Oxley Highway
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The Oxley Highway connects the large coastal town of Port Macquarie with the rural region around Wauchope, before travelling west along the Hastings River until the Great Eastern Ranges begin, then traversing the forests of the Great Eastern Escarpment and emerging into the rural landscape around Walcha. The 185 km route travels through 3 very distinct landscapes – the lightly timbered and somewhat cleared riverine lowlands and hinterland (75 km), the densely forested escarpment (45 km), and the extensively cleared south-eastern edge of the New England Tableland (65 km).
The highway is mostly a sealed 2 lane carriageway in good condition, rising to an elevation of 1,067 m. Driving time (without stops) is about 2.5 to 3 hours. The road acts primarily as a connecting route between the tablelands and the coast, and passes few tourism developments, apart from the area close to the coast around Port Macquarie.
There are plenty of rest stops through the whole extent of the route, including the ascent of the Great Eastern Ranges. After Port Macquarie there is little close settlement outside the towns of Wauchope and Walcha, which are small rural centres servicing the surrounding districts.The road is also the main access point for extensive areas of National Park (large parts of which are World Heritage listed) including Werrikimbe National Park, Cottan-Bimbang National Park, Mummel Gulf National Park and the south-western part of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.
