Tips for biking the eastern part of Australia.

As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east. I'm unsure about part between Brisbane
and Townsville. What route should I pick. I have heard so many bad
stories of too many cars on the popular highway along the coast. Do
you have any recommendations? Should I pick the coastal highway anyway
because of the beautiful scenery? To be honest I just want to avoid
big cities with all their traffic and so on.

2. When coming from the Adelaide area I can choose to go straight east
and follow the dividing range on the western side towards Brisbane
(less traffic). This part will be done in late august, beginning of
september. As another solution I could go south from Adelaide and hit
Melbourne and following the east coast on the eastern side of the
range (like everyone else). But again this route should have lots of
traffic and I would have to bike through Sydney which isn't exactly on
my wishlist. But again - the scenery is so beautiful. I just cannot
decide what route to pick. Are there any minor roads on the eastern
part of the range?

I would be glad to obtain some advice from you on choosing a good
route.

Regards Lucas Jensen

BikeManiac wrote:
As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east.

So tadpole trikes really *are* amphibious then? ;-)


BTH

On 13 Mar., 22:07, "BT Humble" wrote:
BikeManiac wrote:
As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east.

So tadpole trikes really *are* amphibious then? ;-)

BTH

Sorry, my fault. going WEST :-)

Lucas

On Mar 14, 7:11 am, "BikeManiac" wrote:
On 13 Mar., 22:07, "BT Humble" wrote:

Sounds like a great trip

There are lots of minor roads to choose from particularly on the east
coast, and in populated areas less in other parts. You can buy maps
from petrol stations along the way. On line mapping is available from
http://www.whereis.com.au Google maps has Australian roads
http://maps.google.com/ both are a little bit inaccurate with some of
the minor roads in my experience but are a good guide. Topographic
information is available from http://www.ga.gov.au/nmd/products/digidat/
if you want it.

How long are you planning to take for the trip and how many km's per
day?

Lucas I am planning to ride north from Rockhampton (north of Brisbane) via
the inland route which will not have as much traffic on it and it goes
through small towns which is much nicer than the coastal drag which really
is just trucks/busses/cars/trailers/caravans (especiallly at that time of
the year as you are talking peak tourist season). I was recently talking to
a guy from Europe and he was very disappointed in the coastal route in
Queensland as it is not all that scenic! You are not physically following
the coast - you are inland. The coastal roads in NSW and VIC are indeed
scenic as there is surf and beautiful beaches and you actually "follow the
coast".
I would prefer coming north in Qld via one of the inland routes - you will
meet more people, smaller towns etc.
http://www.greatinlandway.org.au/ is one of the recognised inland routes -
depending on your time and your preferences. We had a young American spend a
couple of days here on his final days of doing the whole of Australia - he
had covered over 10000kms and his biggest regret is that he just stuck to
the main roads and didnt deviate off them to check out Australia. ie, along
the Inland Route a deviation of 140kms takes you into beuatiful Carnarvon
Gorge - check out the National Parks as you travel, they are $4.60 a night
to camp and have walking tracks etc.
Good luck - if you get to the Atherton Tablelands,(which BTW is absolute
paradise :P) give us an email and there will be a hot shower and a warm
bed - something you need at that time of the year up here.
Kathy

In aus.bicycle on 13 Mar 2007 13:22:06 -0700
BikeManiac wrote:

2. When coming from the Adelaide area I can choose to go straight east
and follow the dividing range on the western side towards Brisbane
(less traffic). This part will be done in late august, beginning of
september. As another solution I could go south from Adelaide and hit
Melbourne and following the east coast on the eastern side of the
range (like everyone else). But again this route should have lots of
traffic and I would have to bike through Sydney which isn't exactly on
my wishlist. But again - the scenery is so beautiful. I just cannot
decide what route to pick. Are there any minor roads on the eastern
part of the range?

The coastal bit from Adelaide to Melbourne isn't used all that heavily
until you reach the Great Ocean Road. There are a bunch of side roads
you can use from Melbourne up the coast, but there are a lot of hills
involved, might not be that inviting.

