Hi Graham, as you say, bicycles can be rolled onto and off the Citylink trains out of Sydney, apparently as far towards Canberra as Goulburn.  As per your suggestion there are also other options towards Newcastle, Bathurst etc.

We are currently considering the following:
Train to Goulburn, thereafter cycle Crookwell - Rugby - Baroowa - Cowra - Canowindra - Cudal - Molong - Wellington.  After Wellington the first options that spring to mind are Dunedoo and Dubbo.

Wikicamps show lots of options along this route which has got ideas from Vince's ride as well as your sketch in the Reunion Ride.  This should take care of the first week and a half.  After that anything is possible so long as we keep heading towards Brisbane and then Cairns.

We would like to head some way south of Sydney (we have enough time).  Was hoping Canberra but didn't want to get stuck on the M23 from Goulburn which is why we are thinking of heading northwards from there.

Sensible or should we be looking at other options ?

Jean and the comfort of riding long distances sitting on a thorn is irony only appreciated by true cycling connoisseurs. 

“We would like to head some way south of Sydney (we have enough time).  Was hoping Canberra but didn't want to get stuck on the M23 from Goulburn which is why we are thinking of heading northwards from there.“

The good news is that there are backroads and paths out of Sydney to the south beginning at the International Airport Terminal Departures car park.  

From Sydney airport, take the cycle path to Cronulla. Small ferry from there to Bundeena. Royal National Park Roads to Stanwell Tops. Road and paths all the way to Kiama. Kiama to Southern Highlands (Bundanoon via Jamberoo Pass. Then mostly backroads to Canberra via Marulan, Bungonia, Bungendore.
Or use the Federal Highway. It’s noisy but safe. If you decide to do this I can send you more details. They are detailed in one of my journals ‘House to House Sitting on a Thorn’. 

In the news this week. NSW TrainLink are going to trial a roll-on roll-off bike service from Sydney to Dubbo beginning February next year. Only two bikes per train in the trial period. 

Jean-Marc

Like most of feedback so far I'm a fan of inland routes up the east coast. I've cycled Cairns to Canberra once, about a billion years ago, and Toowoomba - Adelaide via Sydney, Canberra and the Snowy Mountains (CGOAB "India and Beyond") as well as Toowoomba - Snowy Mountains on a couple of other occasions. There are some genuinely lovely spots and riding along the NSW north coast but you'll be rubbing up against traffic and the rat race far more than if you head inland. The vast, vast, vast majority of Australia's population live on the coastline.

From Cairns south I largely stuck to the coast until Rockhampton, other than a worthwhile detour onto the Atherton tablelands. If mud flats and the stench of road-kill 'roos is your thing then the coastal highway is highly recommended! It was enough for me to learn my lesson and head inland.

As Toowoomba has popped up in the replies a few times let me suggest a detour out to the Bunya Mountains to the northwest - consider it a Gondwanaland detour. These are home to the largest Bunya pine forest - Bunya's are an Arucaria like south american Monkey Puzzle trees. If you've camped or walked amongst the Monkey Puzzles in Argentina or Chile you'll probably get a kick out of their Australian cousins. If you can imagine a Monkey Puzzle but with the branches extending all the way down the trunk, then you've got it. I've had two deja vu Aus/Chile camping experiences - one was camping in a Beech Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii) forest along the Savage River in Tasmania that was a dead-ringer for some of my wild campsites in Beech forests along the Carretera Austral. The second was camping at the Bunya's compared to some of my lake district campsites under Monkey Puzzles.

Also, I'm a warmshowers host just outside Toowoomba so do drop me a line if you'd like a place to stay or a catch-up in town if you pass this way.

Thanks for the advice/info and kind offer Syd.  The likelihood of us passing through or near Toowoomba is pretty good.   We will probably reach out to you via Warmshowers closer to the time.