Where to Drive
08-23-2006, 09:26 PM
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Where to Drive
We've had quite an influx of new members in the last 18 months and I notice that a few have recently asked about good roads for an S2000. Here's a re-post of some data that was put up a few years ago (thanks to the magic of cut'n'paste). You might also like to browse a couple of similarly related old threads
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72493
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=335840
NSW Roads.
For the purpose of this discussion the roads in NSW have been split into four zones. Northern NSW, Central NSW, Southern NSW and close to Sydney.
Northern NSW
Two major runs here. The Gwydir Highway from Glen Innes to Grafton and the Waterfall Way from Armidale to Bellingen. These are both great runs of considerable distance and worthwhile building into any trips you are planning in that area.
In the far north there are some really good runs around the Lismore area. Try the Kyogle to Murwillumbah run or go from Lismore to Nimbin and join the Kyogle-Murwillumbah road between Lillian Rock & Mt Burrell. From Murwillumbah you can head to Nerang (Qld) via Numinbah & Numinbah Valley.
Central NSW
One of the best is the Oxley Highway from Tamworth to Port Macquarie. This run is highly recommended (even by Victorians). You can also join this road at Walcha by taking another great road, Thunderbolt's way.
EDIT: 26 March 2011 - Some of this article has been lost in the transition to the new Forum style/format. I managed to find in my old archives an earlier 2005 copy, but it lacks the NSW section. Anyway, I've posted the VIC section below.
Victoria
For the purpose of this discussion the roads in Victoria have been split into 4 different categories. Mountain areas, Coastal areas, Inland Regions and Close to Melbourne. Racetracks & how to get there are at the end.
Mountain Areas.
The difference between NSW & Vic mountain areas is that in NSW the roads leading into the Ski Resorts (Thredbo & Perisher) are pretty straightforward whereas in Victoria there are more ski resorts and they all have the traditional winding mountain road leading in. Naturally, these roads are best during the summer when there is no ski traffic.
The three Northern resorts (Buffalo, Falls Creek & Hotham) are all in reasonable proximity and you could easily do the climb up to each and back all in the one day. Also the connecting road from Bright to Mt Beauty is also very interesting. The climb from Bright to Hotham is particularly steep and you can see the fuel gauge moving down rapidly.
In the Mansfield area, as well as the climb up to Mt Buller, I would also include the back road from Alexandra to Lake Eildon and the road from Eildon to Jamieson. A note of caution here, I can’t guarantee that the Eildon-Jamieson Rd is tar sealed for the entire distance!
The three southern ski areas (Lake Mountain, Baw Baw & Mt Donna Buang) all have very good roads going in. Some older maps may show the road into Baw Baw as being dirt but it has now been completely tar sealed. You can happily do Baw Baw & back from Melbourne in a summer’s afternoon. The run from Marysville up to Lake Mountain is particularly good.
Regional Areas.
Ovens Valley & North East Victoria
If coming in from NSW, the road from Kiandra to Khancoban is highly recommended and the road from Thredbo to Khancoban is now completely tar sealed. These are both real “twisties”.
The road from Tallangatta to Mitta Mitta & the Dartmouth Dam (Omeo Highway) is good and it would be most interesting to find out if it is now tar sealed all the way through to Omeo. Also, there is a road from Corryong to Omeo (direct) but every map I’ve seen says dirt surface for at least part of the way. Perhaps someone who’s been up this way recently can enlighten me on the current status of both those roads.
The Kiewa Valley Highway from Albury to Mt Beauty is a nice cruise. The road from Hotham to Omeo is now completely tar sealed and the run from Omeo to Bairnsdale is one of the best S2000 roads that you will find – probably the next best after the Great Ocean road. The only drawback to it is that it’s a hell of a long & boring trip from Bairnsdale to Melbourne.
South East Gippsland
This region (not too far from Melbourne) doesn’t have any mountains but it does have lots of scenic rolling hills and the territory is riddled with lots of quiet back roads that have low traffic volumes. This is good territory for exploring and finding your own favourites. Worthy of particular mention are the roads from Warragul to Wonthaggi via Korumburra and from Dalyston to Drouin via Loch. You can also do a trip down to Wilson’s Prom.
Further out in Gippsland you can do the run from Moe up to Walhalla and/or the Thomson Dam. Walhalla is a sightseeing/tourist village.
Western Victoria
The west of Victoria is basically flat but there is one area of interest and that is the Grampians. Situated south of the main western highway between Stawell & Horsham the Grampians National Park contains a few good winding mountain roads that are very good for an S2000. Using Halls Gap as a base, there are a number of roads that lead to lookouts and/or parking lots that form the starting point for bushwalks. Worthy of particular mention is the Mt Victory road that runs from Halls Gap to Horsham via Zumsteins.
