Directions to Gloucester

By car

1. Bucketts Way

Gloucester is located at the halfway point along the Bucketts Way, a scenic detour off the Pacific Highway. Southern access is at Twelve Mile Creek, the trip is 80 km and takes about one hour. Northern access is at Purfleet near Taree, the trip is 70 km and takes about one hour.

Gloucester sits in its own river valley and is part of the Manning River catchment. It is not part of the Hunter Valley nor the Upper Hunter, both of these are incorrect geo-locators. Access from the Hunter Valley is via Dungog (using Stroud Hill Road that joins the Bucketts Way just north of Stroud) or from Clarence Town (using Limeburners Creek Road not far from the Pacific Highway). The trip from Dungog is 69 km and takes about one hour.

From the upper Manning Valley, access is via Wingham using Gloucester Road that joins the Bucketts Way at Burrell Creek. The trip from Wingham to Gloucester is 66 km and takes about one hour.

Quickest access to the coastal towns of Forster and Tuncurry is via Krambach (on the Bucketts Way), Nabiac (on the Pacific Highway) and Failford. The trip is 69 km and takes about one hour.

The Bucketts Way is named after the Bucketts Mountains at Gloucester, also known by their aboriginal name: the Buccan Buccans.

2. Thunderbolts Way

Thunderbolts Way gives access to Gloucester from the northern tablelands including Walcha, Tamworth, Uralla, Armidale and beyond. It’s a popular route for travellers wishing to avoid the busy Pacific Highway to and from Queensland. Thunderbolts Way starts in Gloucester and runs north to the Queensland border town of Goondiwindi, a journey of 493 km and takes about 6.5 hours. Most travellers take the turn onto the New England Highway at Uralla for Armidale, Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Stanthorpe. The trip to Walcha is 147 km and takes about two hours, add another 30 minutes to Uralla and 20 minutes more for Armidale.

Thunderbolts Way is named after the local bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, see more info here [link to come]

3. Scone Road

Western access to Gloucester is across Barrington Tops from Scone in the Upper Hunter. On the Gloucester side, the Scone Road starts at Thunderbolts Way just across the Barrington River. It continues through historic Copeland village and over Copeland Tops into the Cobark River valley before starting its journey up the Barrington Tops plateau. It becomes Barrington Tops Forest Road at the base of the plateau at the Dilgry River. The road is bitumen sealed up the mountain to the beginning to the parklands where is gravel for the rest of the trip.

4. Waukivory Road

Gloucester can be also accessed from Bulahdelah via Markwell Road that becomes Upper Myall Road that in turn becomes Waukivory Road. This route is 61 km and takes about 50 minutes. NB. A large portion is gravel road.

By train

Gloucester is on the main northern rail line from Sydney to Brisbane so it’s easy to get there by train. The town is serviced by several XPT trains per day in both directions.

Important:

1. Gloucester railway station is not within the town’s CBD, it is located at the eastern entrance to the town off the Bucketts Way. There is no public transport available to the CBD so you’ll need to arrange private transport for drop-off/pick-ups. (Otherwise it’s quite a walk up and over the hill!)

2. Gloucester railway station is unattended so all tickets must be pre-purchased online yourself or at the Visitor Information Centre in Denison Street with the help of our volunteers.

Download the train and coach timetable here.

XPT train – Northbound daily:

Northbound To Casino (Service #033) / To Grafton (Service #035) / To Brisbane (Service #031)

• Sydney Central 07.08 / 11.41 / 14.41
• Broadmeadow 09.33 / 14.04 / 17.04
• Dungog 10.43 / 15.15 / 18.11
• Gloucester 11.37 / 16.22 / 19.04
• Wingham 12.27 / 17.12 / 19.53
• Taree 12.40 / 17.25 / 20.08

XPT train – Southbound daily:

Southbound From Grafton (Service #036) / From Brisbane (Service #032) / From Casino (Service #034)

• Taree 09.52 / 14.41 / 01.31
• Wingham 10.06 / 14.55 / 01.44
• Gloucester 10.56 / 15.44 / 02.33
• Dungog 12.06 / 16.38 / 03.25
• Broadmeadow 13.19 / 17.52 / 04.28
• Sydney Central 15.44 / 20.12 / 06.50

By coach

Important: The Gloucester coach terminal is not at Gloucester railway station. So when booking your bus ticket online or over the phone, remember to quote the location as “Gloucester Town” as this will differentiate your journey from a train booking on the computerised booking system.

Download the train and coach timetable here.

Coach northbound – Broadmeadow to Taree (Service #135)

• Connecting train from Sydney Central (service 2157) departs 15.15
• Coach departs Broadmeadow railway station 18.00
• Stroud 19.00
• Gloucester Town (Denison Street coach terminal) 19.42
• Wingham Town 20.40
• Taree railway station 20.52

Coach southbound – Taree to Broadmeadow: (Service #136)

• Departs Taree railway station 06.00
• Wingham Town 06.12
• Gloucester Town (Denison Street coach terminal) 07.07
• Stroud 07.47
• Broadmeadow railway station 09.07
• Connecting train to Sydney from Broadmeadow (service 2138) 09.30 (09.49 pub hols)

By plane

Newcastle is the nearest public airport. The journey from Newcastle Airport to Gloucester is 104 km and takes about 1.5 hours.