Best road from Brisbane to Tenterfield?

Armidillo

Armidillo

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Took the Mt Lindesay Highway/Road from Brisbane to Tenterfield yesterday. The Pug 406 handled it very well - especially the windy bits! Got caught behind slower vehicles a couple of times, but they all turned off or pulled over after a while.

I was surprised how little of the Mt Lindesay Road is still gravel - only a section between Legume and Liston, plus a couple of sections between Wilson's Downfall and Boonoo Boonoo is unsealed. Much of the gravel is clearly being prepared for sealing in the near future.

However much of the bitumen between Woodenbong and Legume was museum quality - the only place it should still be found is in a museum of ancient road surfaces! In fact I suspect that it was the result of spraying tar over the existing road surface at the close of the bullock dray era, and then patching as required.

I caught a Landcruiser 200 series (presumably V8 diesel) just out of Woodenbong, but didn't try to pass, as the road was fairly narrow, and the V8 diesel obviously had immense torque from the way he pulled away in the straights. Eventually after a particularly rough section he pulled over - either to let his passenger be sick, or to let his shock absorbers cool down!!!

Overall an interesting drive - keen to hear others opinions and alternative routes :).

Cheers
Alec
 
Don´t you love aussie place names?
Wooden Bong, or a bit of hosepipe.
Not bean to Legume, you´d be nuts to go there, in a car obviously.
Wilsons downfall. Where else can anything fall but down?
Did you go thru Bookookoorara - place of owls, kookaburras and cockroaches.

And who could forget Boonoo Boonoo, pronounced Bunny Bunoo. One place where I have been, as well as Bald Rock.

Nice drive all the same, that whole area is one of the most scenic in Australia.
 
How does the road compare with the bitumen sealed tracks around Dungog where the patches exceed the unpatched?
 
Dungog's roads are at long last getting a bit of attention recently.
It has suffered for decades because it has no through roads that would attract funding.
In the Dungog shire all roads are local only, and lead to Dungog.
As a weekend tourist destination it's great, but yes the patches on patches on patches are challenging.
 
Dijon16 said:
Don´t you love aussie place names?
Wooden Bong, or a bit of hosepipe.
Not bean to Legume, you´d be nuts to go there, in a car obviously.
Wilsons downfall. Where else can anything fall but down?
Did you go thru Bookookoorara - place of owls, kookaburras and cockroaches.

And who could forget Boonoo Boonoo, pronounced Bunny Bunoo. One place where I have been, as well as Bald Rock.

Nice drive all the same, that whole area is one of the most scenic in Australia.
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Yes I did quite deliberately quote a few place names. Wilson presumably came off his horse, or perhaps went broke.

Yes, came past Bookookoorara (the grazing property) and swept majestically across the new concrete bridge over Bookookoorara Creek! I'd always thought that Boonoo Boonoo was the Aboriginal name for Bald Rock specifically (BTW I thought it was pronounced Bunna Bunno), but I see that NPWS believes the name applied to the whole area and means 'poor country with no animals to provide food'.

BTW, if driving that section (and you are so close to Stanthorpe at Amosfield that you can choose to bail out and take the highway), beware of the Red-necked Wallabies. Yes it's not just the farmers & graziers who are red-necks around here! The only animal I've ever hit was actually a kangaroo, but it's the wallabies that you'll see lining the sides of the road, particularly in the early mornings and late afternoons.
 
Am hoping that 59 Floride will pop in soon - he might be able to comment on some of the other options!
 
It was a great road in the day with long sections of smooth crushed granite...was fun to slide the 504 around the corners.
 
Actually the sections that are currently waiting for sealing are very good as they are. Would certainly be fun in a rear wheel drive, but all I've got in that category is a very tail happy Hilux ute!
 
Armidillo said:
Am hoping that 59 Floride will pop in soon - he might be able to comment on some of the other options!
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I travel the road between Brisbane and Guyra frequently (not frequently enough for my elderly mother, but I digress) but almost always use the Cunningham and New England Hwys for the purposes of efficiency. However; I have travelled from the Gold coast to Tenterfield through the backroads of Murwillumbah, Kyogle, Mummulgum, Mallanganee, Tabulam and Drake (try saying all that with a mouthful of marbles) along the Bruxner Hwy. It's all bitumen of course and pretty quiet traffic-wise but seems to go on and on forever. I found the sound of the bellbirds (I think) so irresistible I wound down the window in some sections to enjoy the sounds of the bush and I am sure I could smell marijuana as well.

It's a good alternate drive.
 
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Further to my comment above.....when I first got my licence and was in my first 504, I was heading to Bald Rock National Park to go camping with some mates and due to inexperience I went a bit wide on a corner and over corrected which put me into the path of a huge timber fence post on the side of a cattle grid...so I hung on as I hit the post. Thankfully I had a steel bullbar on the 504 and the fence post had been eaten out by terminates.....big relief to find that I had not damaged the front of the car.
 