A couple of points about this area. It’s a long way from Melbourne and the interesting roads are too short to justify a drive from Melbourne for that purpose alone. However, if you are in the region for some other reason it is worth making a detour to include these. Because the area is quite scenic it is very popular with tourists and bushwalkers who crowd the roads with slow moving traffic on weekends and public holidays. Best done mid-week in a non-school holiday period.
Coastal Roads
As a general guide, coastal roads are best avoided on weekends in the summer and/or school holidays. In the far east the Princes Highway from Lakes Entrance around to Eden (NSW) is a nice run. A good alternative for a Sydney/Melbourne trip, but bear in mind that the Lakes Entrance to Melbourne part is as equally boring as the Hume Highway.
The ultimate S2000 road is of course the Great Ocean road from Anglesea to Apollo Bay. The extension on to Lavers Hill is also excellent and the road from Lavers Hill to Colac is not bad. As this is the road that attracts most interest from interstate visitors I’ll devote a few more words to it.
Whilst the Great Ocean road is unquestionably the best, it can also be very frustrating for unprepared drivers in that it attracts all manner of slow moving vehicles. All the major tourist Bus companies run daily trips down the Great Ocean road and on to the twelve apostles. (Fortunately they return to Melbourne via the Princes Highway) On any summer’s morning you will also find mini-bus loads of pensioners, fishermen towing boats, cars towing caravans, heavily laden tradesman’s vans and a long queue of Mum & Dad & the kids type cars lined up behind, all moving at an average speed of 20-30Km/h (if you’re lucky!).
So, my advice for the Great Ocean road is to avoid it completely during the summer, any school holiday periods and/or weekends. The best way to do it is mid-week and in the afternoon during the Spring or Autumn while it’s still warm enough to do it with the top down. I suggest you sit in Apollo Bay and have an afternoon coffee until about 5.00pm and then in the last hour of daylight head back to Lorne. With a bit of luck there’ll be nothing else at all going your way and only minimal traffic coming in the opposite direction.
I know a number of people who have done this road late at night in order to avoid the traffic but I haven’t done this myself. It’s a long way home to Melbourne afterwards and I guess part of the attraction for me is the scenery as well.
November 2005 Update: Victoria Police have announced that there will be much greater enforcement of speed limits on the GOR this 2005/6 summer because of the high number of motorcycle accidents. Aerial patrols, radar & covert operations. Also, a number of stretches that were 100Km/Hr have now been reduced to 80Km/Hr. This means that if you get sprung for 120Km/hr it’s automatic loss of licence.
Close to Melbourne
As a general comment, any roads within 100Kms of the metropolitan area are going to have traffic during normal business hours and on the weekends so you need to choose your time and drive carefully.
North: The road from Warrandyte up to Kinglake can be good if there’s not much traffic and the road from Whittlesea to Yea is good.
South: There are a few roads on the Mornington Peninsula but it’s difficult to find them without traffic.
East: The road from Kangaroo Ground to Healsville via Yarra Glen is quite nice and from Healsville you can do the Myers Creek road and/or the Healsville-Kinglake road to Kinglake & return. Also from Healsville you can do the Black Spur (Maroondah Highway) to Marysville. The Black Spur is excellent but, like the Great Ocean Road, it’s subject to heavy traffic and is best very early morning (dawn) or late at night. On Saturday & Sunday afternoons it’s very popular with the motorbikes.
The road from Lilydale out to Warburton is very scenic and nice to cruise with the top down on a warm day. From Warburton you can do a quick dash up to Mt Donna Buang or go on to Marysville via Cumberland Junction. Older maps will show this road as dirt but it was fully sealed last summer. It’s an excellent run but it is popular with 4WD’s with big bull bars who think that keeping to the left doesn’t apply to them.
Also, from the Warburton road you can turn off at Yarra Junction and go to Noojee via Powelltown. From Noojee you can either go to Warragul via Neerim South or to Baw Baw via Tanjil Bren. Another alternative is to continue from Noojee to Icy Creek and go to Moe via Hill End (This road has been recently tar sealed). For Eastern Suburbs residents these roads provide a more interesting route to the Gippsland area than the Princes Highway.
West: The land to the west of Melbourne is quite flat and the roads are straight. Not much interest here.
Race Tracks
There are 4 main tracks for Victorian folks and in order of interest/quality they are
Phillip Island
Winton
Sandown
Calder
Phillip Island and Winton are both very good but quite different to each other. Winton is a tight technical track with lots of slow/tight turns and shorter straights (total length 3.0Km) whereas Phillip Island is fast and flowing (total length 4.45Km). Both have good run-off areas. Average speeds would be around 90-100 Km/Hr at Winton and around 130-140 Km/Hr at Phillip Island.
