Apparently there are no good caravan roads from the New England Highway to the coast. That came from a vanner we met last year who lived at Tenterfield. I just did Bendemeer to Wauchope on a motorcycle with heaps of others. No-one wanted to go back that way. Did Coffs to Armidale recently. Not a pleasant trip. Warwick to the Gold Coast not pleasant either. All drivable but very tiring and stressful and seem to take forever. Unfortunately to cross the mountains, there is not a lot of alternatives.
On a motorcycle (my picture), it took close to 90 minutes to do the 52 kms and from Bendemeer to Walcha took about 3 hours to do 163kms. However, I was taking the the view a lot.
-- Edited by RustyD on Saturday 26th of August 2017 03:39:26 PM
I have done the Casino Tenterfield trip several times towing the van and have not had any problems. Approaching Tenterfield there is a bit of a climb but nothing too dramatic.
The road surface is good and there are quite a few places to pull off the road. I don't think there is any road over the Great Divide that doesn't have a few hills. Just drive to the conditions and enjoy the trip.
Where are you actually starting and finishing the journey? If you are at Woodenbong it's a very long way around any alternate route. I would not use the road from Woodenbong to Legume as part of a longer trip. However if I were at Woodenbong I would drive that stretch very slowly. A very slow trip would not damage the van but still be much quicker than going the long way round.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Where are you actually starting and finishing the journey? If you are at Woodenbong it's a very long way around any alternate route. I would not use the road from Woodenbong to Legume as part of a longer trip. However if I were at Woodenbong I would drive that stretch very slowly. A very slow trip would not damage the van but still be much quicker than going the long way round.
Hi peterd, we r in toowoomba but want to go to lismore n back.
Your route is a difficult one to comment on. I have just been looking at it on Google Maps. The 3 H 42 M that google reckons will take you to do quickest route is a bit optimistic. On our last trip it took us well over the hour to cover the 44 km from Legume Woodenbong. We used to do Lismore to Warwick occasionally and last time I thought I would try through Legume, there is a lot more work required on the road before I will try again.
My regular trip is via Tenterfield, but you are further north. For a quick trip I would suggest you go via the Logan Express-way. For an interesting but longer trip I would recommend through Tenterfield.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.