MotoRidez

Sydney to Cairns · the inland run to the top

9 days · 8 nights out · 3,018 km · 38 h riding · 18 km gravel · longest day 548 km

3,018 km

Total

38 h

Driving time

18 km

Gravel

Twisty

Day by day

Day 1

Sydney → Tamworth

444 km 6h 22m

Windsor Coffee and a bakery breakfast before you leave the suburbs behind.
Putty The Putty Road is the way out of Sydney. Tight and quiet, and no trucks. Watch for wildlife at dawn and dusk.
Singleton Top up here. Fuel gets further apart from now on.
Scone Horse capital of Australia. Good lunch stop on the main street.
Murrurundi Small town at the foot of the Liverpool Range. Nice ride over the top.
Tamworth Night 1. Country music capital, plenty of rooms.

Day 2

Tamworth → Warwick

420 km 5h 0m

Armidale Cold at altitude even in summer. Coffee and a layer on.
Glen Innes Fill up before the border run.
Tenterfield Birthplace of Australian federation. Quiet stretch of highway from here.
Stanthorpe Granite Belt wine country. Good pies and cool mornings.
Warwick Night 2. Rose and Rodeo town, easy rooms and pubs.

Day 3

Warwick → Kingaroy

251 km 3h 22m

Toowoomba Down the range into the Darling Downs. Coffee on the way through.
Crows Nest
Yarraman Easy rolling hills, light traffic.
Nanango
Kingaroy Night 3. Peanut capital. Short day so you get a proper rest before the long inland run.

Day 4

Kingaroy → Duaringa

547 km 6h 27m

Gayndah Citrus country. Fill up, the towns get smaller from here.
Mundubbera Citrus capital. Stop for a fruit stand and a break on the Burnett Highway.
Eidsvold Star Hotel Motel is a good bed if you want to split the day here. Genuine country hospitality.
Monto Quiet town on the Burnett Highway.
Biloela Last big fuel before Duaringa.
Duaringa Night 4. Duaringa Hotel is the bed. Old-school outback pub.

Day 5

Duaringa → Clermont

272 km 3h 7m

Blackwater Coal town on the Capricorn Highway. Fuel and go.
Emerald Biggest town of the central highlands. Lunch and a proper fill-up.
Capella Long, straight, big sky. Keep an eye out for roos.
Clermont Night 5. Lee's Hoey Moey is the pub. Fill up fully before you leave in the morning, as fuel is a long way apart on the run to Charters Towers.

Day 6

Clermont → Charters Towers

374 km 3h 59m

Charters Towers Night 6. The Commercial Hotel is a good bed. Old gold-rush town with heaps of history and a proper main street.

Day 7

Charters Towers → Yungaburra

548 km 7h 0m 17 km gravel

Greenvale The last of the outback. Fuel and a stretch before the country turns green.
Mount Garnet The road bends and the scrub thickens. The Kennedy Highway starts to get fun.
Ravenshoe Highest town in Queensland. Cool air, good pies, lush green country. Feels like a different world after the outback.
Atherton
Yungaburra Night 7. Tablelands village with lakes, platypus at dusk, and a proper pub. Arrive with daylight left.

Day 8

Yungaburra → Cairns

94 km 1h 55m 3 lookouts

Curtain Fig Tree Massive strangler fig, short boardwalk. Free parking.
Malanda Dairy country. Milk-based everything, get a milkshake at the milk bar.
Lake Eacham Crater lake. Clear water, good swim stop.
Lake Barrine Tea house on the lake. Scones and a rainforest walk.
Gordonvale You have just come down the Gillies Range: 263 bends in 19 km. Take your time on the way down and use low gear.
Cairns Night 8. Made it. You are at the top of Australia, at least for the road ride.

Day 9

Cairns → Port Douglas

69 km 1h 4m 1 lookout

Palm Cove Beachfront paperbarks and a cafe strip. Coffee with the sea.
Port Douglas Night 9. The end of the road for most, and worth the extra day. Captain Cook Highway hugs the coast the whole way.

Roads on the way

Written up road by road: corners, surface, where to stop.

More rides around here

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