THere's less traffic on the coastal roads because they aren't the
shortest way. THere are side roads and towns that you can wriggle
through if you want.

You can use the M7 orbital freeway to avoid Sydney - decent cycle path
the whole way. Else just get off the highway earlyish and climb the
mountains and head inlandish.

Just realise that there's a lot of up and down....

Zebee

BikeManiac wrote:
As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east. I'm unsure about part between Brisbane
and Townsville. What route should I pick. I have heard so many bad
stories of too many cars on the popular highway along the coast. Do
you have any recommendations? Should I pick the coastal highway anyway
because of the beautiful scenery? To be honest I just want to avoid
big cities with all their traffic and so on.

Inland is,look at http://www.woa.com.au/ba/routes/capricornia/
Basically Ipswich to Rockie.

The suggested Rockie to Townsville was/is;
Rockhampton, Marlborough, Lake Mary, Conner Creek, Prospect Creek,
Mackay, Eungella, Blenheim, Collinsville, Bogie River, Mt Elliot NP,
Townsville.


2. When coming from the Adelaide area I can choose to go straight east
and follow the dividing range on the western side towards Brisbane
(less traffic).

EAST can be Sturt Highway(NSW), or NE to Broken Hill then Barrier
Highway (NSW)

If you have the time, riding along the Murray River would be a more
relaxed trip away from the highways.

This part will be done in late august, beginning of
september.

Ooooh, winter.

As another solution I could go south from Adelaide and hit
Melbourne and following the east coast on the eastern side of the
range (like everyone else). But again this route should have lots of
traffic and I would have to bike through Sydney which isn't exactly on
my wishlist. But again - the scenery is so beautiful. I just cannot
decide what route to pick. Are there any minor roads on the eastern
part of the range?

From the Western side of the Great divide, there are three crossings
you might consider
1 ) Lithgow to Sydney via ??? Hwy. Great if you really want to do the
Blue MTns, but I'd take the train (trike loading?) and avoid the hassle,
plus you stop off at Katoomba on the train.

2) Lithgow to Sydney via Bells Line of Road, narrower, windy and very
undulating. Benefits are turn off a Kurrajong, NE to Putty Road (not
recommended) or turn off at Richmond and follow Hawkesbury River to
Great/Old North Rd(???), aka north from Wiseman's Ferry to Wollombi,
Cressnock, Maitland, dungog, etc
http://www.woa.com.au/ba/routes/pacific/ (woops no details)

3) Bathurst, Mudgee(?), ?, ?(brain fart}) Sandy Hollow/goulburn River(?)
to Muswellbrook in the Upper hunter river, then pick up the Pacific
Trail for east of the Great divide, or Scone, Moonan Brook, Ellerstone,
Kezza's Palace, Nundle, Tamworth (all back roads), then ?
Sorry, brain is getting into "painting mode" and towns are
not coming to mind 9which is probably on holidays anyway)

If you want to avoid the greater Sydney Metro area or the crowded bits
of NSW (Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong) there are train stations at Berry
(north of Nowra, Lithgow (west side) and Maitland (west of Newcastle)
that are good places to pick up a train to avoid the crowded part.

I would be glad to obtain some advice from you on choosing a good
route.

This is a bit like a length of piece of string requirement.

#3 includes a bit of "gravel/unpraved roads"

Some of your variations include quiet a bit of distance variation.

We could write a very large encylopedia about touring in Australia.



Regards Lucas Jensen

In article om,
"BikeManiac" wrote:

On 13 Mar., 22:07, "BT Humble" wrote:
BikeManiac wrote:
As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east.

So tadpole trikes really *are* amphibious then? ;-)

BTH

Sorry, my fault. going WEST :-)

Lucas

Lucas,

Your trip is a huge adventure and I hope you manage to do the whole loop.

Start by thinking about Queensland and do not worry about any other
state until you are a week away from entering it. You will talk to
enough people to plan your trip as you go.

