travelling horsham to grafton, advice please

Hi,
Have a look here as an almost identical question was asked last week.
Since you are going to Grafton I would add that if you go up the New England Highway the section north of Tamworth up the Moonbi Range is very steep. If you go to Grafton via Glen Innes down the Gwydir Highway the road is good but steep in places, but very scenic.

Cheers,

Val

I wouldn't recommend the Grafton to Glen Innes option towing a 30' caravan.

There are a few hairpin bends on that road as you get to the lower sections of the drop off the tablelands to the valley. They are a hand full in a standard Cruiser/Patrol sized vehicle with a camper trailer let alone a 30' caravan!

The New England Highway has the climb out of Murrurundi over the mountain as well as a fairly steady climb almost all the way from Willow Tree to Tamworth. After that is the long climb up both Moonbi Hills and the steady rise of the Highway from the top of Moonbi to Armidale. After that you've got the Black Mountain pinch into Guyra and the general rise to Glen Innes.

Then you've got the drop from Glen Innes to Grafton.

Really with the size of your rig and the request for minimal hills the best answer is straight up the Hume and Pacific Highways.

You'll know more about the Victorian end than I do. The biggest climbs you'll face on the Pacific are out of the Hawkesbury after the bridge and up out of the Moonbi bridge on the F3. (Both north of Sydney) After those two is the short sharp one out of Cooloongolook. (The F3 climbs you'll have to do anyway as they occur before the start of the New England Highway)

After that the Pacific is moderately flat, just normal highway undulations.

If you are going into Grafton think about how you are going to negotiate the narrow bridge with the two bends in it crossing the river into town.

I've assumed in this answer your whole rig is in excess of 50' long and probably closer to 60'.

Geoff

I would go up the Newell Hwy to Moree then cut across to Warialda on the Gwydir, then left up to Coolatal, Ashford to the Bruxner Hwy and then on to tenterfield. Its a nice scenic run from Warialda and reasonably flat. ....I know its extra kilometres but if you want flat country..... From Tenterfield, accross to Casino and then either south from there or further on to Ballina and then south. As far as I can remember there are less climbs and downhills on the latter route....but then again my memory isn't what it should be although I drove Lismore to Tenterfield and beyond about 9 months ago

Cheers

Laser

Have been travelling Tamworth to Grafton 2-3 times pa for > 20 years.
No matter which way you go, you have to get down the eastern escapment.

Three routes from Tamworth

1) Most direct (after Armidale) is to Ebor then onto Grafton. Windy in places, no steep hills, narrow in places with low overhanging power lines (caravan should be OK). Local timber jinkers and stock semi trailers do it, but never see any out of region trucks on it.

2) Amidale-Glenn Innes- Grafton, mentioned above, would be prefered to (1) but I haven't done it for a while. It is about 50km longer than (1)

3) Armidale- Ebor- Dorrigo, hit the Pacific Highway just south of Coffs Harbour. Semis, school buses, milk tankers do it every day. Maybe an hour longer than (1), but the easiest, no hair pin bends and where it is single lane due to recent landslips and floods there are traffic lights.
Would be the easiest in terms of descents.
Road from Armidale to Dorrigo is one of NSW best picturesque rioads with numerous impressive waterfalls. Take your time and have a look.

We tow 14.5T CT on (1) with no dramas.

Mark

geoff
have had a look on google and the bridge looks straight to me ?

thanks geoff, thats great info

is there a middle island on the bridge ? or will i be able to cut corners if need be

just a thought
we are actually staying at the big river cp at seelands which looks to me on the google map like its on this side of the bridge, so no need to cross, can anyone confirm that for me please.

Hi Laser 1
That is correct you wont have to cross the bridge at all. If you have a boat up there get up early one morning and ski in stop at the Crown hotel and walk up to Hank's bakery for brekky we did that every year good
barb

thanks all
we started off today, did 500 odd k to glenrowan
heading off tomorrow for another 500k and plan on stoping for the night at the truckstop/service centre in sutton forrest

from there we would likr to take this route as mentioned by trickytoo on the other post

I would take the Hume all the way to Casula which is on the outskirts of Sydney, and then pick up the M7 ( the M7 only has electronic tolling). Follow the freeway all the way to the Pennant Hills Rd exit, you will then have about 15 kilometres of built up traffic but will then get onto the F3/Pacific Hwy.

so just checking that it by passes sydney, does not have to many hill climbs, steep decsents or winding road

also if anyone would be kind enough to have a more detailed map (im a bit worried about missing a turn off and ending up in the middle of sydney !!)

thanks again in advance.