Hi all. So I'm driving down to Sydney either later tonight or really early tomorrow morning. Going down for Screamfest \m/ on the 31st/1st.


What I wanted to know from some of you guys who have done the trip recently, is which highway would you recommend taking down? And what are the pros/cons of doing so. I plan on doing it in one go (taking breaks of course) and while I'd rather get down sooner rather than later i'm in no great hurry.

just smash it down the freeway. driving is boring anyway

Inland.
Less traffic. Crusier drive.

I just did the Trip to sydney and back, took just under 12 hours of driving on the way down, leaving at approx 4pm brisbane time, and getting there at 5am sydney time. Stopped 4 times, 3 times just for 5 mins, the other time for an hour at grafton.

We went the coast road, through grafton-coffs harbour etc. s***load of trucks at night, and s***loads of fixed speed camera's. Dont even think about speeding, we will get done for sure.

Lots of road works and having to slow down the 50 through numerour towns, the last 3-4 hours is all multi-lane road though. Not sure about the inland route.

From what I gather, best thing is to avoid the Pacific Hwy from Newcastle south to Sydney. You'll definitely want to avoid hitting the F3 during peak hours, 7AM till 9AM if you're heading south which you are.

where are you leaving from.


the coast road is pretty good now-a-days with all the bypasses etc. a much more scenic drive too. might take a little bit longer though depending on where you are leaving from.


i did the trip not so long ago up and down the coast road. the fog and the b-doubles were the only worry around grafton etc at night.

did the trp back with just a half hour stop half way. was fresh as a daisy the whole way back or i would have got the wife to drive. she just slept in the back of the van the whole way back.

i guess there will be a bit of newb traffic on the roads being holidays so new england might be a good option for that reason.

Unless you're super keen, break it up into two bits, overnight in coffs/armidale depending on route taken. personally, i'd take the new england.
and sing 'new england' by jonathan richman all the way there


oooOOOO NEW ENGLAND

I'm leaving from Brisbane, queen st in fact.

This thread deals with most of the pros, cons, and opinions.

I'd say go inland.

FYI, on the way back we got stuck in traffic for about an hour, were it goes from 2 lanes to one about 3-4 hours after we left sydney. This was boxing day, so probably the worse day of the year to head up the coast from sydney.

Just don't speed, we've got double demerit points and double fines on at the moment!!

There are loads of fixed speed cameras but they always have 3 warning signs before the camera (lols people STILL get caught!!)

It can be done in 10 hours or so but that wasn't over the xmas period and it included some speeding at times. f*** breaking it up just change driver(s) at a fuel stop and keep on trucking

done the pacific highway a bajizillion times, highly recommended with all the upgrades they've done

I did it once after working a 12 hour shift, left at about 3pm Sydney time (actually going the opposite way to you) and arrived 1am on the gold coast
I wouldn't have been able to do it without stimulants, recommend you do not do the drive anytime other than after 7+ solid hours of sleep or 0.2 grams of wizz every 2-4 hours

i wish someone in highschool told me that drug use -> baller lifestyle

Damn

i dropped out of high school way before I learned how to ball

Wouldn't it be more logical to do more driving during the day? Say leave mid-morning? Your body starts to turn on the Melatonin around 8-9 pm (sleep drugz). You're most alert between 10am and 6pm. Then again, I've never done road trips like that.

I know that driving home from Maleny (after a gig) at 1am is not fun. Its not the mountain part, its the boring ass sleeping inducing highway drive for an hour (after a few hours of drumming mind you) that's made me almost fall asleep sometimes.

it's a 10 hour trip, I have found on average from the time I actually leave till the time I rock up is near spot on 12 hours because of food/fuel breaks

my trips were almost exactly 1000ks every time, the first trip I ever did was exactly 1024k

no bulls***

bulls***

Trips like that I like leaving at 5am in the morning. Usually beat the morning traffic, get a good distance before you stop for Smoko. Turn up at destination for a nice dinner and wind down then early to bed. Wake up fresh and good to go for the first day of your holiday.

just did it a few weeks ago, and driving back from canberra on the 3rd. will try new england this time. there where a fair few 80 zones on the pacific.

I did Bris to Jindabyne and back this winter.

Coastal was way more interesting than inland... inland was boring as f***.
If I was going to do it again I'd be going costal both ways.

While it is true that there are a lot of speed cameras you have to suck to get done by them... so much signange for each one. Plus if you have an up to date GPS with fixed speed cam alerts it should go nuts as you approach them anyway.

We thought we'd get done at least once too but we didn't :)

Didn't see much police presence either, only once near the border each crossing and one crazy marked green police car going up the mountain at Jindy.

Last time I did the drive from Brisbane to Sydney was with my dad and grandparents. We took the New England and I found it to be quite scenic and enjoyable. We used to live near Armidale so we had the added nostalgia factor. We had to stop overnight in Armidale because we had to make toilet stops for my gran every hour.

Oh and at this time of year, don't leave the car if you can help it or you'll get burried in flies.

Hey kr0wbar you wouldn't happen to be/know Tapek would you? He also left to drive last night.