Driving Brisbane to Canberra

I drive from Brisbane to Warwick up Cunningham’s Gap twice every fortnight. The road is fine. A few roadworks, but just slower speed limits.
I’m driving from Brisbane to Merimbula via Canberra soon thru warwick & Goondiwindi. Just wondering if anyone has good ‘short cuts’ off the Newell for us to take.
Cheers,

Haaaa! Take that AmarooStu . I didn’t actually administer the upper cuts as I was waiting for you to get back ETB…

I wanted to let all you helpful Rioters know how I went. I picked up the van on the nothern Gold Coast, drove to family in Brisbane, and by the time I arrived I realised I had been worrying about nothing. As long as I remembered it was over 5m long and heavy in the rear end it was very easy driving and parking. When I woke up the next morning it was clear blue skies, so I worked out how the 12v, gas, water, and 240v worked, borrowed some linen, and headed south along the coast. It was so much fun that one day stretched into four with overnight stops in caravan parks at Sawtell, Lighthouse Beach (Port Macquarie) and Newcastle. I don’t know that I’d enjoy driving the Pacific Highway if I were in a hurry, but it was a great trip at a moderate pace. The four days of sunshine certainly helped. So, Pork Hunt, it seems those self-administered upper cuts were unwarranted after all! I’m heading back up to Brisbane next week, via the Newell this time. And thanks for the tip about the camp book Maya123, I’ve got a hold of it for some weekend reading.

Definitely head inland at this time of year. You should go through Toowoomba and stay away from Warwick. Nothing wrong with the place but it’s not the route to take. A good 5 hours drive from BrisVegas will get you Moree and if you’re still fresh and have daylight you could even get to Narrabri for a meal and a kip. Depends on how long you want to drive on the 2nd day. Digital map services claim around 8 1/2 hrs from Moree so it will be a full days drive wherever you overnight. If the campervan doesn’t have a UHF radio you should consider taking a hand held unit. CB trucker talk is still the best source of information on the road and the safest way to overtake big rigs. Drive safe, have fun and please stay in the left hand lane. 10-4! COPY! OVER!

AmarooStu said :

Pork Hunt said :

Um AmarooStu, OP is buying a C-A-M-P-E-R-V-A-N, what need do they have for a motel?

That’s a big assumption by you they are taking pillows/sheets/blankets on a plane trip. Do you have insider knowledge that I don’t?

I guess I will have give myself six upper cuts for that one after reading #12…
If I had bought it, I would have slept in it.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I can see that my indecision is well justified! To answer a couple of your questions – yes I am driving on my own, and no I won’t be taking any linen or other basic necessities with me so will be stopping in a motel along the way. I’ve decided to overnight with family in Brisbane and then push off early the next morning. I’ll take it easy on roads and use the full two days if needs be. I’ve done several straight-throughts both ways in cars over the years but no need for such haste this time. I am nervous about the Gap and the Range more than anything else so I guess I’ll just see how I feel when I wake up. Wish me luck!

My Husband and I did this drive just the other day with the kids.
The Pacific Highway is pretty good these days. As others have said alot of the small towns are bypassed now and alot of the road is duel carriage way.
We always travel this route at night, especially at this busy holiday time. We find at night that the roads are alot less busy and it is easier to navigate with out the frustration of slow drivers in front of you. We can do the drive in 13hrs, obviously in just a regular car with no caravan
As you are doing it on your own, the half way point between Brisbane and Canberra is around Taree.

Pork Hunt said :

Um AmarooStu, OP is buying a C-A-M-P-E-R-V-A-N, what need do they have for a motel?

That’s a big assumption by you they are taking pillows/sheets/blankets on a plane trip. Do you have insider knowledge that I don’t?

We did it in August in one long (14 hour) day with two of us sharing the driving (not a campervan, though). We’d allowed two days at the end of our trip but on waking refreshed and early decided to push as far as we could so that we had the second day at home to get organised for going back to work.

We took the Pacific Highway all the way, and were pleased with the pace now that there are so many bypasses in; our first trip up was in 2007 and there are so many places we went through then that you no longer see at all.

I’m certainly not suggesting that you should try it in one day, of course. In fact, given that you are going to be driving (1) on your own(?), (2) an unfamiliar vehicle, (3) a campervan, (4) on the same day you’ve flown up to collect it, you might find two days to be pushing it.

I’d be coming inland via Toowoomba, Goondiwindi,Moree, Dubbo, Cowra, Yass. You can go that way via Warwick, but thats on the Cunningham Hwy as well. Its the same distance both ways.
Travel time on the coastal route is apparently shorter, probably due to more 110km roads, but it can take longer if there are road works or traffic jams getting through Sydney.