[HN Gopher] The Great Vic Gravel Route: Crossing Victoria on Uns...
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The Great Vic Gravel Route: Crossing Victoria on Unsealed Roads
(2022)
Author : scottmcdot
Score : 54 points
Date : 2024-08-31 05:29 UTC (17 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (little-maps.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (little-maps.com)
| ehnto wrote:
| Every time I've tried to use Google maps to take me across Vic,
| between capital cities, it has always taken me down unsealed
| single lane roads. Despite there being a very well established
| highway system. It's fun to see what shenanigans it comes up with
| each time.
|
| No stress for your average country driver but negotiating right
| of way on a single track road used by heavy freight is not
| something you get taught at drivers ed! You would also be
| surprised at just how hilly and windy Victoria can be, and that
| at some point you will be driving through a rainforest.
|
| Like most states here, it's huge, so if you do venture on an
| unsealed road adventure just be mindful of your fuel.
| gwillz wrote:
| I wouldn't call those shenanigans fun, just frustrating. I know
| exactly the roads you're referring to. We drove that pass
| between SA and Vic a good 10 times in just the past 2 years and
| Google just couldn't figure out that it took far longer by
| those roads because you can't safely go at speed. There's just
| too many blind hills.
|
| There's something increasingly messed up with Google's
| algorithm lately and there's little control. We've recently
| just been going up and down the east coast and it's idea of
| "eco" or "short" is just wild. There was an unsealed 15% grade
| climb over a freaking mountain, it just refused to think of a
| better way (the motorway that went around it).
|
| I'd be less upset if there was more control over the options.
| Like a "prefer motorways" or "less turns" or "less hills". Even
| a "I'm towing" option.
|
| I know it has that data to do it, why not let us use it? Hell I
| might even pay for it.
| cjs_ac wrote:
| Your ticket has been closed because Google Maps engineers
| were unable to reproduce the issue in Silicon Valley.
|
| My experience with both Google Maps and Waze is that despite
| having the best live traffic data, there are so many UI
| issues that it's almost dangerous to try to use those apps
| while driving. I'm seriously considering building my own
| navigation app just to get some usable information.
| toast0 wrote:
| > There's something increasingly messed up with Google's
| algorithm lately and there's little control.
|
| I haven't used Google Maps outside of the US, but I've always
| felt that it's got to be designed and built by people that
| have never driven a car in their life. They've almost
| certainly never driven in Australia. Sometimes updates bring
| good things, and sometimes they declutter the screen by
| removing important information like the names of cross
| streets.
|
| If it's regularly sending you down avoidable gravel roads,
| you really ought to use something different. I'm more or less
| happy with google around me, although I'm comfortable enough
| with my surroundings to recognize and ignore most of the bad
| ideas; otherwise, I'd try something from Here --- they're the
| corporate successor of NavTeq, and have been doing digital
| maps since the 80s, and I liked their maps on Windows Phone.
| Something based on openstreetmaps is also attractive from an
| ability to influence the data perspective, too.
| lazystar wrote:
| >sometimes they declutter the screen by removing important
| information like the names of cross streets.
|
| this is such a frustrating experience, especially out in
| remote areas where roads are long and change names without
| intersections. when I firat experienced this "feature" it
| made me realize that google maps is not an actual map, and
| I should get a physical map as backup.
| edward28 wrote:
| Funny, given it was made by two Australians.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| > There's something increasingly messed up with Google's
| algorithm lately and there's little control.
|
| I've also noticed this for pedestrian routes inside cities.
| For some reason, it likes to send you zigzagging when there's
| a perfectly good straight route. And this is Paris, so it's
| not like the straight road is an 8-lane highway with no
| sidewalk.
| Angostura wrote:
| I tend to prefer Apple Maps' routing these days - though it
| still sometimes gets confused about where a place's entrance
| is
| ggm wrote:
| When I first came to Australia in 1987 my (then girlfriend now)
| wife drove me from Sydney to Brisbane and the inland route we
| chose included gravel roads. I was .. amazed. I fell in love with
| them, and for a few years we could enjoy them close to Brisbane,
| sometimes within the metropolitan area. The Lyons road, a
| privately maintained crossing from qld to nsw (throw a coin into
| a bucket to pay your share of grading cost) was a joy. Now?
| Sealed and (I believe) adopted by the states. No doubt locals are
| delighted but I do miss the gravel.
|
| We sometimes find a bit down in Queensland's Granite Belt, and
| there are thousands of kms left in the real outback, and forested
| areas. Closer to urban centres like south East Queensland, it's
| getting scarce.
