I'm planning a trip to Surfers, driving up the Pacific Highway. The last time I drove to Surfers was in 2009, and stopped over in Nambucca Heads. This time, I'm driving there with no stopovers.

While Google Maps suggested a driving time of 9 and a half hours (I searched it this morning, which meant Google Maps assumed light off peak traffic). As I will be leaving Sydney (Rockdale to be exact) on a Wednesday morning, around 8am, would 11 hours be sufficient to drive up to Surfers, taking into account the nightmares of Sydney peak hour traffic?

Rockdale to Surfers Paradise it will be a 9 hour and 48 minute trip but if it was me I`d be leaving between 5:30am and 6am in the morning you might beat a bit of the nightmare traffic. http://distancecalculator.globefeed.com ... ulator.asp

I wish I can too. However, I need to drop my parents off at the airport first before getting the 400 to Rockdale Station, where my other half will pick me up for the drive north. I arrive at the airport at 6am and if all goes well, I should be able to get the first Burwood bound bus just after 7am.

I might do another Google search on a Wednesday morning next month (around the same time as my anticipated departure time from Rockdale) to see how much the estimated travel time change. This should be a more realistic estimate.

Depends when you are going. Up till the end of January peak hour traffic will be a lot lighter than normal due to commuters on holidays. Even more so for the first two weeks.

Rather than leaving earlier, you might be better off starting around 0900, the traffic has stabilised by then, and you would get a smoother run through the suburbs. Biggest problem seems to be between the Bridge and Hornsby, where the traffic lights are programmed to give priority to city bound traffic.

Citybus wrote:The last time I drove to Surfers was in 2009, and stopped over in Nambucca Heads. This time, I'm driving there with no stopovers.

That's a stupid thing to do if you're the only driver. You'll get too tired & affect other drivers. Should be stopping every 2 or 3 hours if it's only you driving.

And I would allow 12 to 14 hours WITHOUT stops.

Why do you want to go non-stop for?
And what about air, coach &/or rail?

boronia wrote:Depends when you are going. Up till the end of January peak hour traffic will be a lot lighter than normal due to commuters on holidays. Even more so for the first two weeks.

Rather than leaving earlier, you might be better off starting around 0900, the traffic has stabilised by then, and you would get a smoother run through the suburbs. Biggest problem seems to be between the Bridge and Hornsby, where the traffic lights are programmed to give priority to city bound traffic.

I'm going in mid March.

Would going via Ryde be quicker than the bridge?

Newcastle Flyer wrote:

Citybus wrote:The last time I drove to Surfers was in 2009, and stopped over in Nambucca Heads. This time, I'm driving there with no stopovers.

That's a stupid thing to do if you're the only driver. You'll get too tired & affect other drivers. Should be stopping every 2 or 3 hours if it's only you driving.

And I would allow 12 to 14 hours WITHOUT stops.

Why do you want to go non-stop for?
And what about air, coach &/or rail?

I will stop at least 3 times for breaks on the drive, but I won't be breaking the journey overnight like last time. I will also share the driving with my wife.

Newcastle Flyer wrote: That's a stupid thing to do if you're the only driver. You'll get too tired & affect other drivers. Should be stopping every 2 or 3 hours if it's only you driving.

And I would allow 12 to 14 hours WITHOUT stops.

Why do you want to go non-stop for?
And what about air, coach &/or rail?

I drove from Sydney to Gold Coast by myself, and i was fine. But you would really need a good rest (as well as loads of coffee and red bulls).

Took me 14 hours (partly because of holiday traffic) and lots of stops (like every 2 hours)

GazzaOak wrote:

Newcastle Flyer wrote: That's a stupid thing to do if you're the only driver. You'll get too tired & affect other drivers. Should be stopping every 2 or 3 hours if it's only you driving.

And I would allow 12 to 14 hours WITHOUT stops.

Why do you want to go non-stop for?
And what about air, coach &/or rail?

I drove from Sydney to Gold Coast by myself, and i was fine. But you would really need a good rest (as well as loads of coffee and red bulls).

Took me 14 hours (partly because of holiday traffic) and lots of stops (like every 2 hours)

Is the Pacific Highway mostly freeway conditions now?

Citybus wrote: Is the Pacific Highway mostly freeway conditions now?

Roughly 60-70%. This is from my guess which is freeways (or decent 2 lanes roads)

- Sydney to Newcastle
- Hexham to Port Mac
- Kempsy to Warrwell Creek?? (or whatever that weird town is called)
- Nammbuca Heads to somewhere up Coffs (way north, where Solitary Island Drive ends, donno what the place called)
- Ballena to Brissy

By the end of the year, should be up to 80% where you can drive Hexham to Coffs with 2 lanes (and would have made it a hell of a lot easier, since when i went, most of the traffic points occurred where its just single lanes), so if traveling during hoildays, only the Hexham area will be the only crapshoot point (this really needed to be fixed, build an M1 to Raymond Terrace bypass)

Should really take you no more than 11 hours from Sydney to Brissy, (including breaks) thats if your not driving into holiday traffic.

When I drove back, I left Goldy around 2pm and arrived in Sydney at 12am....

I'm doing this trip in mid March, so there shouldn't be any holiday traffic.