from Sydney in November

[davidbln]

Hi, this is my first posting here!
We are flying to Sydney in November for a four week trip on our Cannondales: Our first such trip.
We fly home from Melbourne, and are looking for tips as to the best places to tour.
What might be the best route?
Should we take a bus for parts of the way to avoid boring bits, or get to the most fun bits of the East coast?
...best accomidation/backpackers or camp grounds?
(The backpacker we stayed at last year in Aus were great, otherwise we always sleep in our tent)

Sorry if the questions sound stupid, but we are just starting to plan, and don't even have a travel book yet.
(you have to start somewhere!)
Thanks,
David

 

[niwatori]

get inland at some stage even if you need a bus to get there, the country's gorgeous and a nice change from the coast. if you see people on bikes while you're out there, talk to them! locals might be able to point you somewhere great just around the corner.
also the border of nsw and vic on the coast is great, though a little out of the way for most standard routes
go hard!

bel
---------------
if it doesn't have wheels, it's broken

 

[Grant Orchard]

You riding from Melbourne to Sydney or looking for places to ride out of Sydney itself?

Grant

 

[davidbln]

You riding from Melbourne to Sydney or looking for places to ride out of Sydney itself?

Grant

We arrive in Sydney on Nov 2nd... from there all is open: Probably we will ride a bit around Sydney, explor the scene, then start making our way to Melbourne (via Darwin? ...probably not, but...)

No Honestly, we are open to almost anything that won't kill us.
Cheers,
David

 

[Grant Orchard]

We arrive in Sydney on Nov 2nd... from there all is open: Probably we will ride a bit around Sydney, explor the scene, then start making our way to Melbourne (via Darwin? ...probably not, but...)

No Honestly, we are open to almost anything that won't kill us.
Cheers,
David

Well, the Blue Mountains makes for a pretty nice riding area. By November things will be starting to warm up here, but it shouldn't be too bad in the mountains.

Check out the Great South Road (Adelaide but worth it) if you get the chance.

Grant

 

[TheToad]

Check out the Great South Road (Adelaide but worth it) if you get the chance.

Grant

Most definatley!!

 

[artemidorus]

My girlfriend and I rode from sydney to melbourne in '96. We liked the route so i'll recommend it:
sydney-sutherland-royal national park-bulli-wollongong-dapto-jamberoo-robertson-kangaroo valley-nowra-nerriga-mongarlowe-braidwood-araluen-moruya-narooma-tilba-bermagui-tathra-merimbula-pambula-nethercote-eden-genoa-mallacoota-cann river-cape conran-marlo-orbost-nowa nowa-lakes entrance-bairnsdale-meerlieu-clydebank-sale-longford-rosedale-hiamdale-gormandale-tarra bulga national park (along the ridgetop)-ryton-wonyip-toora-foster-fish creek-buffalo-leongatha-korumburra-lang lang-cranbourne (then we caught the train in to the city )

highlights:
jamberoo/robertson/kangaroo valley
all of morton national park
araluen area
eden
east gippsland forests
mallacoota
tarra bulga np

all the NSW south coast is very pretty.
some of the inland victorian parts are a little tedious, especially around sale, although our memories are coloured by vicious headwinds in exposed flat rural areas on a couple of days (on the small chainring on the flat!)

good luck.

nick.

 

[TheToad]

that would be a sensational trip Nick, how long did it take you?

 

[Mart]

Going north from Sydney towards Coffs Harbour and even further to the North Coast of NSW and the Queensland border would be nice. You could detour through the Northern Tablelands Armidale (small uni town, good atmosphere), Tamworth (country music capital) etc, this would give you a taste of just about everything Australia has to offer.
You could always fly back to Melbourne from Brisbane or even the Gold Coast once you have finished your ride, or even take a train, that service is pretty good and you'll meet heaps of people.

Look around for cheap places, they are there.

Have fun.

 

[artemidorus]

Oh, and i forgot to say that the ride took 17 days (14 in the saddle and 3 lay days). We started out unfit (60km/day) and ended up fit (135km/day). We carried full touring kit with camping gear.
If you're fit from the start, you should add some side trips.

Nick.

 

[Grant Orchard]

Oh, and i forgot to say that the ride took 17 days (14 in the saddle and 3 lay days). We started out unfit (60km/day) and ended up fit (135km/day). We carried full touring kit with camping gear.
If you're fit from the start, you should add some side trips.

Nick.

That's pretty impressive The ride down to Kangaroo Valley would have been pretty nice though - you'd have to be glad you weren't going back up it.

