Sunshine Coast to Townsville is over 1260 km on the Bruce. That's over 630 km (average) each day. I would think that any other way would be longer and more time consuming. e.g. Travelling via Emerald and Charters Towers is approx 1400 km.
I have recently driven that route , and the roadworks will drive you mad.The inland route via the Towers,Clairmont,etc Is longer , but with less delays and traffic.Itall depends on how far you want to go in a day. Bill
Turn in at Bell's bridge nth of Gympie then head nth up as far as the Capricorn highway left to Emerald then nth to Charters Towers,Townsville OR turn east at Capricorn Highway then nth from Rocky. Been both ways Y much better thagt from Bris to Rocky up the Bruce. We always travel either of these routes
A third way adding on from Oma post On the Capricorn Hyw heading to Emerald when you get to Dingo take the Fitroy Development Road to Nebo then onto Mackay
probably will head via monto to charters towers but really thank for all respondents really looking forward to 2 weeks on the road after a tought years work!
Whichever way you go it seems a lot of travelling per day if you only have two days to get there. If going via Charters Towers that's worth a few days itself as it's an interesting town.
If you have an extra day or two available the inland routes suggested would be a pleasant change from that bloody Bruce Highway!
unfortunately time restraints will not allow site seeing on our little holiday as we need a week in townsville with family then back home to get back to the daily grind(work)if it turns out we need to take 3 days to get there so be it but main reason for going this way is ive travelled the bruce many times and want a change
An extra day would I think make the inland way(s) quite doable. Can't blame you for wanting to avoid the Bruce Hwy. I think if I were in similar circumstances I'd be checking out the air fares!
You are spot on Jim we will only pull the van north if we have lots of time . But also drove to Townsville in 2 days from brisbane with my brother sharing fuel cost plus 1 Nights accommadation on the road , we fly home and it was cheaper to fly than drive sharing fuel cost . Plus the time saving
flying is not an option because our dog is coming on holidays with us and the cost was not (because we still work) overly a concern at all, a couple of day to get there with two drivers will not be overtaxing and stopping every 2-3 hrs keeps us both fresh as we alternate driving and as i said before if it takes an extra day thats fine.we are actually leaving thurs abt 2pm and expect to make monto 1st night then up friday and make it to belyando crossing stay the night and hit townsville saturday which according to distances this seems extremely plausible.
Belyando Crossing are you stoping one of there cabins , If so you better have booked when I have been there in the caravan the cabin have been booked out
I've done 1600km from Newcastle to Longreach in two days but I was only towing a box trailer with a tent and I overnighted at a motel in St George so I didn't have the extra chore of setting up and pulling down a camp.
A few suggestions here but you guys know your circumstances better than we do. I recently travelled from Mackay to Ballina via Monto and Esk and it's certainly a much more pleasant drive than the Bruce.
This Google Maps link may be of use, you can easily edit it to suit your requirements
