new joiner and searching Brisbane to Sydney and back via Hinterland

When someone mentions a joiner it usually means a woodworking machine ie Joiner, buzzer or surface planer.

Hey, welcome Michael. A joiner is someone who joins, which makes you someone wanting to be a part of our social group. Great to have you on board.

17 Days is a good time to have a brief look at some wonderful areas, or an opportunity to travel through to a couple of 4-5 day stays and get to know a few areas well. What's your preference (the vehicle will be fine for most adventures)?...

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Michael and welcome
I trust you will have an interesting and relaxing couple weeks over Christmas.
While there are plenty of nice spots on the eastern side of the Great Divide there is no obvious north/south route to travel other than the Pacific Highway which I find totally boring. Just have to poke around a bit.
Once you get on the western side of the range then it is much different. Even the New England Highway is quite pretty with many places to the east to stop off at. Also west of the New England you have the Fossickers Way which will get you away from the main traffic areas and into some old gold mining areas as well.
However there are a number of highways and connecting roads running east/west across the range which are well worth the drive. Two coming to mind are the Waterfall Way from Bellingen to Armidale and further south you have the route from Gloucester west through Barrington Tops and on to Nundle and that area.
There are others east/west as well but they are two that I really like.
Of course most places will be busy and campgrounds full to overflowing at this time of year.
Be willing to stop and explore those little out of the way places as some are real gems.
Enjoy
Roy
Toowoomba

quote "and plan to do the first longer trip over the christmas days."

Christmas spells disaster for your plans. The forum members may tell you the great spots to visit are, but on the other hand these places will be fully booked out for both camping and accommodation. You did not say whether you are wishing to camp or use pub/hotel/motel accommodation.

For pub/hotel style accommodation use Welcome to Gday Pubs. There is no map on the site to guide you. However, when you click on a town there is a map available that shows nearby pubs.

If you are camping then use WikiCamps Australia. It's available for use on phones, tablets and Windows computers.

If you are staying in pubs, I suggest you try the little towns that are within 30 km or so of the main routes you are using. Phone ahead a few days in advance to secure a bed. I also suggest you take your own bedding (perhaps a sleeping bag) to provide for all contingencies.

If you are camping, I suggest you locate something before midday, most of the cheap/free camps do not take bookings. When you have found a spot keep it for a couple of days so you can have a look around.

You are looking for some guides that are a bit fresher than the tourist guides. I suggest you use the Visitor Information Centres site and look at the ones in the area you are going to. They will give you up to date info on those areas. Visit NSW is also a worthwhile site.

Regarding your route, I would suggest accommodation will be extremely difficult from the Qld/NSW border until past Ballina. The same can be said for the Sydney and Blue Mountains area. I would suggest heading west from Newcastle on the Golden Highway and joining the Newell Highway at Dubbo or a bit further north. Forget Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Alternately, you could return to Brisbane via the New England Highway.

Hey all,
thanks for giving me some infos about my planed trip.
Will avoid the mainroutes and mostly the direct Coast area.
Wish all agood time !