Oxley Highway review in a stock NB8a

[Code4]

Two weeks ago I had to travel to Newcastle from Toowoomba and chose to travel via the Oxley highway. Going down early on a Thursday morning and back late afternoon on a friday. Both trips with the sun behind me and the road completely dry. My car is stock except for fresh shocks, a Nitro Dann rear muffler and Nitto Neogen 195/50 tyres on 7.5" rims

The Route for those who haven't dríven it yet, Wauchope to Walcha. I divided it into three sections:

Traveling west from Wauchope there is 55 km of reasonably good country roads normally inhabited by local traffic. I only encountered two cars going in my direction on the way up and that was in section 3.

1) The really tight twisty section start 55km west and are very tight switchbacks and short straights constantly climbing. I did this in 2nd gear, constantly in the power band of 4,500 rpm to 7,00 rpm. On approx 3-4 occasions, I reached for 3rd gear on straights and really wished for either an extra 500 rpm or the 2 to 3 shift was in the same plane and not a dogleg. This is the best section for me.

2) Over the top of the range is less regular with no chance to go from right to left turns in quick succession. I eased up here a bit.

3) The run out to 105km west of Wauchope is mainly through a more open state forest with enough room to pass other traffic and is gently starting to descend.

From there, are long open straights through the prime wool country to Walcha. Here you can easily and repeatedly explore top speeds if you are so inclined.

Going down (which I did first) was almost as much fun as going up. There was nil traffic going the same direction I did see one Mustang caught in traffic going down and a red Porsche 944 giving it a red hot go. I try to stay off brakes and they got limited use on the way down. Instead, a trailing throttle provided plenty of braking when needed. I was mainly in 3rd and 4th coming down gently.

Its a must do for anyone with a sporting car. I had changed the engine oil and filter prior to the trip and after 1,600km the oil was jet black, so got changed again. I would recommend an early morning midweek start for driving each way.

[pie5]

I did the Oxley Hwy a couple of years ago coming back from a trip to QLD. Awesome bit of road.

[Custardtart]

Sounds like you had fun. It's an awesome road and you're right, mid week early morning is the best time to do it. I'm going to head back one day but take a couple of days and have several goes!

[Code4]

Sounds like you had fun. It's an awesome road and you're right, mid week early morning is the best time to do it. I'm going to head back one day but take a couple of days and have several goes!

I am so going back. Just got to avoid tourists and weekends.

[Ven3li]

Nice to hear you enjoyed the road.

Being from Armidale means the Oxley has been a fairly regular thing. Mainly on bikes, but a fair bit in different cars over the years too. For a while my partner was living in Taree, so I got to dive down and back to see her ever weekend for a year or so. Driving to see her was always after work on Friday night and I would usually have the road to myself. A couple of times I even took a day off work and rode my old cbr600rr to Wauchope and back for fun.

A couple of weekends ago I drove from Newcastle back home and decided to go that way. First time in the MX-5, it was great fun.

Knowing the road really helps. There are a lot of corners you can carry a lot of speed through that open up on the way out, but others you need to watch because they tighten on you or go a lot longer than you expect, and a lot of them look kind of the same on the way in. There are a few sections where you can look across the gorge and see if there is anything coming the other way for long way too.

Need to be careful though, I have seen a few bike crashes on there and been passed by ambulances heading down there in a hurry on different days. Still, a fantastic road. Pity they lowered the speed limit to 80kph recently, especially because most of the people who've been hurt on there were doing well over 100kph and ignoring the old limit anyway.

There is a few nice loops from Armidale to the coast and back that include the Oxely as well. The Gwydir Hwy, from Glenn Innes to Grafton is a pretty nice one and so is Waterfall Way from Armidale to Coffs Harbour. Further norther there is the road from Tenterfield to Casino and then Lismore too. There is also Buckets Way from Walcha to Gloucester and the road from Ebor to Grafton through Nymboida, but the surfaces there can be pretty bad these days.

[RS2000]

Actually, Walcha to Gloucester is Thunderbolts Way, & the Bucketts Way is from just north of Raymond Terrace to Gloucester to Taree.
Cheers

[Ven3li]

Actually, Walcha to Gloucester is Thunderbolts Way, & the Bucketts Way is from just north of Raymond Terrace to Gloucester to Taree.
Cheers

I accidentally use the names interchangeably. Whenever I drive that road I'm going from Armidale to Newcastle or Sydney, so I inevitably drive on both and think of them as the same road, not including the bit to Taree from Gloucester.

[Sparra]

All of the highways/roads that cross the great divide, in NSW, are brilliant for bikes or MX5’s. This from a Queenslander