We are on the road again, heading up to Noosa for an extended stay, but first we had to drive up. The drive is two days worth (about 2000 km). This time we took four days. I’ve had St Peter Restaurant in Sydney on my want to do list for a number of years now and a conversation with a waiter in Conwy bumped it up to the top of my list. G was keen so we decided to spend two nights in Sydney and go on our second night. We both are working while we are away so my plan for the day we were in Sydney was to have a morning run along the harbour, do some work in the morning, go to a museum in the afternoon and out to dinner in the evening. As it turned out, our time in Sydney coincided with a bomb cyclone. My updated itinerary became, run on the hotel treadmill, scurry through the wind and rain to a cafe on the corner for breakfast, work for a few hours, then have a long nap in the afternoon before heading out for dinner at St Peter.
St Peter did not disappoint. We were a bit unsure about timing because of the weather and the unpredictability of UBER availability, but in the end we arrived early, so started with a drink in the bar before heading into the dining room. Dinner was a 9-course tasting menu, showcasing all things fish. Josh Niland, the head chef, if passionate about using as much of the fish as possible and has appeared on Australian Masterchef multiple times teaching the contestants how to break down a fish into numerous interesting cuts. The food is challenging but still accessible—definitely a bucket list destination.
The next day we did some work, then checked out of the hotel to drive about four hours to Port Macquarie. For the first half of the trip it was raining fairly heavily all the way. When we stopped and looked at the radar we realised that we had been driving with the large rain clouds that were moving north at about the same speed as us. After lunch the weather cleared up and by the time we arrived in Port Macquarie it was fine. The next morning dawned sunny, if a bit windy, and we both went for a run along the coast path. What a change from the previous few days!
After our run, G had a bit of work to do before checkout, then we were back on the highway heading towards the Gold Coast airport to pick up our daughter on our way to our accomodation in Main Beach. We are staying over the weekend to run the half-marathon. Our apartment has a stunning view of the beach. This morning over breakfast we enjoyed some whale watching, and I kept a half-eye out while I was working later in the day. We’ve picked up our BIBs for tomorrow’s race., although I’m not feeling that confident. Distance will be fine, but I’m slow at the moment. We will see.
On an earlier drive up here we did a bit more sightseeing as we drove up—and had a lot better weather. You can read about that trip here:
Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Sydney, Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Port Stephens, Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Tidal Bay Gaol and Nambucca Heads, Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Dorrigo National Park, Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Yamba, Byron Bay.
Do you enjoy roadtrips?
Comments
10 responses to “Melbourne to Queensland Roadtrip 2025”
Oh I love those beach photos! I think you would love Vancouver Island – very rugged beaches on the west side of the island. Those photos remind me of that area. I do enjoy road trips but haven’t been on a “fun” one for a while!
I’ve only been to Canada to ski at Whistler, but would love to come in the summer
Roadtrips are…okay. But my husband loves them and I think we’ll definitely do many in retirement. I think part of the reason I don’t love roadtrips is having to care for kids when we used to do them. Now that they’re older and more independent, it’s not so hard. AND, in retirement, it would just be the two of us. He’s excited and I’m…neutral?
You would have plenty of trips in Canada where the drive is part of the experience (a bit like Aus). Without kids is a lot easier.
You are back in my old stomping grounds when I studied abroad at the university of Sunshine Coast! I spent time in Noosa. That whole area is so beautiful!!
I am not a great car traveler, especially with young kids. I cannot handle all the whining so our max is about 3.5 hours. When they are older hopefully it will be more tolerable!
When the kids were younger G had a bag of snakes in the front and if they behaved for a hour they got a snake, if not they had to watch us eat their snakes.
I grew up road tripping and rarely flying, so I do love a road trip. I esp love it, if Coach drives more than me so that I can do some reading. We drove to places like Yellowstone and Glacier and Washington DC and Boston with the kids. It is more affordable and I tend to bring crockpots and feed the crew at the hotel for next to nothing.
The scenery on this trip looks so pretty. So close to a big city too. I hope the race went well.
We took several road trips with the kids. We didn’t take a crockpot, but we for our central Australia trip we borrowed my dad’s fridge for the car so we could keep milk, butter, salad chicken cold. That way, we had breakfast and then chicken and salad wraps for lunch and only had to do dinners out.
I grew up with road trips but I think the longest we did was goin to Rome which is around 1500 km (and back of course so total 3000) but we took long breaks (1 week skiing) on the way.
The last longer road trip we took – and where I wanted to get the husband into roadtripping – backfired because we got stuck on the autobahn for I don’t know six hours or so. Ever since then we dont take longer than 5 hour ones.
On one of our trips to Noosa, there was a fatality on the highway, so we had to detour on these tiny backroads for ages, but six hours is extreme. Most of the drive from Melbourne to Noosa is on a double-lane highway or freeway with a 100km/hr limit, so it’s pretty good (for Australian standards). We used to take the inland route, but it is so potholed now and not double lane, so you have to overtake the big roadtrains on the wrong side of the road, which can be a bit nerve-wracking.