| grecy wrote:
| If it makes you feel better, I recently spent 18 months going
| around Australia driving as much "remote wilderness" in a big
| 4x4 as I possibly could. I explored all the corners of
| Tasmania, Goog's Track, The Flinders, Big & Little Desert,
| crossed the Simpson Desert on the Madigan line, explored Fraser
| Island, drove the old Telegraph Track, The Finke River Gorge
| the Gibb River Road and topped it off with the Canning Stock
| Route - 1,600 kms without seeing another person or vehicle on
| the track. It was epic.
|
| Australia still has A LOT of wild places to explore.
|
| Here's a small highlight reel of the drone footage from each
| state - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmmbpjMgFqY
| beej71 wrote:
| These things are fun to find. I've found local routes like this
| in the western US, and ridebdr.org has a number of them... They
| tend to have more pavement than 30 km, though!
| defrost wrote:
| There's some fantastic dirt roads here in Australia ... just
| watch those lesser tracks of the Gunbarrel Highway network.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunbarrel_Highway
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL44EAyz8Qc
| GJim wrote:
| > Gunbarrel Highway
|
| Len Beadell was the bloke who surveyed and built many of the
| outback roads in Oz, including the Gunbarrel Highway. His books
| about doing so are terrific and very entertaining..... he was
| one of the last of the worlds 'true' explorers, going alone
| into undiscovered country.
|
| Books can be found here: https://www.lenbeadell.com.au/
| rgmerk wrote:
| That's very cool...but I wouldn't be trying this one rocking up
| in Nelson with a gravel/mountain bike and heading off.
|
| Some of those tracks in the mountainous, forested parts of
| eastern Victoria are in _seriously_ rugged and isolated country,
| and I 'm not sure all of them are even open to the public.
| toast0 wrote:
| > Ever dreamed of riding a bike down winding gravel roads without
| ever having to pedal along a paved road again?
|
| Does Australia mean something else by gravel road than what I'm
| thinking as a US person?
|
| Biking on gravel roads is unpleasant compared to paved or dirt
| IMHO. Gravel is unsmooth, loud, and can be loose. I certainly
| have the wrong tires for gravel, but even with wider tires, I
| don't think I'd dream of riding on gravel.
| technion wrote:
| Nope, it's a sarcastic question, you probably don't want to do
| this .
| cameron_b wrote:
| I do not take it as a sarcastic question.
|
| There is a whole community of gravel-riding cyclists, seeking
| monster rides.
|
| https://breckepic.com https://www.epic-series.com/capeepic
| https://thestartlist.com.au/disciplines/gravel/ - and other
| affiliated European and African races
| https://southeastgravel.com - a regional gravel race series
| https://www.granfondoguide.com/Contents/Index/1324/what-
| is-a... less competitive, long gravel
| dmm wrote:
| Lots of people prefer riding on gravel because of fewer cars,
| more hills, and rural scenery.
| strken wrote:
| As far as I know we both mean the same thing: loose gravel that
| has a grader and maybe a roller run over the surface every now
| and again. Surfaces in even worse condition that are basically
| wheel ruts filled with gravel with grass growing out the middle
| might called either gravel or dirt road/track, and those
| without gravel are just dirt roads/tracks. People use the words
| interchangeably at times.
|
| I grew up around them and they were fine to ride on. They're
| usually so low traffic that there aren't many corrugations,
| though outback gravel roads like the Tanami Track are an
| exception, and you don't ride (or drive) too fast on them. The
| noise isn't really an issue for me, it just sounds crunchy in a
| way that blends into the background. If you're riding on one
| lane country roads, you're probably already used to a bit of
| gravel on the surface.
|
| I think the appeal is that you're sharing the road with 30km/h
| tractors and 60km/h utes, not 100km/h SUVs.
| Angostura wrote:
| I think dirt road is the equivalent
| ip26 wrote:
| Bike construction is a key variable. My gravel bike is a
| smoother ride on crushed gravel than my hybrid or electric are
| on city streets.
| macintux wrote:
| Ah, a wonderful article. I'll definitely be looking at how to
| mine this data for my Jeeping needs.
|
| For the U.S., there's a curated route nearly coast to coast for
| dirt and gravel roads. Maps for sale at
| https://www.transamtrail.com/.
|
| I've written about various curated routes in the U.S. here:
| https://opposite-lock.com/topic/12190/u-s-adventure-trails
| Angostura wrote:
| Just try not to get too much dust in the cyclist's faces
| macintux wrote:
| I've been down many, many miles of dirt and gravel roads, and
| never have I spotted a two-wheeled vehicle, powered or not.
| grecy wrote:
| I'm a bit shocked it says the fastest route from Nelson to
| Mallacoota is 90% paved.
|
| I've driven every bit of that (not in one go) and I'm 100%
| certain there is no unpaved roads in there. In fact, it's getting
| close to a majority being 2 lanes in each direction (or 2+1 at
| least). It's all highway.
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(page generated 2024-08-31 23:01 UTC)