Sydney to Melbourne in six days... route suggestions?

[murphymack]

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been asked before however a search of the forum showed mixed results that were not totally on this topic.

The opportunity (of a lifetime, I may add) has presented itself. I will have six days free to ride, based out of Sydney from January 6 to January 11 and I think I'd like to ride a road bike from Sydney to Melbourne. Here's why:

It seems like a good way to cover a lot of ground with services along the way
It can be done on a road bike.
It's not going to be hella hot like it would be MTB in Melrose at the same time.
I don't know much about riding there and this seems to be like the San Francisco to Los Angeles route I know from where I live in California.
It may be a popular tour route?

I have a mate who's in Sydney right now and is game to come along. He just moved to Australia and is not super familiar with any potential routes so that's why I am here asking you...

We both race and have been riding for years and are fit enough. 160km a day is fine by us. We'll be riding light road bikes with one set of off bike clothes, less than 4kg of gear each and staying in hotels/motels along the way.

Do any of you have suggestions routes that will get us there off the major motorways? We're fine riding on whatever with narrow shoulder and high speed autos however smaller highways are always preferable to major cross county highways.

We use ridewithgps.com to route plan so if you do too that's rad. If not show us what you use. Your ideas for stops along the way for beers and grub are requested as well. Ain't no knowledge like local knowledge!

Thanks in advance!

Also. if you ever come to Northern California, we can hook you up with loads of rides and riding partners.