Sandown is a fast track but has many solid concrete walls and/or steel barriers close to the edge of the track. One small slip and you’re a panel beater’s delight. The main feature of Calder is a long, long straight that is used for Drag racing. It’s the least interesting to drive and is notoriously hard on brake pads.
Sandown & Calder are both within the metropolitan area so how to get there is not an issue for this article. As Winton and Phillip Island may be frequent destinations for readers we can offer a couple of suggestions.
Winton: Our experience with several Honda events at Winton is that the majority of people just go up the Hume Highway. We suspect that this is because they want to stay in bed until the last possible minute. For those who want a more interesting way to go we recommend going from Melbourne to Yea via either Whittlesea or the Maroondah Highway (for the Black Spur) and then from Yea to Benalla via the Midland Highway.
Phillip Island: Depending on where you live in the Melbourne metropolitan area there are several alternatives to just cruising the Gippsland/Bass Highway. For residents in the North or the North East you can consider the Warburton Highway – Powelltown – Warragul – Wonthaggi route, but be aware that this is almost twice the distance. For Eastern & South Eastern residents you could go via the Princes Highway – Drouin – Loch – Dalyston route.
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72493
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=335840
NSW Roads.
For the purpose of this discussion the roads in NSW have been split into four zones. Northern NSW, Central NSW, Southern NSW and close to Sydney.
Northern NSW
Two major runs here. The Gwydir Highway from Glen Innes to Grafton and the Waterfall Way from Armidale to Bellingen. These are both great runs of considerable distance and worthwhile building into any trips you are planning in that area.
In the far north there are some really good runs around the Lismore area. Try the Kyogle to Murwillumbah run or go from Lismore to Nimbin and join the Kyogle-Murwillumbah road between Lillian Rock & Mt Burrell. From Murwillumbah you can head to Nerang (Qld) via Numinbah & Numinbah Valley.
Central NSW
One of the best is the Oxley Highway from Tamworth to Port Macquarie. This run is highly recommended (even by Victorians). You can also join this road at Walcha by taking another great road, Thunderbolt's way.
EDIT: 26 March 2011 - Some of this article has been lost in the transition to the new Forum style/format. I managed to find in my old archives an earlier 2005 copy, but it lacks the NSW section. Anyway, I've posted the VIC section below.
Victoria
For the purpose of this discussion the roads in Victoria have been split into 4 different categories. Mountain areas, Coastal areas, Inland Regions and Close to Melbourne. Racetracks & how to get there are at the end.
Mountain Areas.
The difference between NSW & Vic mountain areas is that in NSW the roads leading into the Ski Resorts (Thredbo & Perisher) are pretty straightforward whereas in Victoria there are more ski resorts and they all have the traditional winding mountain road leading in. Naturally, these roads are best during the summer when there is no ski traffic.
The three Northern resorts (Buffalo, Falls Creek & Hotham) are all in reasonable proximity and you could easily do the climb up to each and back all in the one day. Also the connecting road from Bright to Mt Beauty is also very interesting. The climb from Bright to Hotham is particularly steep and you can see the fuel gauge moving down rapidly.
In the Mansfield area, as well as the climb up to Mt Buller, I would also include the back road from Alexandra to Lake Eildon and the road from Eildon to Jamieson. A note of caution here, I can’t guarantee that the Eildon-Jamieson Rd is tar sealed for the entire distance!
The three southern ski areas (Lake Mountain, Baw Baw & Mt Donna Buang) all have very good roads going in. Some older maps may show the road into Baw Baw as being dirt but it has now been completely tar sealed. You can happily do Baw Baw & back from Melbourne in a summer’s afternoon. The run from Marysville up to Lake Mountain is particularly good.
Regional Areas.
Ovens Valley & North East Victoria
If coming in from NSW, the road from Kiandra to Khancoban is highly recommended and the road from Thredbo to Khancoban is now completely tar sealed. These are both real “twisties”.
The road from Tallangatta to Mitta Mitta & the Dartmouth Dam (Omeo Highway) is good and it would be most interesting to find out if it is now tar sealed all the way through to Omeo. Also, there is a road from Corryong to Omeo (direct) but every map I’ve seen says dirt surface for at least part of the way. Perhaps someone who’s been up this way recently can enlighten me on the current status of both those roads.
