Which option would you go with?

[Freya]

The Hume Highway goes through Albury and such, then passes near my place but its the Pacific Highway that heads out of Sydney and up through the north coast.

Im pretty sure its the New England that goes through Dubbo, Armidale etc.

I could be wrong though. Ask him Mel lol

[~clover~]

Its still the Hume in Dubbo I think? New England I think is Tamworth, Armidale, Glen Innis & up that way.
Well if you go through Dubbo, you'll go through Gilgandra, my home town, wave to it for me & I'll be happy

[maz]

Um I can't remember the road, but its the one that goes like,up from melb, through shepp and dubbo and stuff?

OMG thats MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! Shepp is 5 mins away from MEEEEEEEEE

we went up the gutts to QLD to...loved it. it took us 2 days to get the to Goldcoast from here with 11 hour driving days. The kids were great..and get your hands on a DVD player for the car best thing EVER

[briggsy's girl]

the hume doesn't go through dubbo - the newell does (not sure on spelling, i got me a truck driver yelling from the other room!). the hume heads out of melbourne up past Shep (and maz!) then you head across from albury (ish) to wagga and west wyalong, then head north from there - that takes you across the qld border at goondiwindi. DH reckons it's the flattest and quickest trip.

apparently you can cut across through Shep and get to the newell earlier than that, but it's not as quick (i have NFI myself - but he's done it more than a few times, so i trust him lol)

[maz]

He's right....you turn off left and go through FInley instead of right towards Coburg (thats the way we went anyway )

[LimeSlice]

The inland route is soo much better than the coast! That freeway should be shut down it is sooo dangerous!!
Plus the inland route takes you to Dubbo Maccas, and you can't go through NSW without stopping forthe best shakes in the country now can you? lol

Coonabarrabran is a nice place to stop too - they don't have a Maccas at all lol. I would advise against stopping on the QLD/NSW boarder towns (Goondiwindi) with the kids, not necessarily pleasant. There really are some gorgeous places in NSW. You can take a little 20 min detour off the main hwy and see Parkes too, Aricyn might like the Dish
Oh and take lots of tapes and CDs for them to listen to - just about the nly radio reeeeeally quickly is ABC National, which I adore, but the kids prolly won't

[maz]

We went to the dish...it turned of the road we were travelling down...got some cool pics.
We call Coonabarrabran Kellogs cause I can never remember what the name of the place is and it sounds like something Kellogs would sell

[LimeSlice]

Whenever I hear the name I think of that Coon ad where they rattle off all the towns that actually atart with "Coon" lol

[~clover~]

Coonabarabran has Crystal Kingdom too. Its like a crystal museum. We stop in there almost every trip & get the kids a necklace or something each. I find it fascinating, lol.

I've been up through Tamworth, Glen innes & I think Tenterfield way. Can't think what town's on the border though.
BG is it Morree to Goondi your DH is talking about? That trip isn't too bad from memory. Better than the back way we went the first time!

Oh, if you want the best radio I can give you the best ones all the way from Dubbo through to Coffs Harbour Done that trip a million times, lol. Some spots you can only get triple j. I'm not a fan. Drives me nuts!

[Cassius2]

the road trip can be loads of fun! we did it from Melb to Toowoomba in QLD last chrissy. took the newell as it takes you up through all the towns and there are HEAPS of great motels to choose from every 100kms or so (so great for those *moments* when the kidlets really cannot go on for that extra 2 hours iykwim).

we stopped over 2 nights each way. and had a blast staying in coonabarabran! there is a great motel called the acacia lodge which has really BIG family units. also the chinese restaurant that is directly in front of it is YUMMY-SCRUMMY. we stop there everytime we drive up.

then we stayed in Goondiwindi as we just couldnt do the extra two hours. stayed at this really nice motel on the main drag (black kinda signage) i *think* it was called the settlers inn (will ask DH...). nice pool, although finding food is tricky. we (time of year probs i think). so went for the good ol' dominoes pizza LOL!

the other thing that's great about taking the newell is that there are heaps of driver revivers on during the holiday period. we first stopped at Finley and they were great and gave out a free map with all the DR on the way. the kids love it too as they get to run around and you meet other travellers along the way. it really is part of the holiday IMO!

[briggsy's girl]

BG is it Morree to Goondi your DH is talking about? That trip isn't too bad from memory. Better than the back way we went the first time!

yup, i just asked and that's the way he said to go. Moree is about an hour from the border or something. i never actually got there with him - ended up turning off at Moree and went across to Glen Innes. he said the trip up that way is the easiest, lots of places to stop as mentioned, and there are fairly regular truck stops with toilets if needed.

if you need advice on the places with best meals, he's your man (and his girth confirms it!) - there are some dodgy looking servos that make some awesome tasting, good value meals! can't remember WHERE they were, but i know i looked and thought "eeek, you can't be serious" when we stopped, and walked out full and quite content from a yummy meal

[Pretty Butterfly]

Ok, there are HEAPS on inland routes!!!!

The Tamworth one goes through Glenn Innes, Tenterfield, Warick, Stanthorpe etc... a great trip, pretty fast too. My bro is in Brissy, so we've been most ways. (New England H)

The Moree/Dubbo run is longer, Moree is 3 hrs from Tamworth, inland way, and is a LONG straight boring drive, (imo anyway).... Dad does a Moree/Dubbo run each week and hates it. It IS a well known truck route, so if you dont like single lane roads loaded with trucks, you'll be ok. There are kangaroos EVERYWHERE, and dad hits at least one a week on dawn and dusk, so drive in the day!! (Newell H)

Dad drives to the border every week as well, (truck driver) and usually goes the inland route. You can go up through Armidale, and cut across and go the coast way, but it is a fast and dangerous highway, we hate it. (Pacific H)

Check out Google maps, it'll give you all the options!! And hire a car with a GPS, some of the little towns can get confusing, and there aren't that many signs to Qld in NSW back roads, just a sign to the next town, which could have only a pub and 5 houses!!!

[Arimeh]

Hehe look at all these ways we could go.

We're in the middle of discussions now. My mum told me last night that we could use her car if we flew to Qld, so that would save us a LOT of money and it would end up being cheaper to fly instead of drive.

So it looks like we might be flying directly there on the way up - but stopping at either Sydney or Melbourne for a night on the way home - not sure which one though

[briggsy's girl]

Melbourne

[feeb]

Melbourne!!

[Freya]

Sydney Mel Sydney or the haunting still stands