Road trips in Australia are in a league of their own because most people do not realize that Australia is actually a large country. Almost as big as the continental United States, Australia features a variety of different climates and landscapes.
One great way to explore the coasts and Outback of Australia is to take a road trip.
Whether you’re planning on taking an extended road trip involving long distances through the desert regions in the center of the country or just want a short jaunt lasting only a couple of hours, planning ahead is critical.
No matter what kind of road trip you plan, you will definitely visit some beautiful places.
The first thing you need to do is decide on what places you would like to visit in Australia and how much time you have to spend on your road trip. With 16,000 miles of coastline and five million square miles of land, there are plenty of choices.
You can choose to explore deserts, tropical rain forests, beaches, or even alpine regions.
You also need to decide on the time of year you want to plan your road trip. Weather conditions can make or break your condition. For example, Northern Australia is a tropical region, and when the wet season begins, rivers have been known to flood and roads have been washed away.
If you’re traveling across the Outback, in the summer season temperatures have been known to hit over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which can be a real killer if your air conditioning fails in the middle of the trip.
If you don’t want to create a road trip route from scratch, there are several popular options to choose from. One popular road trip route is the Great Ocean Road. This 150 mile long road in the state of Victoria extends all the way from Torquay to Warrnambool.
The road not only provides access to many landmarks in the area but is itself a landmark – built by soldiers in 1919 and 1932 to memorialize the casualties of World War I, it is the world’s largest war memorial.
As the name implies, the Great Ocean Road follows the coastline, providing breathtaking views of the ocean and beaches- make sure you don’t miss the Twelve Apostoles.
Another road trip option is crossing the Nullarbor Plain. Nullarbor means ‘no tree,’ which describes this area very well – it is a flat, almost treeless piece of land in southern Australia.
The most interesting thing about the Nullarbor is that it is largest single piece of limestone in the world, measuring in at 77,000 square miles.
Perhaps the most popular of all road trips in Australia is the drive along Highway 1 (Pacific Highway) in Australia’s East coast. There are many things to see and do along the way including superb camping, trekking, sun worshiping, city visiting and partying too (read Brisbane to Sydney and Sydney to Melbourne for tips and ideas).
What other things should you consider? A map of Australia, travel insurance if you don’t have it, a good pram if you’re traveling with kids packing appropriate clothes depending on the season you’ll be traveling in, food, water and a first aid kit if you’re heading into the outback, interesting road podcasts to listen to and making sure you camper van or car is well maintained for your trip ahead. So get your checklist, poise your camera, and hit the road because Australia road trips are some of the most exciting in the world!
[photo credits from Flickr: Outback (Casadequeso) , rest (lind_rOm)]
Have you done any road trips in Australia? Where to? How did you plan it? Please share this post if you liked!
your blog is really great Koki ♥ ..very interesting and detailed ………
Here’s a tip for traveling on the road. Try using a car top cargo carrier. The added space in your vehicle that one of these provides will make your trip more enjoyable.
Before taking trips or vacation, make sure you have researched some information about your destination And plan ahead your activities to savor each moment of your stay.
Yet leaving things to improvise are a good way of making it all that much more interesting…
You’re welcome, haha, my name is Maria, nice to meet you. I got to admit it, I’ve been reading your blog and …. I LOVE IT ! You do a great job, keep up the good work !
Hi Maria, great to meet you and to know that you like my travel blog. It is great encouragement to keep going and make it even better 🙂 I look forward to hearing from you
Hi,
Australia is a great country for visiting, especially for taking fantastic pictures of animals, environment, you, etc. The clima is warm, you will like it. You will earn a lot of experience from visiting Australia. Thanks for sharing your plans with us, webmaster!
Have a great day!
Best regards,
Maria
Thanks for stopping by Maria! My name is, by the way, Federico 🙂
It was a great experience touring around Australia and It was a great event and a successful fireworks show for the New Year Event in the Bridge in Sydney. It was an awesome experience.
I have heard so much about Australia. A road trip in the said country sounds interesting. I wanna visit Sydney and Adelaide. I have friends who live in Australia and they can help me visit beautiful places there. So I guess I don’t have to worry about getting lost. Thanks for sharing.
Australia is one of my dream destinations. I agree with what you said that it’s a place for a perfect road trip. I’ve been wanting to experience the beauty of Australia since high school days and hopefully this coming summer I can visit the country. Thanks for sharing this post.
Taking a road trip in Australia is great fun but it does pay to be aware of the distances involved so you don’t get caught out. Most of the main highways are one one lane each way once you get away from the capital cities so you need to stay alert on the road and be careful with large trucks on the road.
The Pacific Hwy has one lane for each way and trucks speed a lot at night. Good point Richard.
This is some great information. One of my dreams is to live in Australia for a year. I am planning on getting a working visa and maybe spend a year in the middle of my RTW trip.
That is one hell of a RTW trip if you do plan on spending a year in OZ! It is not cheap though, but will certainly have a blast. Where would you stay?
I had no idea that Australia was almost the size of the continental United States. Most American’s barely know anything about the vast and vibrant country that is Australia. I really hope that I can visit Australia, but I know that one visit won’t be enough to experience all that Australia has to offer.