Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Bit of an odd one but thought id ask the people in the know :)

From November 3rd to the 20th ill be leaving England behind and flying into Sydney then roadtripping up to Cairns and then back down to Townsville :D

I was wondering if there are any motoring events, shops, meets or just cool things to do on the trip that I may not know of from all the usual tourist information !

Any ideas will be helpful guys :)

Paul

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/398552-queensland-coast-areas-of-interest/
Share on other sites

the sunshine coast (mooloolabah, alex heads. maroochydore and all the way up to noosa) is a good place to go. great beaches, great weather (most of the time) and plenty of things to look at (including the locals).

just watch out when you head through gympie. can't trust them shady f**kers.........

If you're using a GPS all the way up north, set it to "YES" when it asks you if you wish to opt for Toll Roads...

otherwise you end up going through Gympie 3x ;)

* Any smoke that time of year is sugar cane fires > dramatic Pics at night.

* Atherton Tableland (via train) and Treetop Walk near Cairns is worthwhile.

* Bushwalk to Babinda Boulders takes you through rainforest since you're not going as far north as Daintree

* Drive up to Castle Hill above Townsville gives you a nice view

* Airlie Beach and a sail is a good side trip from Proserpine

Geez it's been so long since I've seen my folks in Cairns - naughty naughty TT

Beaches will be big on the list but also want to see things that are special to Aus seeing as it will be a once of a lifetime trip !

GPS will be a must im assuming as although im good with maps 1200 miles in another country could be pushing the luck although you do have the steering wheel on the correct side ;)

Its all the little places that im starting to hear about that are not well publicised over here that are great so keep them coming :D

Whats the story with the Gympie place though - reputation or genreally dodgy ?

As far as Sydney goes ive been told to avoid :

Carlingford Dundas

Redfern

Blacktown

Eveleigh Street

Hyde Park

Kingscross

How true any of it is about those parts I dont knwo as im a tad too far away lol

  • 2 weeks later...

dont go to gympie, full stop. shit of a place and nothing there.

if you got a chance, go to byron bay and the north coast of NSW.nice chilled place

I highly recommended the sunshine coast and gold coast.if u got questions on the Sunshine coast, let me know im from there :D

Beaches will be big on the list but also want to see things that are special to Aus seeing as it will be a once of a lifetime trip !

GPS will be a must im assuming as although im good with maps 1200 miles in another country could be pushing the luck although you do have the steering wheel on the correct side ;)

Its all the little places that im starting to hear about that are not well publicised over here that are great so keep them coming :D

Whats the story with the Gympie place though - reputation or genreally dodgy ?

As far as Sydney goes ive been told to avoid :

Carlingford Dundas

Redfern

Blacktown

Eveleigh Street

Hyde Park

Kingscross

How true any of it is about those parts I dont knwo as im a tad too far away lol

nothing really dodgy about it, except for the fact that it's where i live, lol. if you are driving north on the highway you will go through it (highway runs through the centre of town). but yeah, there's pretty much nothing there worth stopping for. save your time for the sunny coast and noosa (an hour south of gympie)

Sydney

To do list...

* Sydney Harbour with walk on foreshore along Circular Quay and Opera House + Red Tourist Bus to Bondi Beach

* Blue Mountains for a day by getting out of train at Wentworth Falls > walk south along Falls Rd to lookout > National Pass Walk (circular)

2 days for the above are a must!

From sydney you can detour via the Hunter Valley and try some of the wineries. You can stop overnight at places like Cessnock / Pokolbin etc (clost to the wineries). Don't bother trying to get accommodation in Singleton or Muswellbrook - they're usually booked out with contractors and reps for the coal mines (and you've gone past most of the good wineries anyway)

Then you can head back up towards Brisbane via the NEw England Hwy (inland) or head back out to Newcastle and make your way up the coast. Personally I take the NE hwy to Armidale then head back out to the coast to Grafton (or you can go to Coffs). Beautiful drive over the mountain, and can be fun if there's no traffic. Just watch some of the corners as they're not all sign posted, and a couple of them tighten unexpectedly.

If you're into theme parks, then Gold Coast has plenty of them. That will be in the tourist guides anyway, so no need to go into detail about that.

