Australia Road trips
32 curated road trips in Australia — Great Ocean Road, Great Alpine Road, Uluru & The Red Centre. Mapped stops, distance, duration, best season, and practical route notes.
Great Ocean RoadBuilt by WWI veterans as a living memorial, this road winds along the wild Southern Ocean past rainforests, surf beaches, and the Twelve Apostles.
Great Alpine RoadVictoria's B500 climbs over the Australian Alps from Wangaratta to Bairnsdale, the highest sealed road in Australia, through snow gum forests, Mount Hotham ski resorts, and the gold-rush valley of Harrietville.
Uluru & The Red CentreTackle this outback circuit from Uluru, the most soulful place in Australia, through Kata Tjuta's domed rocks, Kings Canyon's yawning chasm, the icy waterholes of the West MacDonnell Ranges, Standley Chasm, and Ormiston Gorge: red earth, red rocks, and ghostly ghost gums.
Gibb River RoadThe Kimberley's legendary outback dirt road connects Derby to Kununurra through ancient boab tree forests, Aboriginal rock art sites, spectacular gorges, and remote cattle stations, Australia at its most raw and untouched.
Great Barrier Reef DriveThis classic tropical coast drive follows the Captain Cook Highway from Cairns to Port Douglas, skimming rainforest-clad headlands, palm beaches, and the Coral Sea. It is one of Australia’s most accessible scenic routes, with easy stops for lookouts, swimming beaches, and reef-day-trip departures.
Alice Springs to DarwinThe Stuart Highway runs dead-straight through the Red Centre, Uluru and Kata Tjuta at the start, Kings Canyon, Devil's Marbles, Tennant Creek, Katherine Gorge, and finally Darwin where the Outback meets the Timor Sea.
Along the Murray RiverThe Murray, Australia's longest river at 2,500 km, rising in the snow-capped Australian Alps and flowing between Victoria and New South Wales. The road from Albury-Wodonga through the renowned Rutherglen wine region, the horse-drawn-cart port of Echuca, and on to Mildura's citrus and wine country.
Canning Stock RouteThe big one, the most challenging 4WD track in Australia, from Wiluna north to Halls Creek through the Great Sandy, Little Sandy, and Gibson Deserts. 51 wells once watered the cattle drives; today a truck visits Well 23 once a year and leaves a 50-gallon drum of fuel if you've pre-arranged it. Serious expedition territory.
Captain Cook HighwayQueensland's most scenic coastal road runs from Cairns north to Mossman between the Wet Tropics rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, the only place on Earth where two UNESCO World Heritage sites touch simultaneously.
Caves RoadA short but extraordinary drive through the limestone karst of Western Australia's Margaret River region, above ground, the world's largest karri forests and a hundred world-class wineries; below, four show caves of stalactites and crystal formations accessible on guided tours along a single winding road.
Cockle Creek, TasmaniaFrom Hobart to the southernmost road in Australia, via Sandy Bay, the Shot Tower at Taroona, Kettering, Woodbridge, Cygnet, the Huon Valley, Hastings Caves, and Recherche Bay. The next stop south from Cockle Creek is Antarctica.
East Coast TasmaniaThe long way from Hobart to Launceston, up Tasmania's sun-drenched east coast past convict sandstone, Wineglass Bay's perfect crescent, penguin colonies, and the fire-orange boulders of the Bay of Fires.
Explorer's Way: Adelaide to DarwinAustralia's great north-south crossing on the Stuart Highway, from Adelaide across the Flinders Ranges to the opal-mining moonscape of Coober Pedy, past the dingo fence into the Red Centre, around Uluru and Kata Tjuta to Alice Springs, north through the Devils Marbles to Katherine Gorge and Darwin. The full traversal of the continent from temperate south to tropical north.
Gippsland & Wilsons PromontoryFrom Melbourne's fringe to the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, Victoria's south-east corner delivers ancient rainforest, Tidal River wallabies, the mirror stillness of the Gippsland Lakes, and Squeaky Beach's white silica sand.
Grand Pacific DriveAustralia’s Grand Pacific Drive traces a classic coastal day trip from Sydney’s southern beaches to the Illawarra and Shoalhaven. The route crosses the Sea Cliff Bridge, passes rainforest-fringed headlands and surf towns, and finishes among Kiama’s famous blowholes, lookouts and rolling green coastline.
Great Western TiersThis Tasmanian drive traces the Great Western Tiers from Deloraine through Meander and the limestone caves to the forested plateau of the Central Highlands, finishing near Lake St Clair. Expect rolling farmland, highland viewpoints, cool temperate rainforest, and crisp mountain air with frequent stops for short walks and lookouts.
