| For many people the prospect of crossing Australia's | | | | crossing over the M2 Motorway. About another |
| largest city, Sydney, by car is not going to be the | | | | 2.5km after the M2, turn left into Marsden Road at |
| highlight of their trip along the east coast of Australia. | | | | Carlingford (Route 6). |
| Sydney has many great attractions and should be | | | | Route 6 - It changes its name but always remains |
| seen but if the challenge is too great or you have | | | | Route 6 |
| been there before and are heading elsewhere, here is | | | | The balance of the trip is along Route 6 with its |
| a route that we used through Sydney in a north | | | | many changes of road names. |
| south direction in October 2003, which we found | | | | This first section of the trip is the only really tricky |
| very successful. That is, no accidents, not too much | | | | bit but with careful observation should present no |
| traffic and no arguments between driver and | | | | problems. |
| navigator! | | | | Travel down: |
| We left the beautiful Upper Hunter Valley town of | | | | Marsden Road for about 2.5km and turn right at |
| Murrurundi (approximately 77km south of Tamworth) | | | | Brush Farm Park into Stewart Road. |
| at 7.35am and headed towards Sydney along the | | | | Stewart Road for just under 1.0km and veer left into |
| New England Highway heading for the Sydney to | | | | Silverwater Road. |
| Newcastle Freeway passing through Scone, | | | | Follow Silverwater Road which crosses the |
| Muswellbrook and Singleton before turning off at | | | | Parramatta River and the Western Freeway before |
| Branxton for Cessnock. | | | | changing its name to St. Hilliers Road. |
| We reached the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway via | | | | St. Hilliers Road ends at a "T" intersection. Turn left |
| West Wallsend and Freemans Waterhole at 10.20am. | | | | into Boorea Street. |
| (Travel time Murrurundi to Freeway entrance of 2 | | | | Boorea Street then becomes Olympic Drive, then |
| hours 45 minutes including stops totalling 20 minutes) | | | | Joseph Street and then Rookwood Road, all the |
| We purposely chose this time to travel to get | | | | while remaining Route 6. |
| though Sydney in the middle of the day as opposed | | | | At a slight left hand deviation at the end of |
| to peak hours. | | | | Rookwood Road, the name changes to Stacey |
| The trip down the Freeway to Sydney's northern | | | | Street before becoming Fairfield Road near the South |
| suburbs is very straightforward, make no turns, take | | | | West Freeway interchange. |
| no exits. Along the way there are some great views, | | | | Stacey Street changes to Davies Road before |
| particularly near the Hawkesbury River and through | | | | crossing the Georges River and becoming Alfords |
| towering cuttings in solid sandstone with bridges built | | | | Point Road. |
| at seemingly precarious heights. | | | | Alfords Point Road becomes Old Illawarra Road at |
| Let the fun begin | | | | Menai and then New Illawarra Road. |
| We arrived at the end of the Freeway at | | | | Follow New Illawarra Road to its end at Heathcote |
| Wahroonga at 11.20am, 1 hour after joining it to the | | | | Road passing the Lucas Heights Atomic Research |
| north. At this point you can either take the exit to | | | | facility, turn left into Heathcote Road, still Route 6. |
| the Pacific Highway and travel into the city centre | | | | Heathcote Road winds around through military |
| over the Sydney Harbour Bridge or under the | | | | reserves and National Parks and ends at the Princes |
| harbour in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. | | | | Highway (Route 1). |
| The route described here avoids the city centre and | | | | Turn left into Princes Highway and head south |
| travels in nearly a north-south direction using major | | | | towards Wollongong and the South Coast region. |
| arterial roads about 16km to the west. | | | | Congratulations, you have just passed through |
| We continued on straight ahead ignoring the Pacific | | | | Sydney north to south avoiding the city centre. |
| Highway exit and travelled to the very end of the | | | | The total travelling time from the Wahroonga end of |
| Freeway at the first set of traffic lights you should | | | | Sydney-Newcastle Freeway to the Princes Highway |
| encounter and about 500m after the Pacific Highway | | | | is about 1 hour and 10 minutes and is a distance of |
| exit. | | | | about 38km. Traffic on the day in question was |
| Route 7 | | | | steady but moving quite well, given that it was in the |
| At the traffic lights turn left into Pennant Hills | | | | middle of the day. |
| (Cumberland Highway) and follow Route 7 markers | | | | |