It all depends upon whether you are a seasoned gravel road traveller or not. I would fee confident towing along that road, however I have driven it solo and I grew up in the bush. For anyone going that way, the road to the east of Mt Delegate used to be the better one. Ask the locals if that is still the same.
__________________
PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Thanks Possum3 & PeterD, I get the motorcycle comment as I'm one of those also, however "drifting" through corners at speed is a practice given up many years ago after the will to survive overpowered the thrill.
I'm confident the Van would handle the road and am looking forward to some of that travel in future, but for now I'm not sure I am across enough of the towing experiences and finer touches required to do it safely.
This is a really timely post for us. We are heading off mid Feb travelling from WA to do the upper Murray River, Kosciuszko National Park region and Snowy River - towing a 21ft van. Part of our plan was to travel Jindabyne to the Vic coast via the Barry Way & Snowy River road (i.e via Suggan Buggan). Plan B is to go Jindabyne to Bombala via Dalgety then along the Bonang Hwy (Bombala to Orbost via Delegate & Bonang). We really don't want to go via Plan C (the Monaro Hwy from Bombala to Cann River and then along the Princes Hwy to Orbost) as we have done that a few times before.
However, I must say we are getting cold feet about Plan A due to the many posts we have read on other forums etc. I am still keen on Plan B (Bonang Hwy) but again some people suggest otherwise. We have been vanning for 8 years and have done some amazingly "interesting" stretches including sand, dirt, tracks, mountains, desert etc all over the country (& I do mean all over !). We have occasionally encountered signs "not suitable for caravans" only to find that if you are cautious, take your time and drive in the right gear, there is usually no problem. The one thing you don't want, is to get caught on a one lane track with another large vehicle coming the other way - reversing out may not be possible!
We find talking with locals quite valuable but just like these posts, even though everyone wants to be helpful, not all advice is good advice. At the end of the day you have to sort the wheat from the chaff and make a decision based on your own level of confidence etc.
We will likely use Plan B - but I will investigate Plan A more closely when we are in the area and who knows we may still get to traverse that glorious route along the Snowy River. We'll see.
Creedo wrote:We will likely use Plan B - but I will investigate Plan A more closely when we are in the area and who knows we may still get to traverse that glorious route along the Snowy River. We'll see.
Creedo
Since my last post I dug out a copy of CAW 7 and note that the road has very little gravel left left. You should have no problems along it.
As for your plan A, I would willingly take a van south along the Barry Way to Suggan Buggan but would not tackle the very narrow road up the big climb to the south. There are large drop offs on the eastern side with no safety fences. There are a lot of the locals with truck loads of horses that think that road is their own
__________________
PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.