The Kiewa Valley Highway from Albury to Mt Beauty is a nice cruise. The road from Hotham to Omeo is now completely tar sealed and the run from Omeo to Bairnsdale is one of the best S2000 roads that you will find – probably the next best after the Great Ocean road. The only drawback to it is that it’s a hell of a long & boring trip from Bairnsdale to Melbourne.
South East Gippsland
This region (not too far from Melbourne) doesn’t have any mountains but it does have lots of scenic rolling hills and the territory is riddled with lots of quiet back roads that have low traffic volumes. This is good territory for exploring and finding your own favourites. Worthy of particular mention are the roads from Warragul to Wonthaggi via Korumburra and from Dalyston to Drouin via Loch. You can also do a trip down to Wilson’s Prom.
Further out in Gippsland you can do the run from Moe up to Walhalla and/or the Thomson Dam. Walhalla is a sightseeing/tourist village.
Western Victoria
The west of Victoria is basically flat but there is one area of interest and that is the Grampians. Situated south of the main western highway between Stawell & Horsham the Grampians National Park contains a few good winding mountain roads that are very good for an S2000. Using Halls Gap as a base, there are a number of roads that lead to lookouts and/or parking lots that form the starting point for bushwalks. Worthy of particular mention is the Mt Victory road that runs from Halls Gap to Horsham via Zumsteins.
A couple of points about this area. It’s a long way from Melbourne and the interesting roads are too short to justify a drive from Melbourne for that purpose alone. However, if you are in the region for some other reason it is worth making a detour to include these. Because the area is quite scenic it is very popular with tourists and bushwalkers who crowd the roads with slow moving traffic on weekends and public holidays. Best done mid-week in a non-school holiday period.
Coastal Roads
As a general guide, coastal roads are best avoided on weekends in the summer and/or school holidays. In the far east the Princes Highway from Lakes Entrance around to Eden (NSW) is a nice run. A good alternative for a Sydney/Melbourne trip, but bear in mind that the Lakes Entrance to Melbourne part is as equally boring as the Hume Highway.
The ultimate S2000 road is of course the Great Ocean road from Anglesea to Apollo Bay. The extension on to Lavers Hill is also excellent and the road from Lavers Hill to Colac is not bad. As this is the road that attracts most interest from interstate visitors I’ll devote a few more words to it.
Whilst the Great Ocean road is unquestionably the best, it can also be very frustrating for unprepared drivers in that it attracts all manner of slow moving vehicles. All the major tourist Bus companies run daily trips down the Great Ocean road and on to the twelve apostles. (Fortunately they return to Melbourne via the Princes Highway) On any summer’s morning you will also find mini-bus loads of pensioners, fishermen towing boats, cars towing caravans, heavily laden tradesman’s vans and a long queue of Mum & Dad & the kids type cars lined up behind, all moving at an average speed of 20-30Km/h (if you’re lucky!).
So, my advice for the Great Ocean road is to avoid it completely during the summer, any school holiday periods and/or weekends. The best way to do it is mid-week and in the afternoon during the Spring or Autumn while it’s still warm enough to do it with the top down. I suggest you sit in Apollo Bay and have an afternoon coffee until about 5.00pm and then in the last hour of daylight head back to Lorne. With a bit of luck there’ll be nothing else at all going your way and only minimal traffic coming in the opposite direction.
I know a number of people who have done this road late at night in order to avoid the traffic but I haven’t done this myself. It’s a long way home to Melbourne afterwards and I guess part of the attraction for me is the scenery as well.
November 2005 Update: Victoria Police have announced that there will be much greater enforcement of speed limits on the GOR this 2005/6 summer because of the high number of motorcycle accidents. Aerial patrols, radar & covert operations. Also, a number of stretches that were 100Km/Hr have now been reduced to 80Km/Hr. This means that if you get sprung for 120Km/hr it’s automatic loss of licence.
Close to Melbourne
As a general comment, any roads within 100Kms of the metropolitan area are going to have traffic during normal business hours and on the weekends so you need to choose your time and drive carefully.
North: The road from Warrandyte up to Kinglake can be good if there’s not much traffic and the road from Whittlesea to Yea is good.
South: There are a few roads on the Mornington Peninsula but it’s difficult to find them without traffic.
East: The road from Kangaroo Ground to Healsville via Yarra Glen is quite nice and from Healsville you can do the Myers Creek road and/or the Healsville-Kinglake road to Kinglake & return. Also from Healsville you can do the Black Spur (Maroondah Highway) to Marysville. The Black Spur is excellent but, like the Great Ocean Road, it’s subject to heavy traffic and is best very early morning (dawn) or late at night. On Saturday & Sunday afternoons it’s very popular with the motorbikes.
