Yamba to Glen Innes

Hi Michael,
The Gwyder Hwy is fine, a little windy in places and a bit hilly, but no problems it's a nice drive.
Enjoy your trip
Regards
Ken

You are not one of those frightened by a few steep gradients and a bit of twisting road are you? The only time you should be worried about negotiating roads that are shown on road atlases as solid thick red lines is if your rig is overloaded. Sure you will have to slow for bends and use low gears to ascend or descend the steeper gradients. However making your tug work a lot climbing steep hills does not stress it, it actually does some good letting your motor spin a higher revs in low gear on steep hills. If yo spend all the time driving with low revs doing light duty you will never run your pistons to the top of their maximum travel, this produces a lip at the top of the cylinder that may cause some top ring damage if you do need to stress your motor later in its life.

If you are looking at a way to cross the mountains without going over roads like the Gwydir then you will have to go north of Brisbane or come south to Newcastle and use the Golden Highway.

I have used every one of those routes over the great divide frequently over the years. Once you have used them a few times you will become accustomed to driving them. You will find them interesting drives, yo may even reach the stage you look forward to driving them. All those routes that are shown with thick red lines are regularly used by semi-trailers so they should not be a worry to you.

Go forth with a positive attitude and you will enjoy the drive.

Try this site...it often shows the gradient of the road...very informative.
Bonzle.com
Gary

The Gwydir Highway is one of the easiest climbs up and across the Great Divide in NSW. If you think that's windy, try the Oxley Highway from Port Macquarie, even the Bruxner Highway from Casino is windier.