Why this ride
A mountain highway from Wauchope, New South Wales to Walcha, New South Wales, via Gingers Creek. Key character: rainforest; escarpment; long bend sequences. Surface: paved.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Oxley Highway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 168 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 28
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Oxley Highway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 17 km this is Oxley Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Oxley Highway
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wauchope
Wauchope sits on the Hastings River in the green country behind Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast, a country town of six thousand with a main street of pubs and bakeries, and with a fuel station and a decent meal, so this works as a warm start or a quiet finish. The river flows past the edge of town, and the paddocks are rich dairy and timber land between the coast and the escarpment.
Read the complete Wauchope write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oxley Highway point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Oxley Highway point 2.
2. Oxley Highway point 2
Between the coast and the tablelands lies the real Oxley, a stretch of the highway where the road winds through steep forest and the landscape is rugged, wooded and almost empty.
Read the complete Oxley Highway point 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oxley Highway point 2 comes up 43 km in. Next is Oxley Highway point 3.
3. Oxley Highway point 3
Beyond the climb the land changes character. East of Walcha the Oxley Highway runs across the edge of the New England tablelands, a country of rolling pasture, granite outcrops and deep river gorges, and the forest of the coastal ranges gives way to open grassland dotted with sheep and cattle. The altitude is around a thousand metres, and the air is noticeably cooler and drier.
Read the complete Oxley Highway point 3 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 111 km in you reach Oxley Highway point 3. Next is Oxley Highway point 4.
4. 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
Oxley Highway point 4, late in the day.