hi all, just become a member but been following this site for some time.
I am heading to Coffs in September with a 20' off road caravan being towed by a BT50 and wish to travel via Dubbo then north to Moree. Is there a route across the dividing range that would be suitable for my rig not necessarily from Moree but popping out either north or south of the Coffs area. Looking at hema, the number of roads look steep (up and down) and quite windy.
I have no real time limit and would really appreciate any advice.
When you leave Moree head east on the Gwyder Highway to Inverall, Glen Innes then down to Grafton to Coffs Habour.
You will be climbing over the beautiful Great Dividing Range noticable climb from Inverall to Glen Innes then you will run along the plateau before desending down towards Grafton.
The desend down the Gilbaltar Range will be done in low gear as all or most of the desends down off the Great Dividing Range, its the same from Tenterfield along the Bruxner Highay, Armidale to Belligen along the Water Fall Way or Walcha to Warchope along the Oxley Highway.
They are all very scenic though some beautiful towns and areas. The most direct is the Gwyder Highway.
There is another which will take you higher up along the border called the Bruxner Highway to Tenterfield which is possibly the easiest desend to Casino then turning south to Grafton but the road it self would be a bit how you do but it has some great camp spots eg. Texas, Yetman, around Tenterfield, near Tablum coming down the range.
Hope this helps, best views are at the top but you need to come back down where you are.
Radar wrote: There is another which will take you higher up along the border called the Bruxner Highway to Tenterfield which is possibly the easiest desend to Casino
Travelled Casino to Tenterfield with 22' van approx 3 weeks ago.
I thought it was such a great road, that I won't ever be using it again
I agree the Bruxner is crap......................take the Gwyder, it's a much better road and was alway's the choice to go to Coff's when I lived near Glen Innes (last did it in March 2017)
Well trip over, ended up going to Orange for family reasons, then to raymond terrace. Ended up at urunga by going up the pacific through the never ending roadworks. Then more roadworks to the Sunshine Coast with a side detour to Lismore. On the way back, had to visit a mate in casino, then up the Bruxner to Tenterfield then on to Inverell for a few days. Over to Moree and stayed in the thermal pools for a few days, then wound our way back to Melbourne.
The bruxner was certainly hilly (read steep) and windy, but overall a good drive, achieved very poor fuel economy that day.
A six week trip with no breakdowns or van faults so must be good, although got rained out of QLD. Next is a 3 month tassie trip scheduled for feb - end April next year.
Cheers
