Sydney to Bourke; via Orange or Mudgee

Before Easter, we're heading off to Bourke & beyond. There are basically two options for the part between Lithgow & Dubbo, either via Mudgee or via Orange.

Looking for information on the benefit/cons/features/snags of either route.

Mudgee.. Just cause I love it. Great pub, pie shop, shopping and just a generally nice area...
Any hunting at all?

The road through Orange is more direct and is more frequently travelled. Going up through Mudgee you'll need to go through Sofala etc. The roads aren't the best, they're often narrow and some of them are a little potholed.

The road up from Penrith through to Orange is in pretty good nick. I haven't been Orange-Dubbo in a while, but I have been Parkes - Wellington - Mudgee and there are some goat tracks in there.

If you're not looking for specific scenery stay on the Great Western Highway (A32) to Bathurst then take the Mitchell Highway (also A32) through Dubbo.

Watches intently as I'm heading to bourke for Easter

Lithgow to mudgee to dubbo, would be quicker then lithgow, bathurst, dubbo. only a little bit thou

Thanks for the information.

Hmm, since the roads are in better nick ad we will have two intense(for us) days of driving, we will probably just do the boring highways through Bathurst & Orange(again). It would have been nice to take in a new route and relax a bit, but we are not sure about being able to do the Bourke to Hungerford section (213km) the next day.

This road cross a flood plain laced with ana-branches of the Warrego(?) River and some other Creek whose names escapes me atm, but both their catchments have been receiving lots of rain. So, if the direct route is a no-goer, then we have to "main road" it via Cunnamulla & Eulo, which is 446kms.

Currently, Bourke Shire Council says that it is open and the 7 day forecast is for no rain, so it might possible to take it easy.



Re hunting, not this part, but I'm pretty sure that when we go south to grandfather's farm, the invitation will be extended to assist with fox reduction. I've just got to make sure I check any shotgun shells I'm handed by the cousin. There is a small issue of him going backwards out of the ute one time when I handed him a solid ball shell. Well he did say "any shell, any shell".

some roadworks orange to wellington,some rough sections from narrromine to nyngan,and mudgee to dubbo through wellington or bellymore.generally all roads are below standard they should be.

Orange to wello rd works were finished when I went through on tues.

Thanks all for the information. It was a good run through Orange. The only bad part was the 15.3 litres/100kms fuel consumption as we pressed the foot a bit to do Bathurst to Bourke in one day.

Also should warn people about the mozzies around Bourke. They were a bit fierce. The extra water around at the time also meant that when someone finally stopped their pack of dogs barking, the frogs took over, but that sound is much more relaxing.