August 9, 201214 yr comment_620217 I'm off to pick up the girl from Armidale tomorrow bright & early, and there are two ways to get around the bit of NSW with no roads in. One is Orange--> Northwest through Gulgong, maybe Duneedoo & Cassilis to Tamworth. Looks easy, although some roads may be bad if they're wet. Anyone been over those minor roads? The other is Orange--> Bathurst, North to Kandos then Muswellbrook & Tamworth. The road from Kandos north looks pretty spectacular, so I might go up one route and down the other. Anyone been on that bit from Kandos through Rylestone to Muswellbrook? Something you'd take a nice KE70 over this weekend? Its no life sticking on the man roads all the time... Report
August 9, 201214 yr comment_620222 The road through Coolah > Gunnadah is OK. I havent been on the others for over 20 years so can't comment. I do know that the roads south west of Willotree to Merriwa are ALL dirt. cheers Report
August 9, 201214 yr Author comment_620242 OK, currently I'm planning on going up the black dots through Merriwa, but that depends on the rain (or snow) tonight. Choice 2 will be the Coolah one, its a more major road. Then the girl and I can share driving down through Muswellbrook all day Saturday. I'll take a camera... Report
August 10, 201214 yr Author comment_620441 OK, I came up the black route past Big Jacks, its tar for the first third, then a hard rock based gravel that is not too bad, certainly not loose, and then I came to this wonderful sign Report
August 10, 201214 yr Author comment_620442 It turned to tarmac again, about one & a half cars wide and third gear up those hills for the 3km!! Once at the top you could see all Australia of course... Report
August 10, 201214 yr Author comment_620443 the road turned back into a steeply cambered gravel, a beautiful river-gravel of rounded stones that were as slippery as ice with steep drops off the road and nothing to stop you but the trees.. Report
August 10, 201214 yr Author comment_620444 ..and now I've found out that the Muswellbrook road is all tarmec I might go back this way tomorrow to see this pass again! Report
August 11, 201214 yr Author comment_620530 Well, it did Orange -Armidale and back to Tamworth on a tank, running at 6.6L/100km, or 43mpg, which I thought was brilliant at 100kph with foot flat going up hills .. mind you, that big high pressure system with South Westers meant a tailwind all the way! So, the lure of the gravel was too much and we never made it over the Kandos-Muswellbrook road! We got to the gravel pass & the girl went up and down and up again, learning about swinging the car around and sliding it, and we stopped in a couple of big gravel depots to practice handbrake turns. Here we were being typical 'P' platers in the middle of nowhere and this little FWD something with 'P' plates & a couple of young guys stops to watch, and as we drove out they drove in... Still, its the best way to learn skills that are vital in emergencies, the same as I had her left-foot braking going downhill. She took me out for a pub dinner last night and we sat eating on bar stools watching a young guy slowly fall off his... he spoke to the staff from a horizontal position quite happily, although he was as white as a sheet, and they helped him up. The girl reckoned he was gonna chuck at any moment but I reckoned it was all a ploy to get hold of the barmaid he was busy chatting up now, when he slowly slid off his stool again! When we paid the girl asked what happened to his beer, sitting untouched on the table, and it turned out he was kneed in the head in a football game that afternoon & hadn't even started to drink, & when we went outside he was off to hospital with the ambulance! Well, another time for the Muswellbrook road! Report
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