Planning trip Melbourne to Qld ideas

[bmw535guy]

Hi People,
I hate planning trips as am a spontanous kinda person but the mrs has won a holiday and we have negotiated with provider to work around us. Now she is a ball breaker (as most are) and must go QLD..........
Anyway i have negotiated with her to drive the disco up (hate flying) but im not sure the best route. I could go along the coast which is great but done the drive few times and wanted to go somewhere else i.e. inland
Do you know of a good route with some interesting places to visit?
We dont have kids and its just me and her and happy for it to take 3 or 4 days (maybe more if interesting places).

[V8Ian]

Where in Queensland do you want to see? The Newell is the most practical route to SEQ, Dubbo zoo is half way.

[disco 3 door]

If you take the Newell route & go to Dubbo Zoo, the price may seem a bit exy but you will need two days to see it all . This is covered by the one entry fee for two consequtive days. Also you can have a look at to The Dish at Parkes Observeratory.

[bmw535guy]

we are going Gold Coast, so yeh no plans yet for which way we get there........ normally im all about random decisions made on day but driven sydney down the hume many times and really nothing there.

[zulu Delta 534]

So many options available.
I travel along the highways when I have to get from A to B in a limited time, but when time is not the essence of the trip, forget the major roads and tourist spots, there is time for them on another trip.
In cases such as this I tend to pick a theme, something along the lines of gold mining, bush rangers, agriculture, or irrigation, perhaps follow a river system or a particular explorer's route, do a bit of homework and then mould the particular trip around that theme, then set off where ever that theme leads me.
You would be surprised what is situated in a lot of minor towns dotted throughout the country, and more interestingly, why they even exist. Talk to the locals, visit the tourist Information sites.
From Melbourne to the border area you are pretty well limited to major routes but even in that highly built up State there still interesting alternative routes. Perhaps you could follow the Omeo Highway through to Tallangatta (a bit winding, gravel surface and possibly not the best for nervous inexperienced drivers/travellers), visit Buchan Caves on route, then to Jindabyne and over the mountains to come out around Cooma and explore some of the Snowy Schemes history.
Adelong for example, just off the Hume if you wish to travel up the Snowy Highway, from that end, has one of the most interesting water powered gold mines I have ever seen. I could easily spend a day there simply marvelling at the engineering genius that allowed a solely water powered viable working gold mine and crushing plant to be set up alongside a little babbling stream back in the late 1800s, where there are still traces of the old hand dug and timber framed aqueducts still visible.
Another fascinating alternative road is he road between Cumnock and Yeoval en route to Dubbo. It is lined with imaginative sculptures centred around a theme of using old push bikes, for about 100/150ks. Really passes the time looking at the wide variety and range of imaginative examples to be seen.
If for example, you are into following the routes of old Bush rangers , the Riverina towns (wines, fruit and rice) leading up towards Yass then off to Mudgee, don't forget to drive up the main street of Sofala, through the old gold strike areas. Of course the history of our Bush Rangers is closely linked with the mining history.
There are so many options open to you, but it is a bit hard to suggest which of the many will interest you or your spouse without personal knowledge of your particular interests, and you two are the only ones that have that insight.
My suggestion is to pick a subject that interests the both or you, then spend time going over maps and information (available from any decent tourist info outlet) and sort out a route that offers the widest variety covering something that interests both of you.
Check your travel dates with events that may be held en route, such as the Temora fly in weekend or the likes of such.
We stumbled on some sheep dog trials in a very small country town once, stoppe to watch, asked the locals about the finer points of trialling and ended up enjoying a magnificent home cooked meal for about $2 supplied by the Ladies' auxiliary and being invited to the ball that night and to stay on a sheep station to watch the shearing the following week.
Most country roads these days are sealed and in pretty good condition and fuel is readily available off the highways. I always try and drop a dollar or two in the smaller towns and you might just be quite surprised at the service and by what is available in some of these spots.
Having said all that, the Dubbo Zoo is well worth a visit as is also the Dish at Parkes (you can tell everyone you have seen it and they at least will know what it is) -BUT, the CSIRO telescopes at Narrabri and the observatory at Coonabarabran are both far more interesting! (You will have to prebook a visit to the CSIRO at Narrabri.)
Have fun making the decision and also enjoy the trip.
Regards
Glen

[Pinelli]

Lightening Ridge for opals? You could go via Narabri, and then to Goondiwindi and then head east. Usually not too much traffic. Stanthorpe has some great wineries (and fruit too apparently). Cunningham's gap is a nice drive through the ranges as well.

[bmw535guy]

wow so much to think about, thank you so very very much for the feedback and wow what a read :)