Where to visit between Brisbane and Sydney?

Firstly, get in touch with the NRMA (National Road and Motorists Association) and the RACQ (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland). These two organisations have lots of touring guides and maps available for planning your trips.

Secondly, reconsider the campervan. Whilst it is a good way to travel around and have cheap accommodation, you can be restricted to some degree. Rental of a small 4 door sedan will be much, much less than a campervan. Fuel costs will be much less. With a car and a cheap motel/hotel room, you can base yourself in an area and drive around the area in much more comfort and much less parking problems. With the campervan, if you want to do day trips, you have to leave the camping grounds and drive around to return to your campsite and all the associated set up problems. I could think of nothing worse than deciding to go to a meal in a restaurant and having to drive the campervan from the camping grounds to the restaurant then have to drive back at 10pm and back into the camping grounds and set up the van.

There are also many of the smaller, out of the way areas, that the roads aren't brilliant and may be difficult to negotiate in a campervan. You are also limited to staying in camping grounds and many of the areas you visit may not have these available. Also a point to remember, nearly every camping ground has onsite cabins and caravans available for overnight or longer. These are generally a fairly cheap option and you soon get sick of crawling around in the restricted space and headroom of a campervan. The two organisations listed at the start also have a fairly comprehensive book of an Accommodation Guide.

As for places to see and do, the entire coastline is dotted with hundreds of beautiful little towns and beachside villages. A lot of it is going to depend on what sort of things you like to do. There's so much available really, from the glitzy Gold Coast and its tourist traps, and the superb hinterlands areas. You can go visit Steve Irwin's Park, go fossicking for thundereggs, enjoy a magnificent scenic view over the Mt Warning volcano basin, bushwalk through the rainforest to lots of little waterfalls up in the Lamington National Park, visit a glowworm cave, take a boat trip out to a massive sand island, learn to surf.

Then head across the border and check out the beautiful villages of Mullumbimby, Lennox Heads and into the hippy commune refugee from the 60's Nimbin. Also lots of beautiful walks around here. Climb Mt Warning and watch the sunrise as this is the first part of Australian to greet the new day.

Further south, and just off the highway, stop in at Iluka and explore the wonderful rainforest right behind the coastal dunes. Rent a small tinny (little boat with an outboard motor) and try your hand at a bit of fishing, or simply rock up to the banks of the mighty Clarence river and cast a line out. Head down the road for about 10 mins to Woody Head, a delightful little beachside hamlet with a beautiful beach and good swimming. Spend a few hours walking over the rock platform and watching the tiny fish and other critters in the little rock pools. Again, a great place to do a bit of fishing. Catch the ferry across to Yamba and wander around this famous and favourite surfing mecca for generations of Australians. Failing that, drive further down the highway, turn left at Maclean and head out to Yamba, don't forget the compulsory photo of the lighthouse on the headland and a beer in the pub overlooking the beach. You might find you spend a day or two in Yamba also, the camping ground there is very close to the main areas.

South again and a 3-4 hour drive brings you to the Coffs Harbour area. Certainly a bit of a tourist mecca and a bit overdeveloped, but still worth a look as the coastline is truly beautiful. Don't forget the essential stop at the Big Banana and its tackorama and food. As the other poster said, consider staying at Woolgoolga. Or continue further south to Nambucca Heads for a picture perfect camping ground beside the river and the beach. Again, rent a tinny and spend the day fishing on the river. You might not catch anything, but you will see a lot of the wildlife.

For the next stop, I would be making it at South West Rocks. There's heaps to do here and a visit up to the old gaol is worth a few hours. The view from Point Perpendicular lighthouse is superb and the surfing is pretty good too.

From there, head to the area of Forster, Tuncurry, Myall Lakes, Port Macquarie, Laurieton. All very nice areas clustered around each other and difficult to know which one to stay at. Pick maybe Port Macquarie and spend a few days travelling around the area. In the right season, you can do whale watching trips as whales migrate up to their breeding grounds around Fraser Island and the Great Barrier Reef.

Next stop, I would leave the coast and head into the Hunter Valley to stay maybe in Pokolbin. From here I would do

The last 2 answers are good I'll take you further south. Some people love Coffs harbour. I'm not so keen but if you have time by all means call in .Just North of there is a nice seaside town called Woolgoolga

http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Woolgoolga.aspx

Certainly worth a visit there. The town is known as Woopi by the locals and has a large Sikh population There are temples and you may get a wonderful Indian meal but I'm not sure whats open there now.

