Lightning Ridge - via Walgett

It is part of the Castlereagh Highway, and bitumen all the way to Lightning Ridge (and well beyond). From memory, the posted speed limit is 110 which gives you a good idea about the quality of the road. However, if you intend using other unsealed roads for that leg of your journey it will be a different story and (hopefully) others might be able to offer more appropriate advice in that regard.

I hope this helps.

School buses travel it every weekday day! It may appear atrocious to those who consider anything less than M1 standard. I haven't been on it for 12 months, it will have some flood damage which will require you to slow down but still school buses travel it every week day along with hundreds of Victorian caravaners each week.

We came through that way on our way to Townsville and further up into FNQ, in May. It's rough in patches but so are a lot of roads in NSW and QLD.

The road is in black soil country. The earth under the road thus moves a little. You will see the same thing throughout Queensland where the roads develop a rollercoaster nature. They are quite OK to travel on if you do not expect to travel at 110 km/h like a lot of other outback roads. The city folk that talk them down are the ones that expect freeway type roads in the outback. If you expect first quality roads to travel on then do not travel in much of outback NSW and Qld. The public purse can not afford perfect roads in those areas.

Keep alert when travelling that road, slow down where necessary and you can have an enjoyable trip.

We have travelled that road numerous times and from Gilgandra to the border at Hebel it is sealed all the way but has rough patches in many places . When towing our van over that road I reduce speed to 85 kph as there are many places where those wishing to go hard can pass and on the good sections I tow at 95 kph to suite the engine and fuel tank. You may find that at times you may even have to go slower due to road conditions.

Thanks All for your replies,
As usual, helpful and insightful. As I suspected, some people have their expectations set too high when it comes to outback roads. Drive to the conditions and always take care. Looking forward to exploring another great part of this wonderful country.
On Our Big Lap. Anti-clockwise from Perth. Day 120. 14,700 kms in ......
Thanks Again.

It’s a major bitumen highway, not the Anne Beadell Highway, what more do you expect.

I travelled that road a year ago. (Between Walget and Lightning ridge)
Sections of the road had a speed restriction of 40kph from memory because of the damage to the road caused by all the water at the time.
I was towing a caravan with my Triton.
William