Is the Barry way suitable for small caravans ???

Hi Kevin & others,
Yes, I read the article you mentioned in the latest "On the Road" magazine and also notice that they gave no indication either way about towing a van or camper trailer. In fact because of this lack of info it has caused me to start this thread here. I must agree with most of you that this road is not at the top of my list to traverse. We initially wanted to go up from Cann River via Bombala to get to our eventual destination but thought this one may be a slim chance as an alternate route.
Thanks for all the replies so far, I feel at this stage that it we won't be pulling the van over this road on this trip.

Hullo Chris (again :-)
If your option was the Monaro Hwy, you might like to consider the one in between - namely Orbost through Bonang, Delegate and Bombala. Pretty road through forest initially, windy but OK for vans. Delegate is a sleepy town back somewhere in the mid 1900s (which is a plus). If you prefer a bit of dirt, you could turn off through Bendoc.
Cheers
Andrew

If I recall correctly, the McKillops Bridge Road has a large "No Caravans" sign near the start and a "No caravans past this point" sign at Little River Falls.

The problem seems to be that a growing percentage of caravaners just seem to take the attitude that signs like that somehow don't apply to them!

As Hugh says below, it is an absolute pain for others coming the other way. In fact, on the McKillops Bridge Road I think it says at the top something like "no passing places for 11 km".

This time last year, there was a Prado towing a Jayco 2.24 m wide camper trailer on the southern end of the Birregun Road coming towards me doing about 60 km/hr. Fortunately I could see the dust cloud some distance off and got into one of the few passing spots. He sped past me with never a wave of acknowledgement, closely followed by another twit doing the same speed!

Unfortunately, this sort of behaviour is becoming all too common andf I don't see it changing.

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew
The sign only says not suitable for vans. They are not banned.
I camped the night at little river and went through at 6 am not much chance of meeting anyone and I did not.

The day before a group of 30 odd tractors came through the same road with assorted backup trailers following as well.

G'day Bob & Loz,
I don't tow a van but having been down that road many times i would tow a van down there.
It's all a matter of the drivers confidence & skill levels as to where they can go. I don't know how many times I have been told by people "don't go there you will come unstuck" only to have gone there anyway & wondered what all the fuss was about.
It's a fantastic drive with beautiful views particularly from North to south. I say go for it if you are confident & skillfull towing your van.
Cheers
Stu

Stu

I am making a quite different point, albeit allied.

It is not about being able to "safely" negotiate the specific track/road when you are the only vehicle on the road. That of itself is not usually an issue. Viz, if you knew you were the only vehicle on the section of road, go for it. Many of us have been to places that less experienced/skilled people have had doubts about.

It is when the road is so narrow that meeting a vehicle coming in the opposite direction presents a real problem.

When the narrowness of the road is combined with a rugged and in some cases, precipitous terrain, real safety issues are created.

In the case of the McKillops Bridge Road, the trafficable road surface is some 3m wide, in many cases the inside edge has table drain that is cut steeply into the cliff face so that it is not possible with a van to pull very far off the road surface without fouling the sides of the van, and the outside edge has not been compacted and is soft and could well give way, particularly if wet.

Further, in the case of the McKillops Bridge Road, there are few, if any passing places for nearly 11 kms.

Now, if I was travelling up that road and met someone coming the other way towing a van, I might be sorely tempted to pull off to the left as far as practicable, stop, get out a chair and the thermos for a hot drink, take a few pictures of the situation and say to the other driver "I believe there is a sign at the start that says 'Not suitable for vans' - your call" :-)

Cheers
Andrew

G'day Andrew

Actually I do see where your coming from regarding the side road to McKillops bridge. I was more refering to the Barry way running North South. I guess at the end of the day it's up to the individual to make the decision based on the research he is doing.

I have travelled far & wide & I am a little tired of hearing of why I should not go somewhere because of what might happen to me or my vehicle when I have the skills not to get into trouble in the first place or extract myself if I do.

Cheers
Stu

Hullo Stu

Agreed.

Mind you, there are more than a couple of places on the Barry Way where I would prefer not to meet a vehicle towing a van!

For example, the section running parallel to the Ballantyne Hills where the road is narrow, with blind corners and cut into the side of a cliff (where the guy went over the edge and was killed) and some lengths of the section up to Wallace Craigie LO.

I was talking the other day to a property owner down the bottom end near Black Mountain (we left the Tvan there while we went to McKillops Bridge and back) and he doesn't use the road north if it is "busy" (relative term :-), particularly if they are tourists.

Cheers
Andrew

x 2

The Bonang Road is also suitable for vans (Orbost to Delegate) at suitable speeds.