Grant

 

[geoffs]

Hi Nick,
This is brilliant info.
I just logged on to post a question as to a good cycle route from Sydney to Melbourne. We have three weeks to ride down to Melbourne starting on the 22nd of November. We are planning on taking about 16 days to get there so we can spend a few days in Melbourne cathing up with friends.
I noticed you did the trip using camping gear. We will be travelling light (last year in NZ we carried 14kgs on the tandem for the two of us) and staying in motels, cabins etc. and are wondering about the Eden - Sale part of the trip.
How easy was it to get decent meals along the way?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[geoffs]

Hi, this is my first posting here!
We are flying to Sydney in November for a four week trip on our Cannondales: Our first such trip.
We fly home from Melbourne, and are looking for tips as to the best places to tour.

Hi

Check out this site accomodation in Sydney and on route
http://www.rogergravel.com/wsl/vh_for_a.html
We are tossing up wether to go via the coast or part coast then inland to canberra perhaps rail from Canberra to Albury (boring, hot, crappy food).
just south of Albury is some seriously good food and wine.
I am just trying to work out the rest of the route south to Melbourne.
Any suggestions anyone???

Cheers

Geoff

 

[artemidorus]

Hi Nick,
This is brilliant info.
I just logged on to post a question as to a good cycle route from Sydney to Melbourne. We have three weeks to ride down to Melbourne starting on the 22nd of November. We are planning on taking about 16 days to get there so we can spend a few days in Melbourne cathing up with friends.
I noticed you did the trip using camping gear. We will be travelling light (last year in NZ we carried 14kgs on the tandem for the two of us) and staying in motels, cabins etc. and are wondering about the Eden - Sale part of the trip.
How easy was it to get decent meals along the way?

Cheers

Geoff

Restaurants are pretty scarce between Eden and Orbost, with the exception of Mallacoota, as I remember. Mostly, we stocked up in supermarkets and cooked ourselves (we were students and impecunious .) Genoa and Cann River might have something; they would certainly have milk bars etc. With a little planning, you would be fine for accommodation. After Orbost, you pass large towns more often than daily, or you could if you chose. Where possible, we tried to avoid major roads and this sometimes meant avoiding some of the larger towns.
I would choose a route through East Gippsland, rather than via Canberra, as the forests really were amazing and the logging trucks quite courteous.

Nick.

 

[davidbln]

Really cool information!
Many thanks!
Work has been keeping me busy, and I've not logged in for weeks here...
We Fly to Sydney in one week...
Yahooooooo!

 

[Macheath]

Hi,

And apologies for taking up such an old thread, it's my first post here. Am planning a short tour in a couple of weeks, was wondering if anyone can report on the state of the road from Araluen to Moruya? Map suggests it's unsealed and am wonderinf if viable on a flat bar road bike with 28mm tyres...

Thanks,

Will.

My girlfriend and I rode from sydney to melbourne in '96. We liked the route so i'll recommend it:
sydney-sutherland-royal national park-bulli-wollongong-dapto-jamberoo-robertson-kangaroo valley-nowra-nerriga-mongarlowe-braidwood-araluen-moruya-narooma-tilba-bermagui-tathra-merimbula-pambula-nethercote-eden-genoa-mallacoota-cann river-cape conran-marlo-orbost-nowa nowa-lakes entrance-bairnsdale-meerlieu-clydebank-sale-longford-rosedale-hiamdale-gormandale-tarra bulga national park (along the ridgetop)-ryton-wonyip-toora-foster-fish creek-buffalo-leongatha-korumburra-lang lang-cranbourne (then we caught the train in to the city )

highlights:
jamberoo/robertson/kangaroo valley
all of morton national park
araluen area
eden
east gippsland forests
mallacoota
tarra bulga np

all the NSW south coast is very pretty.
some of the inland victorian parts are a little tedious, especially around sale, although our memories are coloured by vicious headwinds in exposed flat rural areas on a couple of days (on the small chainring on the flat!)

good luck.

nick.

 

[artemidorus]

Hi,

And apologies for taking up such an old thread, it's my first post here. Am planning a short tour in a couple of weeks, was wondering if anyone can report on the state of the road from Araluen to Moruya? Map suggests it's unsealed and am wonderinf if viable on a flat bar road bike with 28mm tyres...

Thanks,

Will.

10 years ago, it was unsealed but generally OK. I think that you would have no trouble with 28mm slicks provided that you were careful. We used 1.5" MTB slicks.