The drive north of Brisbane up to Mackay and beyond is just a shit of a run. I do it about once a year, and absolutely loathe it (used to live up that way and made regular trips to Brisbane. If I never have to drive the Bruce Hwy again it will be too soon).

As for interesting things to see on the way - if you can swing an invite to the Bowdens motoring museum just north of Brisbane (Buderim), it's well worth the visit. They have many of the old race cars from the 60's through to 90's (mainly iconic Australian race cars). I'm not sure if it's open to the public these days, but worth finding out more and trying to get in for a look see.

In rockhampton you can have a steak ayny way you like it, as Rocky is the beef capital of Australia. Nothing else going for the place through, so have your steak and get the hell out of there.

Fromrockhampton, you can head inland 2-3 hrs and check out the coal mining areas. If you make it to Emerald, there are gem fields where you can buy gemstones for your mrs (we bought my wife's engagement ring sapphire from there, and had it set by a friend who was a jeweller - but I digress). From there you can head straight to Mackay via the Peak Downs Hwy - nothing to see apart from lots more coal mines (but then again the "coast" run from Rockhampton to Mackay is 343km and there's nothing much to look at there, either)

From Mackay you head up to Airlie Beach and that's where a lot of the back packers go, as well as being the gateway to the whitsinday islands. It's well worth a look and heading out for a couple fo day cruises, or even book a few nights at one of the island resorts. Beautiful blue water and white beaches. Mackay / Whitsunday area also has great seafood, so check out some of the seafood restaurants in the area.

When you get to Bowen, stop off at Joccheims bakery and order a carrot cake with a coffee. I guarantee it will be the best carrot cake you've ever tasted (even if you're not a fan of carrot cake you'll like it). Their pies etc. aren't too bad, either.

If you like surf beaches, then most of them are in the southern part of QLD (and obviously in NSW too). Once you get much further north than about Bundaberg -4 hours north of Brisbane (oh, forgot to say - stop at the Bundy Rum distillery - another aussie icon and worth it if you're a rum drinker) there isn't much in the way of surf at any of the beaches, as the islands and great barier reef kills the surf.

Plenty of other stuff I'm sure, but that gives you therecouple of other options to consider.

One last thing - pack plenty of 30+ sunscreen, and apply it every time you're outdoors. Seriously. Your pommie skin will fry in 3 minutes in the Australian sun - even on a cloudy day. We have the highest skin cancer rate in the world.

Edited by warps
  • 5 months later...

Bring your patience. There will be plenty of road works.

Cairns sky rail is good. Get out to an island or too and snorkel or fish.

Tully has good white water rafting.

Airlie beach and hamilton island are worth a look.

Steal the nuts off the bull in Rockhampton and order a reef and beef to eat.

If you decide to stay in bundaberg, bagara beach is a nice area.

Check to see if it's whale watching season. If so Harvey Bay is a good launching point. There is cheap dolphin feeding nearby too.

Auto One Kawana is hosting a car meet on the night of the 16th they get a good turn out. Check Noosa out on your way. Check out Bowdens car museum.

See if Queensland Raceways are hosting any events when in Brisbane.

Go to the Gold Coast hinterland.

Gold coast

Go on a whale watching boat , amazing when they surface right near you and give you the eyeball look , plus nice photos of the highrises from the boat

Go to the top of QM1 tower on a clear day , some killer views and photos up and down the coast /river

seaworld if your keen ?

some good food on the spit ( check gps its a block or two off the beach)

Near the GC airport the bird shows are cool if your into that , link below

http://www.cws.org.au/

the tree walk is cool as well mt tamborine I think it was

Night life is pretty good in sydney and GC just use care around kings cross late

China town in sydney for some yum lol

Western sydney can get rough

Ideal :D

Many things noted and getting researched - might stay off the Roakhampton balls though - dont want to go over my luggage allowance on the way back ;)

Cannot wait to get there now - 11 days and counting !

