Driving Newcastle To Surfers Paradise

[silverxr8]

Heading up there for a bit of a holiday, anyone who's done it before able to tell me how long to allow for the drive?

[reds89]

travel at night only trucks on the road,depending on stops,between 8 to 9 hours easy,travel in the day with everybody else,add a couple more hours.

[Fairlane]

Thats a pretty quick run, i reckon about 9 hours should do it easy up the Pacific. As long as you dont get held up at Coffs Habour or Tugun that should be a very quick run. I reccomend driving by day, a Kangaroo can really ruin your day (well night).

[JETME]

it takes me about 11hrs from sydney with a few stops on the way....be very very careful of the cops... and camera's they are everywere

cheers

[Hunter]

Hmmm I reckon could be done in 8-9 hrs depending on traffic. My old man did the Bne-Newcastle run a few times last year, took him about 10 hours but he drives slow :

Make sure you stop every few hours and take a rest etc etc.

Nighttime isn't so bad, but watch out for certain hours of the day where fatigued drivers are most likely to be out in force. From memory early in the morning (like 3 am till about 10 am) and around dusk are the times you're most likely to encounter fatigued drivers.

Even the best driver can be killed by some fatigued idiot, especially given Australia's obsession with not putting proper lane dividers in...

[Buddy 1]

I have always been able to manage 100 k's traveled in distance every hour however with more stops these days when tired & some lower speed limits it is more like 80 k's an hour now.

Here is a link that may help you:

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/in...bmitButton.y=5

[g220ba]

http://www.whereis.com/whereis/confi...do?nref=getDir

That link should give a rough idea of how long.

[eb_5litre]

Much easier to do at night... just follow the trucks and you wont go wrong.

[04redxr8]

8-9 hrs, Do it at night and don't use high beam if you see roos by the side of the road. Your average speed should be about 90-100 kph. so 100k's travelled every hr. Add rest and fuel stops as required.

[Nevermind]

I usually leave about 4ish in the morning.
Im at port mac. maccas by 7 for breakfast, byron bay by 11ish (slightly off course but usually have an early lunch here) and surfers by 1

[deesun]

This from a previous post by me

I will say the road from Newcastle to Port Macquarie is great and has improved immensly in the last 15 years since I moved to Mid NC. Only 2 sections which are currently being worked on are single lane. As for PM north its a shambles. VERY FEW dual lane sections between Kempsey and Byron. Though a reasonable amount of overtaking lanes. No town is bypassed yet, be it small or large and some sections have schools on them meaning slow to 40kph during certain times. Thats 40kph on a national highway where B doubles are the norm at 100kph. Yes it has improved north a little but the improvements are too few and too little. So far I have driven it about 5 times this year and I only wish it was that good. And the same goes for QLD as for VIC as soon as you drive into NSW from either state the road turns to 5h1t. I hope Kevin can do a lot better than Johnny but I doubt it. Byron to Tweed pretty good but slow past Cooloongatta Airport and through Tugun till back on freeway. This section soon to be bypassed, about August I believe.

A few tips.
1. If you can get to Halfway Creek about 40k north of Coffs before refuelling there is a big new Shell on the right and has petrol at about 10c a litre cheaper than all before. A Stockmans cafe there inside. Both open 24hrs.
2. If you dont need to go into Grafton then take Centenary Road about 5k before Grafton turn right and it brings you out on the north of Grafton on the highway. Going north look for huge brown tourist road sign on the left and turn right (turning lane) straight after,just follow it to highway. Going south turn left (turning lane) 200mtrs after big lighted RTA sign over the highway which warns of horse flu or accidents ahead.
3. If you don't need to go into Ballina then take Teven Road. About 1k north of the Alstonville turnoff turn left, large TEVEN sign, follow to end, carefull as there are two one lane bridges, turn right at T intersect, over two small two lane bridges andjust follow the road to the highway again and turn left. It brings you out a little south of the Macadamia Castle. Beats going through Ballina especially at holiday time when the traffic banks up almost back to the Teven Rd anyway.
The more you can drive in the early AM the better. I travel it often and see very few roos. I don't say they arent there but very few. Speed cameras are plenty but most face southbound traffic and are well signposted. Woodburn has a 24hr cafe old style burgers etc. On the right northbound with flashing lights at night.

Safe trip :

[Buddy 1]

Originally Posted by Nevermind

I usually leave about 4ish in the morning.
Im at port mac. maccas by 7 for breakfast, byron bay by 11ish (slightly off course but usually have an early lunch here) and surfers by 1

Off topic I know however can I ask you how the MPS compares to the XR8, just curious

[Nevermind]

Two totally different cars really.
The MPS is quicker, it pulls unbelievably well in all gears, not that the XR8 didn't have plenty of torque I guess, just the size/weight difference, plus rear wheel drive in a ute compared to front wheel drive in a small car. Acceleration from stand still is amazing, as well as rolling starts. Rides well and handles well, i'm certainly not disappointed.

The Mazda is stock at the moment as well (I miss the sound of my V8 rumble/roar)

Heres a thread I made a while ago about my choice with alot of waffle on about some french car or something to skip through..... :P
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11201024