The road from Lilydale out to Warburton is very scenic and nice to cruise with the top down on a warm day. From Warburton you can do a quick dash up to Mt Donna Buang or go on to Marysville via Cumberland Junction. Older maps will show this road as dirt but it was fully sealed last summer. It’s an excellent run but it is popular with 4WD’s with big bull bars who think that keeping to the left doesn’t apply to them.
Also, from the Warburton road you can turn off at Yarra Junction and go to Noojee via Powelltown. From Noojee you can either go to Warragul via Neerim South or to Baw Baw via Tanjil Bren. Another alternative is to continue from Noojee to Icy Creek and go to Moe via Hill End (This road has been recently tar sealed). For Eastern Suburbs residents these roads provide a more interesting route to the Gippsland area than the Princes Highway.
West: The land to the west of Melbourne is quite flat and the roads are straight. Not much interest here.
Race Tracks
There are 4 main tracks for Victorian folks and in order of interest/quality they are
Phillip Island
Winton
Sandown
Calder
Phillip Island and Winton are both very good but quite different to each other. Winton is a tight technical track with lots of slow/tight turns and shorter straights (total length 3.0Km) whereas Phillip Island is fast and flowing (total length 4.45Km). Both have good run-off areas. Average speeds would be around 90-100 Km/Hr at Winton and around 130-140 Km/Hr at Phillip Island.
Sandown is a fast track but has many solid concrete walls and/or steel barriers close to the edge of the track. One small slip and you’re a panel beater’s delight. The main feature of Calder is a long, long straight that is used for Drag racing. It’s the least interesting to drive and is notoriously hard on brake pads.
Sandown & Calder are both within the metropolitan area so how to get there is not an issue for this article. As Winton and Phillip Island may be frequent destinations for readers we can offer a couple of suggestions.
Winton: Our experience with several Honda events at Winton is that the majority of people just go up the Hume Highway. We suspect that this is because they want to stay in bed until the last possible minute. For those who want a more interesting way to go we recommend going from Melbourne to Yea via either Whittlesea or the Maroondah Highway (for the Black Spur) and then from Yea to Benalla via the Midland Highway.
Phillip Island: Depending on where you live in the Melbourne metropolitan area there are several alternatives to just cruising the Gippsland/Bass Highway. For residents in the North or the North East you can consider the Warburton Highway – Powelltown – Warragul – Wonthaggi route, but be aware that this is almost twice the distance. For Eastern & South Eastern residents you could go via the Princes Highway – Drouin – Loch – Dalyston route.
08-23-2006, 09:40 PM
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I would definately recommend Black Spur which as RR pointed out is an extention of Maroodah Hwy. Awesome roads lined with massive gum trees, very nice indeed, best driven with the roof down!
08-24-2006, 04:29 AM
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Back in 2000/2001 when I first wrote those "where to drive" posts I deliberately did NOT include anything within the metropolitan areas (Neither Sydney nor Melbourne). For several reasons.
However, I can see from the "smoked" and other threads that we now have a new generation of drivers who are going to cut loose wherever/whenever it suits them. Perhaps in the interests of safety for our members it might be a good idea to compile here a list of metropolitan roads where they can drive with a little more enthusiasm, a liitle more chance of keeping their licence and a little less chance of calamity. Better this than https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=407964
By that I mean some roads in the metro area that at certain times of the day or night may have very low traffic volumes. In Sydney this might mean a late night trip to Bundeena or Watamolla in the south or West Head in the North. In Melbourne, Sassafras & Olinda may have some moonlight charm. Also, some large industrial estates have virtual zero traffic at nights.
In Melbourne, the Yarra Boulevard at Kew has been a long time favorite but it's a very popular spot for unmarked cars. I remember somebody mentioning Terrys Avenue & The Serpentine at Tecoma. Anyway, over to you guys.
However, I can see from the "smoked" and other threads that we now have a new generation of drivers who are going to cut loose wherever/whenever it suits them. Perhaps in the interests of safety for our members it might be a good idea to compile here a list of metropolitan roads where they can drive with a little more enthusiasm, a liitle more chance of keeping their licence and a little less chance of calamity. Better this than https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=407964
By that I mean some roads in the metro area that at certain times of the day or night may have very low traffic volumes. In Sydney this might mean a late night trip to Bundeena or Watamolla in the south or West Head in the North. In Melbourne, Sassafras & Olinda may have some moonlight charm. Also, some large industrial estates have virtual zero traffic at nights.
In Melbourne, the Yarra Boulevard at Kew has been a long time favorite but it's a very popular spot for unmarked cars. I remember somebody mentioning Terrys Avenue & The Serpentine at Tecoma. Anyway, over to you guys.
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