of coming back via the Great Western Highway.   It really is a horrible road.   Congested, insanely low speed limits, speed cameras on every corner.   Next time I would go back via Bells Line of road again.

I took my DS.   On the way up the DS drove really well, but it was a bit unhappy on the way home and I had to nurse it back.  It felt like something was dragging on the motor, perhaps one of the accessories?    I did this drive first, before the hot summer weather came in.   The DS isn’t the best as a hot weather car.     It is really comfortable and soaks up the bumps on a rough road like few other cars.

I really enjoyed this drive and would do it again.

Putty road, returning via Wollombi

I did this drive as part of a mid week drive with the Mercedes Club.   This drive is already covered here.    I took my SLC.    The Putty road is so much better mid-week than on the weekend.  The return via Wollombi is much nicer than going on the M1.   This drive is on most Sydney Scenic drives list.

Bylong Valley

This one was a surprise because I just started looking at google maps to find roads that might be interesting.   The self-leveling rear suspension had just been re-installed in my 560SEL and I wanted a good drive to give it a work out and make sure my used struts were not leaking.    Not only was this a good drive, but it fulfiled that requirement as the road was quite rough.   The car was transformed.   The horrible old ute feel was gone and it was back to driving like an S-Class again.

I started by driving up to Singleton where I had lunch.   I then took the Golden Highway to Bylong Vally Way.     The Bylong Valley Way is a really enjoyable road.   A bit rough in times, but scenic and twisty as you cross the mountains.

Return was via Lithgow and Bells Line of Road.  You pop out very close to Mudgee  so the return is very similar to the drive above.   The SEL is better than most people would expect on twisty roads.   It also has plenty of power to accelerate up hilly roads.      This drive really cemented my decision to put the SLS back in.

You could probably make this drive even better by taking the Putty road up to the Hunter and then continuing the drive from there.  Large sections of this route have no phone reception.

Oberon to Goulburn

I’ve been wanting to do the Oberon to Goulburn drive for years.   I’ve always heard it was good but never got a chance to try it.    After I got the cooling system working again, I took my 560SEC.   I figured of the cars I own, the SEC with its 220KW engine or the E-Type are the most ideal cars for this drive, and given the weather was iffy at the start of the day, the SEC was the best choice.

I took Bells Line of Road to get to Oberon and then proceeded to Goulburn.   This road really lived up to expectations.    There are some long fast sections were I got to push the SEC along as well as some curvy bits decending down the mountains.     The road to Oberon from the Great Western Highway is really picturesque as you can see from the photo below.

The only real downside to this drive, is that the return journey on the freeway is a bit boring.

Goulburn to Oberon

I enjoyed the Goulburn drive so much I decided to do it again, but in reverse.   I just had the E-Type ready after its new fuel pump.      The E-Type drove really well and was really in its element on this drive.    I did this one as a pop up drive with the Mercedes Club.   It is kind of funny the one I did on my own, I did in a Mercedes, but the one I did with the Mercedes Club I did in a Jaguar.

I think its slightly better to do it in this direction.   Not because the drive is better, but it’s easier to manage traffic that way, especially if you live north of the Harbour like I do.

Grand Pacific Drive

I’ve done the Grand Pacific Drive through the Royal National park many times.   Both on club events and on my own.   Most recently I did two variants, one that took me inland to Berry and another over Macquarie pass through to Mittagong.   We didn’t have time, but the Berry drive would have probably been even better to return via Kangaroo Valley.   The drive through the Royal National Park is nicer during the week and very scenic, if a bit slow.   The speed limits are artificially slow and heavily policed.   There are also a lot of cyclists.

I took my 250SE on the drive through Berry and the 300SE on the other drive.   Like Putty road, this one is also on most of the Sydney scenic drives list.

Wollombi, returning via Wisemans Ferry

I had a bit less time this day so did a shorter drive.   I took the old Pacific highway to Peats Ridge, and followed the roads north to Wollombi.    On the way back, I turned off and went via Wisemans Ferry.   This is quite a nice drive if you don’t want to spend the full day.   The roads up to Wollombi are in decent shape although the one to Wisemans Ferry not as much.

I took my 560SEC.   The Old Northern Road after you cross Wisemans Ferry is a nice drive too.

Hunter Valley – Scone – Merriwa

On this drive, I took the freeway up to the Hunter Valley and then went up towards Scone, where I had lunch.   From Scone, I took the road to Merriwa, which was scenic and deserted.  I was able to push the 450SLC along a bit.    This was quite a nice drive once I got up to the Hunter but the freeway section was boring.   It could be combined with Putty road or Old Pacific Highway.    I think Bylong Valley was better though.

