Cycling the perimeter of Australia (additional info)

[[email protected]]

I would like your opinion on this one:

When cycling the perimeter should I choose:

1. Mt Isa - Townsville - Rockhampton (flinders hwy + bruce hwy)
2. Mt Isa - Longreach - Rockhampton (capricorn hwy)

Which is the most bautiful one, with historic sites, small amount of
traffic?

Regards, Lucas Jensen

 

[Peter Signorini]

<[email protected]> wrote:

>I would like your opinion on this one:
>
> When cycling the perimeter should I choose:
>
> 1. Mt Isa - Townsville - Rockhampton (flinders hwy + bruce hwy)
> 2. Mt Isa - Longreach - Rockhampton (capricorn hwy)
>
> Which is the most bautiful one, with historic sites, small amount of
> traffic?

I don't know anything about these routes, apart from the fact that they are
both on main 'highways', but the traffic load is very light. But I do know
that most people who tour around Australia recommend doing it
anti-clockwise, so you would want to cycle from Rockhampton to Mt. Isa. The
best time of year to do this section is in the dry (May-Nov) and the winds
are usually fresh SE Trade-winds. When are you planning to the trip? If you
are commencing in the next few months it's really too late to ride this
section. If you intend to commence in Sydney and cycle north, you'd be best
starting around April.

A good book to read for a humorous look at cycliing around the country is
Headwinds by Andrew Bain:
http://tinyurl.com/gbgem

However if you want to buy it, look about a bit for a better price, as the
18.99 pounds sterling quoted on this site translates to about $A50, and I
bought this here in Australia for about $30
--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

 

[just us]

Headwinds is a great book - you can get it from
http://books.buyaustralian.com/featuredbook1.asp?StoreURL=buyaustralian&bookid=1740660927
$27
Kathy

 

[AndrewJ]

I found that north of Townsville, traffic is quite light on Flinders
Hwy. The stretch from Townsville to Cairns is mostly national park, and
absolutely an incredible ride. If you're looking for tropical scenery
this is excellent.

South of Rockhampton, especially as you get towards Brisbane, traffic
can be quite intense.

[email protected] wrote:
> I would like your opinion on this one:
>
> When cycling the perimeter should I choose:
>
> 1. Mt Isa - Townsville - Rockhampton (flinders hwy + bruce hwy)
> 2. Mt Isa - Longreach - Rockhampton (capricorn hwy)
>
> Which is the most bautiful one, with historic sites, small amount of
> traffic?
>
> Regards, Lucas Jensen

 

[slaw]

If you go via Longreach (or even if you don't), consider a detour to Carnarvon Gorge NP. It's quite spectacular, but it does involve some dirt road to access it. When I cycled that way I went from Gladstone inland to Carnarvon, then up though Emerald, Moranabah and back to the coast at Mackay, so avoiding what was then reputed to be a pretty bad stretch of the coast road between Rockhampton and Mackay.

I also had relatives/friends to visit in a couple of the mining towns on the route, so that added to the interest for me.