Queensland

GILLIES RANGE ROAD

WE MIGHT BE pushing the friendship here, given the Gillies Range Road is a whopping 1700km trek from Brisbane, but this is Far North Queensland, remember. Huge distances are kind of its shtick. An easier option is to begin in Cairns, which is only 60km north of our starting point. Do that and you’ll want to make a beeline for Gordonvale before turning off the Bruce Highway and cutting inland to explore the beautiful Gadgarra National Park. The section of winding hinterland nirvana that follows is relatively short but it crams 263 corners and 800 metres of elevation into just 19km of road. Being so remote also means the Gillies Range Road is usually bereft of the usual kind of traffic that plagues tourist roads like this, so you can hit those apexes sure in the knowledge you’re unlikely to suddenly happen upon a slow-moving Winnebago. If Cairns is too far to travel, a solid Plan B for a northern road trip is to link a run through Mount Nebo and Mount Glorious with Northbrook Parkway. This well-trodden route is popular for a reason, and only an hour outside of Brisbane.