Port Macquarrie is a place I really like . a little off the highway but you can go in and out on a different road missing some of the highway out. North of Newcastle is a place called Tea gardens. It only has a small roadside sign. I found this place a real little haven the first village has a river and houseboats and go a bit further on to the beach I have seen dolphins playing there is a nice view over to Nelson Bays and I have also seen a dingo run along the beach. Then back on the highway and if you want more diversions its nice sticking to the coast around woy woy way. Have a great trip.

Continued - had to use a new username - lol.

From there, head to the area of Forster, Tuncurry, Myall Lakes, Port

Next stop, I would leave the coast and head into the Hunter Valley to stay maybe in Pokolbin. From here I would do a trip around the many, many wineries, from boutique to mass producers, they all produce a damned fine product. Don't forget a stop at the Smelly Cheese Shop and other fantastic food producers around the area. They are all clustered in an area, making it easy to visit them. A winery tour either by Harley Davidson (you get driven) or horse drawn carriage is a lot of fun. Plus you can go hot air ballooning at dawn and what a wonderful way to see the wine country.

From here, I would definitely head back into Newcastle and take the drive from the heart of Newcastle and follow the beaches and headlands down to the camping ground at Caves Beach. Beautiful spot with a lovely almost deserted beach on one side and the largest lake in Australia, Lake Macquarie, on the other.

From there, its about a 2 hour drive into Sydney down the Freeway, but you might want to follow the old Pacific Highway. Both of them have spectacular views of the Hawkesbury as you drive along. Take an hour or so out and drop in at Brooklyn on the banks of the Hawkesbury and have a snack and a coffee at the little place built right on the river banks and watch the boaties and fishermen. You can also do a river cruise if you want to spend a few hours or even overnight. There's a fantastic cruise that visits one of the oyster leases and you get to sample the best oysters in the world, Sydney rock oysters.

From there, you are an hour from the heart of Sydney. Drop off your campervan, maybe pick up a small sedan. There really aren't any camping grounds close enough to Sydney to make it worth your time and money. Book yourself something like the Youth Hostels Associations rooms or dorms and investigate Sydney from a very convenient base.

Byron Bay has a lovely lighthouse (great photographs...) - Byron is a bit touristy these day for some people's taste so maybe stay there overnight and go to one of the nearby towns (eg Lennox Heads). There's great surfing around there and is probably a little less crowded than the Gold Coast. Having said that, pretty much anything on that line between Lennox and Surfers Paradise has great beaches. Up towards Surfers you also have access to touristy things like the three Worlds (Sea World, Dream World and Movie World), Wet n Wild, Ouback Experience, Infinity etc Murwillumbah is right near Mt Warning, an extinct volcano that you can walk up... There's also farm stays around this area too, places you can go horseriding and stuff...

Take the Pacific Highway & go through:

* Byron Bay (coastal surf town)

* Nimbin (stuck in the Sixties lol BIG hippie vibe)

* Coffs Harbour down to SW Rocks - Big country area lots of bananas, best shepherds pie in the world can be found in Hat Head, lots of conserves & beaches, go hiking, wind surfing, fishing

* Port Macquarie - pretty much like Coffs except more theres more older couples with their holiday homes & caravans

* Forster/Tuncurry - Twin towns that have dolphin cruises, scuba diving, beaches, deep-sea lakes, rivers, national parks

* Port Stephens - dolphin & whale watching, fishing, sand dunes & 4wd, golf, horse riding

* Newcastle/Lake Macquarie - not terribly much to do, both regional cities that you can barely tell the difference between as they are right next to each other

* Cessnock/Hunter Valley - WINE!!!

* Central Coast - Not really country, definitely not city, really good beaches

I'd go along the coast- through the Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise, Coolangatta, etc.), down through Byron Bay, New Castle etc.

Byron Bay is lovely! and you shouldn't miss that! It's hip, cool and very laid back with lots of great food, coffee shops and live music places, right on the beach!

Don't miss it...! Enjoy your trip!

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Byron Bay,it's so lay back and the food is great.