Longestdrive in Australia

[ajs991]

948km with Canberra, 877km without. Cut out Cairns, go through Canberra.

Agree, and you can still do the GOR faster if you drop Cairns. http://goo.gl/maps/83bzP

Video doesn't work cheapy.

[TJ Shermuz]

fuck canberra

[132oft]

UHF on 40 over sat-phone. I've worked in areas less than 100km from the coast where sat-phones haven't worked. Turn UHF off between Burpengary and Springwood (north/south of Brisbane) at least, otherwise you might throw it out the window at a sign.

[nastysven]

much better route IMO...much better.

get the best UHF you can get your hands on.

You will be able to find out where the wallopers are hiding, and also when following a road train/b-double on a dusty rd they will tell you when you can pass (if you ask nice and they are in a good mood). You will also hear the pilot vehiclers for the over sized loads (4-8 metres wide). When you do hear/see one coming towards you, get off the road. Twhen you come up behind one, they will tell you when it is clear to pass. They will also close bridges as they get near the, you will hear this on the UHF. You will also be able to talk to the dudes doing road works and find out what is ahead.

I wouldn't start the car with out one.

and fuck going to canberra, you'll never get out.

[ajs991]

Canberra is the easiest and quickest city to pass through of the eastern states. If they don't make it out of there they're going to be stuck in Sydney for the full 6 days.

[tut]

Shirley he can't go the Hume Melb - Syd, that's a big cut to claim "Round Oz"??

this. the least they should do is cut down through canberra and down the monaro highway. only adds about 150ks...

although they would miss out on holbrook... but also, a way nicer drive, with some views down south...

[<---cop]

fuck canberra

Words to live by.

[tremolo]

x2 fuck Canberra.

I reckon leave Cairns in - it's a cracking drive up to Port Douglas (if you beat the tourists), then instead of going all the way back down to Townsville, cut inland to go up the Gillies Hwy to Atherton....EPIC drive. Then play on from there.

You'll miss the drive between Townsville & Charters Towers, but it's a horrible boring drive anyway so who cares.

[dat2kman]

Uhf's these days have 40 transmit/recieve, plus a further either 20 or 40 programmable recieve only channels.
City coppers are on encrypted radio, but all country coppers are on open channel, ie if you have a high gain antennae, you can pick up convo on locations or activity well in advance.

The lists of frequencies are out there, and you just set the UHF to group scan mode, only on those proggrammed channels.

[Fraud]

to the OP:

If you're coming into sydney during any kind of peak hour (6am-10am, 3pm-7pm), I've slightly amended your route into Sydney.. it may seem a little more convoluted than coming straight down the pacific highway, but it is generally a bit of a clearer run.. I think it halves the number of speed cameras you go past too.

I also moved your point E from the GPO at martin place to Mrs. Macquaries Chair, couple of reasons... 1: its not right in the middle of the CBD, 2: you said you wanted access to the Opera House for a photo op, presumably so you can instatwit it and say "look, we're in sydney LOL"... Mrs Macquaries Chair will get you a pic with this backdrop, and only requires you driving on the outskirts of the CBD, and getting back to your route south out of Sydney is fairly easy from there.

Amended route here -> http://goo.gl/maps/4ZPS8

[Fraud]

I'll use this double post glitch to add a +1 to those saying UHF is a good thing to have. Not just a safety thing, good for overhearing road conditions etc. from truckies.

Also, if you want someone to volunteer to be in Sydney somewhere and take a photo/verify you arrived/bring you food/coffee/whatever as you come past, I'll put my hand up.

oh and its just occured to me that peak hours in major cities wont be quite as bad as normal because of school holidays... but still not great, and I can't decide whether that makes up for the highway congestion that will occur for the same reason...

[132oft]

x2 fuck Canberra.

I reckon leave Cairns in - it's a cracking drive up to Port Douglas (if you beat the tourists), then instead of going all the way back down to Townsville, cut inland to go up the Gillies Hwy to Atherton....EPIC drive. Then play on from there.

You'll miss the drive between Townsville & Charters Towers, but it's a horrible boring drive anyway so who cares.

x 11ty.

[Dark Orange]

x2 fuck Canberra.

I reckon leave Cairns in - it's a cracking drive up to Port Douglas (if you beat the tourists), then instead of going all the way back down to Townsville, cut inland to go up the Gillies Hwy to Atherton....EPIC drive. Then play on from there.

You'll miss the drive between Townsville & Charters Towers, but it's a horrible boring drive anyway so who cares.

Do the reverse... drive the inland route from Hughenden through Undara area to Atherton and Mareeba, which gets you to Port Douglas for the coastal trip south, or just north of Cairns through the tablelands, or just south of Cairns on the Gillies highway with those wiggly bits. (depending on your schedule) Probably a lot quicker and scenic than the Charters Towers route.

[tut]

undara to north is a pretty fuckin nice drive!


also, i just want to say, whichever road you take, in whichever timeframe, within 5 years, someone on this forum will improve your time on the same road. cause we're mad cunts.


and ever since those new laws and legislations i'm having second thoughts about actually moving to australia (not to mention the 1865 dollar fine i should pay one day.. ) so if i'm not going for residency, i might as well go to improve your time or die trying.

5 years gives me time to get a truckies license, a truck, and the meanest fuel-tank-trailer-setup ever! nobody'll stop a truck. coppers can try, but i aint stoppin!!

also, would run with no plates.

[pp]

Cool trip. I did the 1998 Round Australia Rally in a Gp N WRX - 18000km in 21 days. Given we drove around 12 hrs per day and on some crazy off road with one rest day in Cairns I think 6 days is doable - but you will be stuffed. We saw plenty of damage also due to kangaroos, sheep and emus - we were fortunate not to hit a thing other than a fence and a big rock on an off road competitive section. The WA police were the worst back then with regards to any speeding and a number of competitors were booked. The other issue we had was with seed and cotton blocking intakes on longer stretches but then we were not on the open road as much as you will be - this caused some cooling issues for us (we quickly added some netting/chicken mesh we cleaned out regularly).

Good luck with the adventure, brings back memories of my own Car looks great.