Route advise: Gippsland VIC to Gold Coast QLD

I haven't looked this up anywhere but I have driven most of these roads so have a reasonable idea. We have family in Ballina so from Sydney up we know it very well.

I think Canberra - Dubbo - Moree etc. would be quicker. There is good accommodation in most towns along that route. There are hot pools at the CV Park in Moree.

Along the coast accommodation is not hard to find either.

The other obvious alternative is up the New England Hwy to Tamworth then via Manilla, Bingara etc. The road is sealed all the way and it is a pretty run. From Manilla head to Delungra and Tenterfield then Cunninghams Gap and down to the GC. The campground at Manilla is really pleasant.

Another alternative is to go up the coast to just north of Raymond Terrace then take Buckets Way to Gloucester, then Walcha Armidale and Tenterfield. You could even go to Tamworth from Walcha and up through Manilla. That would be the prettiest drive of all and would not be much slower.

Have a look at all of them and see what you think. I can provide more detail if you want/need it.

Duncs

Geoff it would be helpful to know if you are in Gippsland - Packenham, or Gippsland - Cann River or somewhere in between.

Geoff
I don't know Gippsland at all, but I do know NSW and much of Qld. Going via Dubbo and Moree would not be quicker. Nothing wrong with going that way if you wanted to, but as much as I dislike Sydney, the quickest way is via Sydney.
IF you are not familiar with Sydney don't let that deter you as with the various orbital freeways around Sydney, you are probably on Sydney arterial roads for only 10km, and even then it is just one road connecting two freeways.
Should you want to do an inland route, then from Canberra head to Yass and onto Cowra, Cudal, Wellington, Tamworth, Armidale, Grafton (pretty drive from Armidale) then onto Gold Coast, this would be probably 100km shorter than a Moree-Dubbo route
Likewise as suggested above the drive from Newcastle to Gloucester to Armidale is also very pretty.
We have a son in Canberra and in laws on NSW North coast just below the Gold Coast.

Disadvantage of the Sydney route is there are very few caravan parks should you want to use them.

We always bypass Sydney mainly because of the tolls and crowds. And we also prefer country driving.

We go from Canberra to Goulburn, through Crookwell to Bathurst, then Gulgong, Ilford, Mudgee, Ulan, Merriwa, Scone and up the New England. For the Gold Coast I think that the Glen Innes to Grafton is the more economical transfer to the coastal area and then stay on the Pacific to the Gol Coast.

There are heaps of options to get to the coast from the New England. Some twisty and others not so. You would have to choose depending on how the passengers enjoy being "corner" sick or if you are towing you may prefer not so many corners.

Once, years ago, we went up the New England to Tenterfield and then east to Casino, north again to Kyogle and finally swung east to follow the Tweed River to Murwillumbah. Put that in the back pocket for the return. Don't know what the drive along the Tweed is like now though.

If we went through Sydney it would be the Cumberland Highway and then Pennant Hills Road to the F3 and Newcastle straight up the Pacific Highway to the Gold Coast. I use the Cumberland Highway on a regular basis for games at Parramatta and it typically takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get from Liverpool to Parramatta. Thats not far from the intersection of the M2 and Cumberland Highway. It is actually Pennent Hills Road beyond Parramatta but Google maps calls it the Cumberland Highway right up to the F3 and Hornsby.

Phil

Thank you everyone for the advise.

I think we will go inland and avoid Sydney

Appreciate the advise

We used to go from the Murray River (more or less Echuca way) to Newcastle. It was 200 km longer (if I recall) via the Newell compared to via Sydney. But both trips took 12 hours. We only went through Sydney if we knew we'd be doing it late at night!!
To get to Brisbane, we'd do the run to Goondiwindi in 12 hours (from one border to the next!) , then 5 hours across to Brisbane. Goodness knows how long it would've been if we went via the Pacific Highway.
The Pacific Highway has many towns now bypassed and even bits of 110km freeways but there are also many lengths of road works and Coffs Harbour can be a real bottleneck at the best of times.
Inland.
:)