So in a few days Im taking a big trip up north. Trying to make it in 1 hit driving Sydney to Goldie with 2 kids under the age of 3 in the back. Wanting to be as quick as possible(within speed limits ofcourse).

What is the quickest and best way to get to the gold coast, the Pacific Hwy or New England Hwy?

What should I look out for and any tips and suggestions?

I havent driven up there in 10 years and the last time we went we took the pacific but with a heap of trucks and road works

Either is going to be crazy this time of year, but my choice would be NE, good excuse to do putty road

driving at speed around corners and sweeping bends is the last thing on when I got my kids in the car. Infact I barely get it over 2500rpm as it scares the sh*t out of my misses.

Unfortunately I have to take my T. So heres hoping it makes it without a hitch. It will be the longest trip it has taken away from my tuner and trusty mechanic.

I would be doing the pacific.

You have floods coming from the N/W and the N England is old and full of trucks. Stone chips galore.

Pretty sure most of the road work is done on the Pacific now. It's as boring as hell and littered with cameras. Be real careful around Kempsy.

But as you say with the tin lids in the car for mine the Pacific is easier and a SAFER road than the New England.

I have done the return Sydney to Brisbane run about a dozen times in the past fewish years.

Have not used the NE as there are not a lot of overtaking lanes and way too many farking trucks and house trailers

Also have been pulled over a few times after giving it a spurt to pass the above mentioned grey nomads.

Each trip is getting better up the Pacific , last week Baulkham Hills to the Gap in Brisbane 10 hours and 15 mins ( including a quick feed and fuel up)

Average speed when moving 93 kph

I'd second the Pacific Hwy....it's a better road overall and, as others have said....a lot less trucks..

Watch the revenue cameras and you'll get a much better run if you leave Sydney around midnight or so....been my experience anyway

wow Buf that's pretty impressive to get up there is just over 10hrs. Im only going to the GC should in theory it should be about 45-60 minutes less but in reality will be closer to 12hrs due to having to stop and feed kids and let them run around.

As for leaving midnight, Im bad for microsleeping, so plan is 5am bright and early. Kids will still be asleep for a few more hours. 5am is what time I normally go to work so its no big deal for me

Pacific gets my vote

I'd head NORTH!!!

Seriously though, the Pacific is the way to go these days. Dual carriage-way for most of the trip and only a couple of painful spots left now.

As mentioned, WHAT THE SPEED CAMERAS!! They seem to be every 12 feet on that road these days.

Cheers,

Aaron

I headed up to Queensland from Sydney on December 23rd going the Pacific Highway, we left Kellyville about 6:30am and didn't make it to Byron Bay(our planned stopover) until about 4:30 that afternoon with one stop. There was a sh*tload of traffic as to be expected and we lost an hour or two coming into Kempsey due to the traffic and the craptacular single-lane sections of road. It was a nice two hour cruise to Brissy the next day though.

We came back yesterday with only two stops and it took 12 and a 1/2 hours although this was only to Wyong on the central coast not all the way back to Sydney. It was ridiculous coming into Macksfield and around Kew south of Port Douglas.I think we travelled 150 k's in 4 hours at one stage but it sort of broke the driving up and I wasn't even tired at the end of it. Don't know if the New England would have been a better option but the Pacific desperately needs at least two lanes the entire way from Sydney to Brisbane. I only saw one cop car the entire trip aswell although there were 5013424 fixed speed cameras along the way so I guess they don't need cops anymore along that road.

My Navman even managed to alert me of imaginary speed cameras along the way, POS.