Hobart to Cradle MountainFrom Hobart's Georgian sandstone waterfront through the Central Highlands to the jagged dolerite spires of Cradle Mountain, Tasmanian devil encounters, Lake St Clair, and the most untouched wilderness in Australia.
Melbourne to SydneyNot the straight Hume Highway but the longer, scenic route, east through Gippsland's green hills, past remote Croajingolong National Park's wild beaches, across the New South Wales border to the Sapphire Coast's calm bays and surf towns, and north to Sydney. The coastal alternative that takes a few days and arrives relaxed.
Nullarbor Plain and Eyre HighwayCross Australia’s great southern expanse on the Eyre Highway, linking Ceduna to Norseman across the treeless Nullarbor Plain. Expect vast straightaways, salt-lake country, roadhouses, and dramatic coastal detours to the Bunda Cliffs and Head of Bight, where the continent seems to drop into the Southern Ocean.
Old Telegraph TrackThe mettle-testing trip from Cairns to the northernmost point of Australia, the Old Telegraph Track is only passable in the dry season, requires a 4WD, and demands fording saltwater-crocodile-infested rivers. The Bloomfield Track through Daintree rainforest provides basic training before the empty country begins at Cooktown, where the crude one-koala hamlets end and the real wilderness starts.
Savannah WayThe Savannah Way links tropical northern Australia from Cairns to Broome through some of the country’s most remote country. Expect long sealed stretches mixed with isolated highways, red-dirt detours, stock country, gulf wetlands, gorge country, and classic outback towns along one of Australia’s great cross-continent drives.
Stuart HighwayAustralia’s legendary north-south spine, the Stuart Highway runs from Adelaide’s fringe to Darwin through red desert, relentless highway horizons, and iconic outback stops. It links Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and Katherine, delivering a practical road trip through the country’s most expansive inland landscapes.
Tasmania East CoastThe Tasman Highway from Hobart up Tasmania's beach-lined east coast, through dry hills, Freycinet Peninsula's geometrically perfect Wineglass Bay, the Bay of Fires' white sands and orange lichen-stained rocks, and the Pyengana Dairy Company to Launceston. The gentle counterpoint to the wild west coast.
Tasmania West CoastThe wild side of Australia's island state, from Hobart west through Queenstown's moonscape to Strahan, the fishing town once described as "the best little town in the world", then north past the Henty Dunes, Cradle Mountain, and Mt Roland to Launceston. Tasmania's west coast keeps giving long after you think it's done.
The Gunbarrel HighwayThe original Gunbarrel, built in the 1950s by Len Beadell with a handful of road builders and a bulldozer so rockets could be launched from Woomera and British atomic bombs tested at Maralinga. Made deliberately straight "to keep Australia looking tidy and neat." From Wiluna through Carnegie Homestead and the Giles Meteorological Station to Uluru.
The Simpson DesertAustralia's most remote drive, from Birdsville across 1,100 sand dunes via Big Red to Dalhousie Springs. In 1963 the Page family ran out of fuel and died of thirst before help came. These days a lot more vehicles travel the outback, but not many. 4WD, satellite phone, and extra fuel are essential.
Waterfall WayWaterfall Way is one of northern New South Wales’ most rewarding short road trips, climbing from the coastal plains at Coffs Harbour into the cool New England tablelands near Armidale. The drive strings together rainforest, escarpment lookouts, and a run of dramatic waterfalls in national parks along a well-sealed, easy route.
Wine & Whales Electric HighwayAustralia's first dedicated electric highway follows the beautiful southwest coast from Perth to Augusta, 12 RAC fast-charging stations spaced along a route that passes Margaret River's world-class wineries and Busselton's heritage jetty, timed June to August for humpback whale season in Geographe Bay.
Mansfield to MarysvilleVictoria's High Country gravel road from Mansfield through Woods Point to Marysville, through remote forest and mountain ranges on unsealed roads that venture into country where 4WD clearance is an advantage. The section between Mansfield and Woods Point feels further from civilisation than its distance from Melbourne suggests.
Sydney to Nelson BayNorth from Australia's largest city into the Port Stephens region, through dramatic dunes, palm-flanked waters, and the quiet coastal communities of Shoal Bay and Anna Bay before Nelson Bay's whale watching and waterfront promenade. The escape that Sydney doesn't talk about.
Tanami TrackOne of Australia's great remote desert crossings, a corrugated dirt road through Warlpiri and Kukatja country from Alice Springs to Halls Creek. Red spinifex plains, a 900m meteorite crater, and near-complete solitude.
The Black SpurVictoria's finest short drive, the Black Spur between Healesville and Marysville weaves through stands of colossal Mountain Ash eucalypts and giant ferns, with corner after sweeping corner on a twisty section of tarmac that raises pulses whether you're on a motorbike or in a sports car. Best experienced on a weekday away from weekend traffic.