Hey All,
Am planning a long weekend mission to Sandy Point this weekend. Gonna hit the road Thursday arvo, do about five hours have a kip in the back of the van then finish the drive off on Friday.
Just wondering if anyone has done this drive, which is the preffered route? The three options I am looking at are:
1. Through Goulburn to Canberra, then Cooma and take the Monaro HWY to the Princes HWY
2. Hume HWY to Albury, then through Bright over the Alps, to Omeo and then Great Alpine HWY to Bairnsdale then Princes HWY (most direct route and scenic, but probably slow going through the mountain ranges)
3. Follow the coast all the way along the Princes HWY (nice to be near the coast, but probably the longest route)
I'm thinking option 1 is probably the best, but if anyone has had any experience with this drive then I would appreciate any input / tips.
Cheers
Hey Laff,
A group of us drove from Sydney in October. About 4 cars all up. All of us chose option 1 as the quickest. Total driving time was about 10hrs. One of our group chose your option 2 as listed and had and added 3-4hrs to the trip.
Cheers
DAvid
Based on my experience, option 1 would be the safest and probably the quickest. Haven't done option 2 but the Hume Hwy is a bit ordinary after Gundagai plus all the big trucks.
The Princes Hwy down the coast is pretty ordinary. Reminds me of the Pacific Highway of the 1970s and 80s. Tons of local traffic around every town, winding road and not many overtaking lanes.
Last time we were down in Melbourne back to home on the following route, from Melbourne along the Princes Hwy to Cann River, then up the Monaro Hwy to Cooma and then home. It was a pretty easy drive. Not much traffic on the Monaro and its a good road with plenty of straight sections.
Have fun!
Been Canberra to Sandy Point via Monaro Hwy Cann River a few times. Good roads not much traffic. Make sure you do the left hand turn a couple of km out of Bombala to stay tracking on down to Cann River. The straight ahead road through Delegate, Bonang, Omeo is pretty windy.
Keep a good eye out for Roos. Saw way too many loitering way too close to the edge of the road on dusk.
Enjoy your trip
Definitely Option 1.
Watch out for wombats too. Seem to be a lot of deadies the closer you get to Sandy Pt.
On the way back DO NOT turn off the highway at Orbost. We did and had 130 k's of Jurassic Park and rally driving on dirt pretty much all the way to Bombala.
Fun for the first 10 minutes then painful!!
When I drove down in October, I went via the Hume to Melbourne and then to Sandy Point. I figured the other routes might be a bit optimistic and I wanted to have a look around Melbourne.
If you use www.whereis.com you can compare the travel times and add different stops to make the route go the various ways. It says 11hr 34min for my route via Melbourne.
The route via Cooma says 10hr 52min. The route along the coast highway says 10hr 50min.
I thought the coast route would be the least likely to be the fastest as I imagine there are a lot more intersections and slower sections.
The route I took down using the Hume was fine, but coming back there seemed to be every construction project known to man, but then again, it wasn't that bad.
Thanks for all the input everyone. Much appreciated 
Forecast is now looking pretty crap for Sandy Point, so have changed tack and will go to Merimbula instead, Mambo Classic is on, so should be a great weekend. Plus forecast is CRANKING for Saturday 
Geez Dale, it was lik another planet. More like a Stephen King novel. Full on huge trees, ferns, palms etc and big drop offs on one side. Switch back after switch back. dust and more dust.
We got stuck behind a Winnebago with "Geriatric Cruiser" or something like that on the back. They pulled over and let us past and that was the ONLY vehicle we saw until nearly Bombala. I had one hand on the handle and the other holding speed boards from sliding around inside.
Rex's driving did him proud
We were sure we caught a glimpse through the trees of the General Lee and that horn tune. 
Then again it couldve been an old Valiant with the theme from Deliverance blasting from its speakers. [}:)]