An easy way to get started in Queensland is to look at the Royal
Automobile Club of Queensland website and play with their travel
planner. I have given you a head start by showing one of the routes
between Brisbane and Townsville:
http://www.racq.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/....xsl/trip_plan
ner_ENA_HTML.htm
You can see from this that distances between population centres can be
quite large. By the time you get to Western Australia you will think
Queensland is quite cramped.

Every state has a similar website and they have offices around the major
cities where you can get extra information including maps.

cheers,
Darryl

On Mar 14, 3:38 pm, Darryl C wrote:
In article om,





"BikeManiac" wrote:
On 13 Mar., 22:07, "BT Humble" wrote:
BikeManiac wrote:
As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east.

So tadpole trikes really *are* amphibious then? ;-)

BTH

Sorry, my fault. going WEST :-)

Lucas

Lucas,

Your trip is a huge adventure and I hope you manage to do the whole loop.

Start by thinking about Queensland and do not worry about any other
state until you are a week away from entering it. You will talk to
enough people to plan your trip as you go.

An easy way to get started in Queensland is to look at the Royal
Automobile Club of Queensland website and play with their travel
planner. I have given you a head start by showing one of the routes
between Brisbane and Townsville:
http://www.racq.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/....xsl/trip_plan
ner_ENA_HTML.htm
You can see from this that distances between population centres can be
quite large. By the time you get to Western Australia you will think
Queensland is quite cramped.

Every state has a similar website and they have offices around the major
cities where you can get extra information including maps.

cheers,
Darryl- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Darryl

I'm interested to see the route you propose. The link reverts to the
main page. Could you list the 'via' towns?

Donga

"BikeManiac" wrote:

As mentioned in previous posts earlier I want to bicycle the perimeter
of Australia. It sounds like I am a nut case, but here are the facts:

I'm from Denmark and have never been in Australia and I will be biking
the country using a trike/tadpole. It will be a self supported trip
with tent. The main towns I will be hitting: Brisbane - Townsville -
Katherine - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane.

2 Problems:

1. I arrive in Brisbane 1st July 2007 and head north towards
Townsville, then going east. I'm unsure about part between Brisbane
and Townsville.

snip

2. When coming from the Adelaide area I can choose to go straight east
and follow the dividing range on the western side towards Brisbane
(less traffic). This part will be done in late august, beginning of
september.

First problem - you need to get a grip on the scale of a 'round Australia
tour.

Leaving Brisbane in July, and riding Adelaide back to Brisbane in late
Aug/Sept means a journey of something like 14000 kms in 8-10 weeks. You
would need to do 250 km days with hardly any rest days or sightseeing to
achieve this. I read a website once of a German guy who tried this a few
years back - he got to around about Port Hedland or Geraldton, then had a
nervous breakdown and did the rest of the trip to Perth by truck and flew
home. In reality you will probably find too much to see and do, and by
September still be in Katherine or Broome.

As another solution I could go south from Adelaide and hit
Melbourne and following the east coast on the eastern side of the
range (like everyone else). But again this route should have lots of
traffic and I would have to bike through Sydney which isn't exactly on
my wishlist. But again - the scenery is so beautiful. I just cannot
decide what route to pick. Are there any minor roads on the eastern
part of the range?

This would be the more attractive option when you get to the south-east.
FromMelbourne explore South Gippsland (hilly but very scenic and quiet
roads), maybe go to Wilsons Promontory. Take back roads across to Sale then
the road through Perry's Bridge to Bairnesdale. Form here their is a rail
trail to Orbost. You could turn off this to go north to Bruthen, Gelantipy
then alonng the Barry Way to Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains. From here
either go through Canberra and Goulburn towards Sydney (lots of back roads)
or cross to the coast near Bega and folow it north.

Feel free to conact my touring club at www.mbtc.org.au

Hope your trip goes well, just be sure to plan it carefully. Australia is
mostly flat, but even fit riders will only cover 80 - 140 kms per day
(unless they get a howling Nullarbor westerly, in which case 250 km is
achievable). Good luck with your travels.
--
Cheers
Peter

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