Barrington Tops

This one was a bit speculative.   There looked like there could be a nice road through the Barrington Tops national park from Barrington across to Scone.    And there is.   Problem is that its unsealed for about 80km.    I took my 560SEL, and while it could easily do an 80km unsealed road, I didn’t want to.   I drove on the unsealed bit for about 5KM until an information kiosk.   When the extent of the unsealed section was apparent, I turned back.

I had tried to get up there without using freeways.   Getting up to Peats Ridge via the Old Pacific Highway was good, and then I went towards the coast towards Alison.   From there I should have taken the motorway as I ended up driving through the Newcastle suburbs.      The other Alternative would have been Putty road and skip the whole area.

During my navigation, I discovered some key differences between Google maps and Waze.   When you avoid Motorways on Google Maps, it just avoids Motorways with an M prefix.   A roads that are built to almost motorway standards are OK.   Waze is stricter.    Major A roads that are dual carrigeways are also avoided.    Thus, Waze will tell you the only way to get up there without using Motorways is to drive up to Queensland and take the silly route around the top.   Google will take you on the A roads.

Waze has an option to avoid Dirt roads, but it doesn’t show them on the map.   Google doesn’t show them at all.   I wish it would.   Maybe I need to invest in a proper printed road atlas to explore more Sydney scenic drives.

It may be worth at some point exploring up Thunderbolts Way.  This takes up towards Tamworth which is too far, but there could be some good intermediate stops.

Future

If I get more time to explore more Sydney Scenic Drives, I may look at more roads on the other side of the great dividing range.   From Oberon, as an alternative to Goulburn, it looks like you can turn off earlier and go via Wollondilly.   There may also be some roads in the area between Bathurst, Mudgee and Lithgow.   I can probably explore further West too.

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Attendance was pretty good for a mid-week event.   I took my 450SLC.   The 450SLC is well suited to this route, but the choice wasn’t really much of a choice, as only the 300SE and 450SLC are up to a longer drive at the moment.   The 250SE is not charging so would promptly run out of electricity.    The 560SEC is currently without a radiator or coolant hoses, and the 560SEL is having some minor panel damage repaired.    Exacerbating this situation is the long shipping times due to Covid19.

As well as my SLC, at the MBCNSW mid-week drive there were two other 107s – a 380SL (with a 5.0 engine) and a 350SL.   Sadly the 350SL failed to proceed early on.   It was belching out black smoke and the owner thought he might have a batch of bad fuel.  I sure hope it was only that!   There was also a 380SEC and a manual 190E, which are quite rare in Australia.    As well as the classics there were three moderns, a C Class, an E class and an SLK.

The route started out taking us west, towards Richmond.   From there we turned off at Comleroy road, and then at Blaxland ridge road.   These are both roads I am quite familiar with, using them to come back from the mountains and avoid the M4 or M2.   We then joined the Putty road, the original way to the Hunter.   The Putty road has some twisty sections and some long straights.   It is nice to drive it without bikes up your tail every few minutes.     We took the Putty road right up to the hunter and then turned for Broke.   There is a slightly faster way to go for Broke, but the road is not as good.

We had a rather nice lunch at Harrigans Irish Pub and then a few of us took a rather spirited drive back via Wollombi and Central Mangrove.    It was really good to get the SLC out and stretch its legs.   I suspect both my SLC and the 380SL 5.0 will need new fuel accumulators as they both struggled to start when warm.    I’ll probably need to replace the transmission mount.   I have not yet inspected it, but from the vibrations I was feeling I am pretty confident it is collapsed.

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It was a lovely autumn  day here in Sydney, so a great day to take the 250SE Cabriolet out.   The route started in Thornleigh and took the old Pacific highway up to near Peats ridge, then the Old North Road to Wollombi.   Lunch was at Mulla Villa, which is a house built by the convicts as they built the Old North Road.   There are still convict cells under the house, which are available for a tour, although I had to leave before that could occur.

I also had to collect something in Emu Plains, so instead of taking the freeway back I took Wisemans Ferry road, over the ferry through Cattai, Pitt Town etc – a slower but much more pleasant drive.   All in all I drove almost 300 miles, passing the lucky 77,777 odometer reading!   This is the 3rd time this number has appeared given the 5 digit odometer.

The drive had a mix of old a new cars – my favorites were a midnight blue W113, a pristine white 107 SL and a red 114C.

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