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Hi everyone, I have purchased my first GTR and I want to do a single turbo conversion to it. I've been doing as much research as i can and there are a few things that I can find and need to know. I need to run a coolant feed, coolant return, oil feed and oil return for my turbo setup. Here's what I know so far: On the hot side of the rb26 there is coolant feed, oil feed and oil return. Coolant return will be going around the front of the engine to where the thermostat is located. I will need to block off the rear oil return port. I will be running a turbosmart boost solenoid so any of the factory boost stuff wont be needed. Now onto what I don't know: 1. What do I do with the coolant / vacuum hardlines that run around the back of the motor?. 2. What do I block off or loop or move or remove?. I will be running the OEM intake manifold. 3. Is there anything in particular I need to buy for the cold side of the rb26?. I already have the intercooler and pipes sorted. If you have any pictures or information it would be appreciated. Thanks....  
    • The fab work can be as simple as a couple of silicon hoses and clamps to the factory piping. 
    • Just sounds like either way you need to do some fab work to get everything to fit, so why limit yourself at that point? If the GCG high flow option is zero effort in and out swap though I'd probably do that. It's almost certainly lowest risk, lowest cost, etc. The HKS GTIII-RS option that Kapr mentioned is laughably expensive for what it is, they charge the exact same for two turbos on the RB26 so their margins are off the charts on that thing.
    • Intake manifold is not a part of the issue. The turbo bolts to the exhaust manifold. That is easy. But close your eyes and picture the physical situation. That is a T3 flange on the manifold and a T3 flange on the turbo. As long as any new turbo has a T3 flange on the exhaust housing, that exhaust housing will bolt to the exhaust manifold. This places the exhaust housing in the same place as the stock one. But now move your mental attention a little further forward. The location of the compressor housing is set by the length of the turbo's core. The stock turbo had a long core. Let's say that it is..... 100mm long. So that would place the compressor housing 100mm forward of the exhaust housing. But a highflow, might well have a centre core that is shorter. Let's say that it is only 70mm long. Now the compressor housing will be 30mm further back in the engine bay than the stock one. This DOES move the turbo's compressor outlet backwards. It also moves the compressor's inlet backwards. You will very likely have to do some work to both the inlet and outlet piping to make everything connect again. I am not say this to make it out to be a bigger deal than it is. I am just pointing out that "bolt on" is sometimes not quite bolt on. The highflow from GCG that Murray linked above (https://gcg.com.au/turbo-charger-upgrade-skyline-gtst-2iu-xtrgts-s1.html ) uses a core that is the same length as the stock core, and so does not require this extra work. It will look very much like the stock turbo. No-one uses GTR turbos of any flavour (stock, or aftermarket) in a single turbo application on RB20/25. It's not a thing. Yes, people have been putting on GT3076, GTX3076 (and bigger and smaller versions of those) and G30s (of various sizes) onto RB20/25 since forever. But these are not "bolt on". Everything except the 4 bolts to the exhaust manifold change with these. And genuine Garretts are expensive. Non-gen, like Pulsar, etc, are cheaper, variously as good or nearly as good. But still not bolt on. No-one in the right mind would pay for an HKS turbo. Not in this modern day and age. Well, yes, the GCG highflow. You could ask HG what he can do to make the compressor housing sit in the original location. There are surely others doing highflows around the world. And some of the eBay/Temu ones (as reported by Dose) work and don't die. Bit of a lottery though. I would send your turbo to GCG (here in Oz) to be highflowed if you want a trivial no-extra-work option. But seriously, the work required to change inlet and outlet piping is not that hard. That's a boost control problem, not a turbo problem.
    • Thank you all for the replys 🙂 I know that intake would be different but that is one pipe at it is not that hard to get(custom one). I meant mainly bolt to the stock manifold and the turbo elbow. I looked and many sites/forums but they are just "old" with some old HKS turbos from GT-R i guess? What about some Garrets?  Or any other turbo? Is there even a turbo which i can just bolt on? 😄 And yeah i know about that new HKS but that is like 2000k USD without taxes/shipping in here   Iam getting a touch up tune but my "problem" is that on the "not" hot day iam getting peaks around 0,9 bar...and when it was around 15 Celsious i saw peak around 1 bar which is just too much for stock turbo. And of course turbo is old and i like to get some new one for a piece of mind 🙂 
×
×
  • Create New...