Cairns to Melbourne 'nicest' route
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009 at 23:01
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dutchontoast
Driving my 'new' AWD van from
Cairns to
Melbourne, my 8 y.o. is coming with me. Explore Oz (and Google maps), give me 2 suggestions:
1. From
Cairns inland on the 63 to
Hughenden, then from
Barcaldine all the way on the 71/75 to
Melbourne. 2800 km.
2. From
Cairns along the coast till
Rockhampton, then inland over Mt
Morgan, via the A5 / 39 to
Melbourne. Total 3067 km
Nr. 2 seems more attractive, if anyone can throw in any suggestions/modifications to this route I'd appreciate it!
Note this is supposed to be a 'short' 5-6 day trip, scenic is good, adding another 1000km to the trip to make it more scenic is not - that's for later in the year...
Thank you!
Reply By: Willem - Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 07:37
Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 07:37
The 71/75 route through
Hughenden is open country with flat vistas west of the Great Dividing Range. It should be nice and green after all the recent rain
The 85/39 is the trucking route of Australia and very, very busy. It is a more scenic drive as it skirts along the Great Divide.
Cheers
AnswerID:
353345
Reply By: Rossc0 - Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 11:06
Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 11:06
Additionally.
Cairns, Charters Towers (via Townsville or 63),
Emerald (55),
Roma (55),
St George (55), Mungindi (46), Collarenebri (38),
Walgett (55), Gilgandra (55), Dubbo (39) then on to
Melbourne.
Misses some of the heavy traffic between Mt
Morgan and Dubbo.
Also if you don't want a steep climb out of
Rockhampton to Mt
Morgan, use the Capricorn Highway to Westwood and pickup 39 from there.
Cheers
Ross
AnswerID:
353386
Reply By: wendys - Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 15:14
Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 15:14
The way we use when towing van
home quickly from that coast is:
Cairns-Townsville-Charters Towers-
Emerald-
Roma-
Miles-
Goondiwindi-then Route 39. Yes, it is busy with trucks, but we always make sure we are off the road before dark and leave the nights to them. Because of where we live in Melb, we leave 39 at
Seymour and go to Melb via
Yea and Yarra Glen. The route I've outlined is scenic, varied, interesting.
We have used the
Hay-
Bourke-
Charleville-
Barcaldine route several times to reach central and western parts of Qld. It does not have the scenic variety but is much less traffic.
AnswerID:
353444
Reply By: ozwasp - Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 23:21
Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 at 23:21
I've done it a couple of times on Virgin Blue... It's not too bad, but won't be doing it again, now Jetstar have direct flights from
Perth to
Cairns
AnswerID:
353519