Why this ride
Sustained elevation change, linked bends and open summit views. It also links naturally to Gondwana Rainforests of Australia nearby.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Oxley Highway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 274 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 52
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check state road reports, fire, flood, fuel range and unsealed-road suitability. Specific flag: weather; road works.
Seasonal context
Sep-May
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie began life as a prison. In 1821 the colonial government established a penal settlement at the mouth of the Hastings River for convicts who had committed further crimes, naming it after Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and the place later became a quiet farming and fishing community before it was reinvented as a holiday town. Today it is a lively coastal city of more than forty thousand, with surf beaches, a long breakwall covered in painted rocks and a pleasant foreshore walk.
Read the complete Port Macquarie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Port Macquarie sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Walcha.
2. Walcha
Walcha sits on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales at about a thousand metres, high enough to have real winters, with frosts, a few snowfalls and a cool, clear air that smells of eucalyptus and woodsmoke. The town is small, with about two and a half thousand people, and it wears its sheep country history openly. Fine merino wool built the district, and for a century the big properties around Walcha shaped both the landscape and the social life. English elms and oaks planted in the streets turn gold and red in April, which is not a sight many people expect in Australia.
Read the complete Walcha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Walcha comes up 100 km in. Next is Tamworth.
3. Tamworth
Planning note
274 km in you reach Tamworth.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Oxley Highway · part 1 · 168 km
- Oxley Highway starting at Wauchope · 335 km