Discussion: Getting to NSW O champs

Appreciate if you can provide further updates as to whether it will be viable to go via Cowra. We cannot drive up until Sat morning but need to cancel accommodation on Friday if it is a no go.

I'm pretty confident it will be possible to get through by some route, it just may not be the most direct one. The most significant bottleneck is currently at Canowindra but I would expect that to be clear within a day or two (unless there's a washout) - you'd need to go via Blayney and Orange to get around that one. There's also currently a closure just south of Cowra but that one looks avoidable with a short diversion on back roads.

As far as I can tell, at the moment there isn't a viable north-south route anywhere in inland NSW between Blayney and Broken Hill.

Two notes of caution for anyone tracking this: (a) the NSW Live Traffic site doesn't reliably include information from council-controlled roads (b) the directions on Google Maps don't seem to pick up reliably on NSW road closures (possibly because of (a)).

By the way, it snowed to at least 900m in central NSW this morning (have seen pictures from Blayney).

Useful links for road closures:

Hilltops Council (for Cowra southwards) - https://www.hilltops.nsw.gov.au/services/road-clos...
Cabonne Council Facebook (for Canowindra/Molong) - https://www.facebook.com/cabonnecouncil

I had to guide us from Echuca to Swan Hill last week and the aforementioned NSW Live Traffic site showed all roads on the NSW side between the two towns were open. They were not. Google sent us that way because there were closed roads on the Vic side.

Thanks Blair. For early travellers this is very useful.

Hadn't been paying too much attention to other approaches, but I see that the Bylong Valley Road appears to be closed, which is presumably important for people coming from Newcastle or further north.

I'm attacking from the East (Sydney), but will pass that news along this afternoon at our event.

We are heading up Saturday morning and are hoping to go via Canowindra, as the Blayney-Orange options will add at least 45 minutes. The Olympic Way, Young to Cowra, is currently open but be aware that sections of this road are low-lying and flood often around Bendick-Murrell. Hopefully with no more immediate rain, it should be OK. Also need to watch for poor road conditions (everywhere!)

Could there be a more apt map name?

I see that Wagga is forecast to reach a major flood peak on Friday afternoon, but presumably the new bridge will still be OK?

Incidentally, one problem I hadn't counted on which is presumably flood-related is that there is no accommodation in Cootamundra and only the pub (from past experience, staying in pubs is best avoided on a Friday or Saturday) in Young - I imagine because people with flood-damaged houses in Cootamundra have had to find alternative places to stay. I've booked in Cowra, which is further than I'd planned to come on Friday but does at least leave me with a short trip on Saturday morning.

Looks like the road has reopened at Canowindra. South of Cowra towards Boorowa still shows as closed on Livetraffic but open on Hilltops Council - I'd be more inclined to trust the council here, but even if it is closed it looks to be a fairly short diversion.

No issues with flooding for the Gobba bridge in Wagga (if it went under so would most of Wagga!) but the local road into North Wagga is likely to be cut tonight or tomorrow, hence the evacuation order.