Putty Road
173 km
distance
2h 25m
Contour time
6.3
avg score
Sealed
surface
Scenery
New South Wales
The Wollemi National Park is Australia's largest national park within 200 kilometres of a capital city and one of the...
Road quality
6.3 RQS
Every segment scored on 40+ data signals.
Accessibility
Fully sealed
Best in Motorbike & Rally. Peak season: Year-round.
7-day forecast
Long flowing bends through the Wollemi with almost no traffic. A moto classic - the kind of road that makes a full day out worthwhile.
Scored 6.3/10 by Contour's road quality algorithm across curviness, surface, elevation and traffic. Best suited for motorbike & rally drivers.
The road
The Putty Road has a reputation that outlives its statistics. A 173-kilometre sealed highway from Windsor through the Wollemi National Park wilderness to Singleton, it carries almost no traffic for most of its length and the corners through the bush are long, flowing and properly banked. This is not a tight technical road - it is a distance road, the kind that motorbike riders plan whole weekends around. The Wollemi section is the heart of it: 150 kilometres of barely broken bush, with the road threading between sandstone ridges and eucalypt forest and the wilderness pressing in from both sides. There are no towns for the entire mid-section. The road surface is inconsistent - good in places, rough in others - and the roo activity after dark makes night driving inadvisable. In daylight with a clear head it is a road that genuinely rewards the time invested. The endpoint at Singleton is not the point - the 173 kilometres between the start and finish is.
The Putty Road has a reputation that outlives its statistics.
Why this road
The region
The Wollemi National Park is Australia's largest national park within 200 kilometres of a capital city and one of the least accessible. The Putty Road is one of only two paved roads that pass through it. The park is largely sandstone plateau cut by deep canyons, with no services and limited track access. Windsor at the southern end is a heritage town on the Hawkesbury River, one of the first five towns established in the NSW colony. Singleton at the northern end is a Hunter Valley town surrounded by vineyards and coal mines.
History
The Putty Road was the main route between Sydney and the Hunter Valley coalfields in the early colonial period. The road through the Wollemi follows the line of an Aboriginal path used for thousands of years before European settlement.
Before you go
Fuel at Windsor, Putty village (limited, check opening hours) and Singleton. The 140-kilometre mid-section between Putty and Singleton has no fuel. Fill up before the bush section. Kangaroos on the road at dawn and dusk are a serious hazard - avoid night driving on this road. The surface quality varies significantly - road damage from heavy vehicles is common near Singleton.
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Putty village
A tiny settlement roughly halfway along the route with a pub that is sometimes open on weekends - one of the more isolated pubs in eastern Australia.
Hunter Valley vineyards
The road ends at Singleton which is the western edge of the Hunter Valley wine region - vineyards start immediately east of town.
Route
Start
Windsor
End
Singleton
Gallery
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