Easter road trip, Mk5 GTI

[Mixer]

Hi all,

I have been a lurker lately, haven't really been posting but here I am, twice as ugly!

I'm planning a trip, starting on the 30th of March, of over 4400km from Melbourne in my Mk5 GTI. She currently has just over 110,000km on the clock.

Link to Google Maps is here:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=south+kingsville,+vic&da ddr=Tocumwal+NSW+to:Wyalong+NSW+to:Forbes+NSW+toarkes+NSW+to:Gilgandra+NSW+to:Coonabarabran+NSW+to :St+George+QLD+to:Roma+QLD+to:Emerald+QLD+to:yeppo on,+qld+to:Goondiwindi+QLD+to:Narrabri+NSW+toubbo+NSW+to:West+Wyalong+NSW+to:south+kingsville,+ vic&geocode=FWW0vv0dVo2iCCnLj7FPLWfWajH1-sutLy_riw%3BFfWM3f0dnS6tCCkFT-mBwakgazGOOcla1WLEtA%3BFQZV-v0dC8DGCCnZ33xONd4bazFKIg4z5DnmLA%3BFYGUAv4d4WvSCC lHkgIr_IwaazH5rQD3QkBDPg%3BFWpZBv4dVvXUCClrn8SeC68 aazHm0K4dyPMIpA%3BFR0eHP4dW2vcCCm9hgOblrMIazEE3RkT RnBDHQ%3BFSHOIv4dWMrlCClv8GxXIgcJazFq36CvcD2FQQ%3B Ffw8VP4dGSjbCCnRDRtSG2ilazHUeZbbu8ObGw%3BFa2Dav4dQ F3eCCmfrdeEDCO6azF4KT1qqwPrbQ%3BFT4Cmf4dNMLUCCnJ7b nTe03PazFn1ECYGwxr2g%3BFQgWn_4dhCf8CClhCPU-sufCazGUvVmFfksT3w%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=ls&sll =-36.385913,-175.78125&sspn=34.08698,79.013672&ie=UTF8&z=5

Vital stats:
4400km, ~47 hours of driving
7 Days driving
2 Adults
2 Children

Hoping for 8lt/100km. Makes it VERY tight between stations with 98RON fuel. The longest distance between 2 is 760km, which is probably too far to get without a little top up, but 95 won't kill the thing I am sure. I've bought a bottle of Octane booster just incase.

People will rightly say I'm mad; I'll admit I am. But I loved the driving holiday when were a lad, and my kids will love it too.

We're staying overnight in:
Forbes, St George, then one night in Emerald, then on to Yeppoon for 3 nights (Emerald and Yeppoon with friends)

Return:
Goondiwindi, Dubbo and West Wyalong

Sights we'll see along the way:

• Parkes Dish
• Siding Spring Observatory
• Australian Museum Megafauna Display
• Champion's Peter Brock Museum @ Yeppoon
• CSIRO Australia Telescepe & Virtual Solar system @ Narrabri
• Dubbo, Taronga Open Plains Zoo

I'm stupidly excited about it. Anybody else done a trip like this or been to these places and have recommendations?

Oh if you had not guessed I'm an astronomy nerd!

[bazzle]

Nice trip, done similar a few times, only thing I would change is to go thru Tamworth on the way up using New England from Coonabarabin to Warwick for some diff scenery and places to go to. The New England is a great drive nowdays.

Bazzle

[Mixer]

Nice trip, done similar a few times, only thing I would change is to go thru Tamworth on the way up using New England from Coonabarabin to Warwick for some diff scenery and places to go to. The New England is a great drive nowdays.

I'll take a look a the atlas tonight, I'm not averse to taking a different way back.

[xplainwhy]

My wife is wondering, is your wife (sorry, assumption on our part) excited about this trip?

[Mixer]

My wife is wondering, is your wife (sorry, assumption on our part) excited about this trip?

haha!

Yeah she is, but for different reasons, the people we are staying with in Yepoon are her great friends, and our kids get on really well. She's not so much into the things we're visiting but she doesn't have anything she wants to see. As long as there's craft shops or something which I am sure we'll see in all the touristy towns, she'll be happy.

She's just happy to let me organise everything, she doesn't want to know even. Our whole family do travel well though....

[brisgtimkv]

I always plan our trips using the bp website to find places with 98. Wife thinks I'm mad. Going down from bris to armidale there are a couple of places, tenterfield is where usually stop. Our girl will drink about 6.8l/100km from bris to armidale so the top up is just for running around when we get there. Did the round trip on one tank once.

[Mixer]

I always plan our trips using the bp website to find places with 98. Wife thinks I'm mad. Going down from bris to armidale there are a couple of places, tenterfield is where usually stop. Our girl will drink about 6.8l/100km from bris to armidale so the top up is just for running around when we get there. Did the round trip on one tank once.

I haven't checked BP but Caltex and Shell had stations in the same places.

[xplainwhy]

haha!

Yeah she is, but for different reasons, the people we are staying with in Yepoon are her great friends, and our kids get on really well. She's not so much into the things we're visiting but she doesn't have anything she wants to see. As long as there's craft shops or something which I am sure we'll see in all the touristy towns, she'll be happy.

She's just happy to let me organise everything, she doesn't want to know even. Our whole family do travel well though....

Great stuff. After seeing your post the missus is saying we should do a similar road trip sometime... more GTI fun =)

[Mixer]

Great stuff. After seeing your post the missus is saying we should do a similar road trip sometime... more GTI fun =)

Awesome! People are telling me I am mad for not flying, but honestly there's 2 fifths of bugger all to see in Emerald and so much to see on the way there, live is too short to fly everywhere!

Just trying to think of how I'm going to wring the absolute best economy out of the thing, I haven't done a pure highway run for ages now.

IIRC I did get under 7l/100km out of the car going to Sydney (and really trying not to run the AC), but these roads will be worse, less bypasses etc, and I think I'll have to run the AC constantly. Plus the thing will be packed to the gills so I'm hoping 8l/100km is safe.

Anybody got opinions on max tyre pressure for getting the best economy?

[wokwn]

Check your tyre placard on the fuel filler cover. You'll be fully loaded so use the upper end.

Ride will be firmer/thumpier but economy will be best.

I run 42PSI (almost 300kpa) on trips like that with 3/4 ppl and luggage but I have 16's, your tyres may be different.

[Mixer]

I run 42PSI (almost 300kpa) on trips like that with 3/4 ppl and luggage but I have 16's, your tyres may be different.

I normally run 40psi so I was thinking maybe 44psi, placard is not much good as the tyres I have now are quite different to the Contis, I have Pirelli P-Zero Rossos, and BOY its a different car with those on.

I might jack it up to 44psi and see how it goes in traffic.