Explore Australia's best coastal road trips
The best thing about being an island nation is its cracking coastal road trips. These six superb drives run from the short and scenic to epic, big-kilometre adventures that sing to your wanderlust.
Victoria
The route: Melbourne to Lakes Entrance
The distance: 585 kilometres
Victoria’s iconic coastal drive, the Great Ocean Road, needs no introduction, so we’ve looked to the east of Melbourne for the quieter, rewarding Gippsland Coastal Discovery drive. It takes only 90 minutes to travel the 125 kilometres from Melbourne to San Remo, and across the road bridge to Phillip Island for its drawcards, a winning (and admittedly incongruous) mix of penguins and motorsports. The route hugs the Gippsland coast and includes the spectacular 14-kilometre Bunurong Coastal Drive between Cape Paterson and Inverloch, before turning south to Wilsons Promontory, a hiker’s and camper’s paradise at the southernmost tip of the mainland. Take a day cruise around the coastline from Tidal River to spot whales and Skull Rock, and commune with the kangaroos and wombats on land. Then continue on through Gippsland’s lakes country and Ninety Mile Beach to the boating and fishing heartland of Lakes Entrance.
Western Australia
The route: Perth to Exmouth
The distance: 1250 kilometres
A jewel of the west, you’ll find desert on one side of the Coral Coast Highway, the glittering Indian Ocean on the other. There are plenty of reasons to take your time on this run along the Western Australia coastline, not to mention the two World Heritage-listed areas, Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay en route. Add a couple of days for the dramatic Pinnacles Desert, to spot whales and whale sharks, visit the wild dolphins at Monkey Mia and a detour to the bubble-gum pink Hutt Lagoon. Can’t stop, won’t stop? Continue all the way for an epic, 2,220-kilometre drive.
New South Wales
The route: Royal National Park to Jervis Bay
The distance: 140 kilometres
The official start to the iconic Grand Pacific Drive is Australia’s first national park, established in 1879 and 30 kilometres south of Sydney’s centre. And the undisputed highlight is the dramatic Sea Cliff Bridge, which hugs the coastline for 665 metres and is a favourite place for whale and sunset watching. Short in kilometres, the drive is sweet in experiences, with stylish oceanfront pubs and picnic stops and the Blue Mile boardwalk, which follows the waterfront from North Beach to the harbour at Wollongong. You could knock it off as a day trip, but why not slow down and hop between rock pools and bogey holes down the coastline?
Tasmania
The route: Hobart to Bruny Island
The distance: 83 kilometres
What Tassie lacks in distance, it makes up for with delicious experiences. This short drive south of Hobart includes a car ferry from Kettering across to Bruny Island, and is one of Australia’s great gourmet getaways. Cheese tastings and chocolate shops, oyster bars and berry farms (bring on the scones), whiskies and wineries; there’s so much good food on this little island, you’ll be telling yourself to book an overnight stay to keep the tasting tour going. Take a cruise past Bruny’s magnificent sea stacks, keep eyes peeled for sea eagles or find a seafront seafood restaurant to while away the afternoon. Hot tip: pack an esky for your finds.
South Australia
The route: Mount Gambier to Adelaide
The distance: 940 kilometres
Wine and wildlife are the calling cards of the Southern Ocean Drive, which runs from Mount Gambier on the Victorian-South Australian border up to Adelaide, with a detour by ferry to Australia’s third-largest island, Kangaroo Island. The big-ticket items include Mount Gambier’s deep Blue Lake/Warwar, the walking trails and perfect bays on Kangaroo Island, and more than 80 cellar doors at McLaren Vale wine region – and another 25 cellar Coonawarra, which creates celebrated cabernet sauvignons. But don’t overlook the sinkholes at Umpherston and Kilsby, or 4WD beach driving and camping in the Coorong National Park.
Queensland
The route: Noosa to Hervey Bay
The distance: 380 kilometres
The Great Beach Road lives up to its name: the highlight of this drive is cruising Queensland’s great sand highways at K‘gari (Fraser Island) and the Great Sandy National Park, on the Fraser Coast – take your 4WD or rent one locally. Set between two of southern Queensland’s great holiday hotspots, the route passes through rainforests and sand dunes, to long surf breaks and great fishing sites. Take the ferry at Inskip Point to K’gari to drive along 75 Mile Beach – just keep an eye out for planes as it doubles as an airstrip for light aircraft. Back on land, it’s a short drive to Hervey Bay, a favourite hang for humpback whales and their babies from July to November, and one of Australia’s longest jetties, Urangan Pier, at 868 metres in length.
