Great Australian Road Journeys

The cross country road trips in the first section are all on sealed roads that anyone can do in any kind of vehicle. The trips in the second section involve travelling on dirt roads and may only be suitable for four wheel drive vehicles.

See also: Roads Less Travelled - all equally enjoyable but lesser known drives; and Regional Drives, which are regional drives throughout rural Australia.

	Great Ocean Road, Vic Recognised as one of the world’s most scenic drives, the Great Ocean Road follows the stunning coastline of Victoria’s south-west. Stretching from Torquay, just south of Geelong, to Allansford, east of Warrnambool, the road winds along cliff tops beside breathtaking headlands, down onto the edge of beaches, across river estuaries and through rainforests, offering ever-changing panoramic views of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.
	Great Alpine Road, Vic The Great Alpine Road is Australia’s highest year-round accessible sealed road that winds through Victoria's High Country. It is one of the few roads in Australia that passes through lofty mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, vineyards and farms, giving travellers the opportunity to sample the local food and wine, and fish, cycle, climb or ride along the way.
	Crossing The Nullarbor plain, WA/SA Driving across the Nullarbor Plain is for many the quintessential experience of the Australian Outback. It is the ultimate Australian Road Trip and one every Australian should do at least once in their lifetime. It travels along one of the safest outback roads in Australia, with accommodation, cafes and vehicle repair facilities at regular intervals along the way.
	Pacific Coast, NSW/Qld The Pacific Coast begins at Cape Howe, which marks the eastern extremity of the state border of Victoria and New South Wales, and extends to the northern tip of Australia - Cape York in far North Queensland. It was along this coast that Lieut. James Cook travelled on his epic voyage of exploration in 1770, mapping as he went and documenting for the first time the country that became known as Australia. This drive mirrors his journey, though Cook saw it all from a different perspective - he traversed the coast by sea.
	Explorers Way, NT/SA The Explorer's Way follows the route of John McDouall Stuart, a famous Australian explorer who was the first to traverse the continent in 1862. This drive connects Australia's south and north, from Adelaide in South Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory, and takes in many of Australia's best-known icons, including the Flinders Ranges, Alice Springs, Uluru (Ayers Rock) (as a detour), Kakadu National Park (detour) and Darwin.
	Cape York Peninsula, Qld The trek to the tip of Cape York is undoubtedly every Australian four-wheel-driver's ultimate road trip. The journey, with its unexpected pleasures, friends and difficulties, lures trekkers back time and time again, so much so that for many it has become an annual ritual. There's always bulldust, corrugations, deep river crossings and saltwater crocodiles in among the pristine tropical rainforests, savannahs, shrublands, tropical and subtropical grasslands, wetlands, wild rivers, tropical savannahs, heath lands and dense mangrove swamps. The road conditions are always unpredictable, even though travel is restricted to the dry season, because of the cape's extreme conditions.
	The Savannah Way, Qld/NT/WA One of Australia's ultimate adventure drives, The Savannah Way traverses the top end of Australia, linking Cairns in Tropical North Queensland with the historic pearling town of Broome in Western Australia, via the natural wonders of Australia's far north. Some sections of the road are suitable for 4-wheel drive vehicles only, but others are sealed, making it possible for anyone with a motor vehicle to complete sections of the drive.
	The Birdsville Track, SA/Qld Established during the 1880s, the Birdsville Track was the main stock route between Marree in South Australia and Birdsville in Queensland. Usually taking about a month to complete, the route was long and extremely harsh and cattle often didn't survive the trip. Camel trains fared better. Until the 1930s these animals were used as the major transporters into a largely inaccessible region, but were released into the wild when road transport took over. Nowadays, the track is passable to conventional vehicles for most of the year. The current fascination with the outback has meant that a regular stream of adventurers make the 517km journey.