Yes, but you owed someone a new strainer post!

Graham, plenty of Bellbirds on the Mt Lindesay Highway - nasty invasive little pests! Also noticed strong smells as I moved from open farmlands to forest - but am pretty sure that was flying foxes!!
 
59 Floride said:
I travel the road between Brisbane and Guyra frequently (not frequently enough for my elderly mother, but I digress) but almost always use the Cunningham and New England Hwys for the purposes of efficiency. However; I have travelled from the Gold coast to Tenterfield through the backroads of Murwillumbah, Kyogle, Mummulgum, Mallanganee, Tabulam and Drake (try saying all that with a mouthful of marbles) along the Bruxner Hwy. It's all bitumen of course and pretty quiet traffic-wise but seems to go on and on forever. I found the sound of the bellbirds (I think) so irresistible I wound down the window in some sections to enjoy the sounds of the bush and I am sure I could smell marijuana as well.

It's a good alternate drive.
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Strange you should mention Guyra, I do need to venture that way to catch up with an old friend (he probably doesn't like being called old lol)

It's not a place i tend to go to as a rule as it's never really warm enough
 
Not strange at all that Graham should mention Guyra - he frequently mentions it (& Armidale) especially when it's winter and there's snow in the news 😁. BTW, Guyra's climate is fine - so long as you live at 1000+m above sea level to get acclimatised!

So Rambo, when are you doing this roadtrip and will you drive the Xm? Hope you weren't planning on skipping Armidale - I need you to do a road test on my Xm! Then there's CXVingtCinq at Narrabri (more your kind of climate) so you could do a circuit of the french car hotspots of the North West!
 
Could be anytime
My mate is wanting to come this way shortly as he is not the owner of a french car to add to his rather weird collection

Then at some point when i can get some time i'll go via that way on a trip to nambucca

XM, maybe
 
59 Floride said:
I travel the road between Brisbane and Guyra frequently (not frequently enough for my elderly mother, but I digress) but almost always use the Cunningham and New England Hwys for the purposes of efficiency. However; I have travelled from the Gold coast to Tenterfield through the backroads of Murwillumbah, Kyogle, Mummulgum, Mallanganee, Tabulam and Drake (try saying all that with a mouthful of marbles) along the Bruxner Hwy. It's all bitumen of course and pretty quiet traffic-wise but seems to go on and on forever. I found the sound of the bellbirds (I think) so irresistible I wound down the window in some sections to enjoy the sounds of the bush and I am sure I could smell marijuana as well.

It's a good alternate drive.
Click to expand...

Obviously the route through Cunningham's Gap and Warwick suits most people, and is probably the quickest at 3.5 hrs. Your alternative looks really interesting, but according to Google Maps is about an hour slower. The Woodenbong route, and a northern alternative via Gatton/Logan Valley, are both about 4 hours, so good for varying the monotony if not in a hurry

However I've recently "discovered" another route that is shortest of all, and only 9 minutes slower (at least according to Google). In fact I have to confess that the discovery was entirely due to Google; it involves a road that until recently I did not know existed - I speak of Queensland's very own Waterfall Way, the Spring Creek Road!

This road connects Legume (on the Mt Lindesay Road) with Boonah, and is one of the most scenically gob-smacking roads that my wife and I have ever driven in Australia! This link reveals all...https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ten...af3deaf40!2m2!1d153.0251235!2d-27.4697707!3e0

This road passes Queen Mary Falls, and a number of other waterfalls. It weaves in and out of rain forest, with the paddocks in between as green as Ireland. The road is steep, winding and narrow (but sealed all the way). Be aware that if you try it on a weekend you will most likely meet swarms of motorbikes, and squadrons of lumbering 4WDs. Presumably the 4WDs are planning on camping in someone's paddock - not sure where else they plan on using their diff locks and mud terrain tyres!

Despite the adrenalin rush of having left wheels off the bitumen beside a precipitous drop (because the 4WDs seemed unable to make room - perhaps afraid of getting their tyres dirty), it was a most enjoyable drive - the Scenic Rim at it's best!

Cheers

Alec
 
Bugger. I drove Brisvegas to Sydney about 2 years ago via Cunninghams Gap, simply because I had never been there before.
Will save this for next time.
 
Armidillo said:
......... squadrons of lumbering 4WDs. Presumably the 4WDs are planning on camping in someone's paddock - not sure where else they plan on using their diff locks and mud terrain tyres!
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Perhaps the 4x4's are heading to 4x4 parks? I think there is one at Urbenville and perhaps others?
 
You may well be right - but they could have used the Mt Lindesay Highway, which actually has a centre line for most of it's length, and left the very narrow Spring Creek Road to Pug 205s, Minis and other small cars. Even my 406 seems a bit porky for that road!
 
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