11 Best Road Trips in Australia

María does not give directions the way a satnav does. She gives them the way her grandmother gave them, by landmark, by rumour and by whichever pie shop you should not skip. On the very first morning she looked at my carefully colour coded spreadsheet, laughed kindly, and told me that Australia is not a country you tick off, it is a country you get told about by the people who live along the road. Then she took the keys, checked the tyres, and started talking. She did not really stop for about six weeks.

This guide follows the eleven drives we did together. It is written the way it happened, with her stories woven between the kilometres, so that where to fly in, where to sleep, what to eat and what to drink arrive inside the journey and not in separate lists. Costs, a route map and the driving habits that keep a long trip safe are gathered towards the end, so you can plan the whole thing once you know which roads you want.

Number 1 of 11The Great Ocean Road

Wominjeka, welcome to the Shipwreck Coast. Torquay to Allansford, about 243 km.

Landing in Melbourne and pointing west

We collected the hire car at Melbourne Airport and drove about 100 km through Geelong to Torquay, the surf town where the road officially begins. Without a car, you can take a train to Geelong and pick up a hire car or a coach there, but the road rewards having your own wheels and the freedom to pull over. Torquay is worth a night. The Surf World museum tells the story of Bells Beach, where the Rip Curl Pro has been held around Easter for decades, and the beach cafés on the strip serve coffee strong enough to fix a jetlagged brain. María insisted on a sunrise walk at Bells before we left, and I did not argue.

Which way to drive

Because Australians drive on the left, heading west from Torquay to Allansford puts the ocean on your left hand side. That gives you the cliffside lane and makes turning into scenic lookouts a simple left turn, with no crossing of oncoming traffic on blind corners. Driving east to west means you cross the road every time you want a view, which is stressful on a route with tight bends and buses. The road is also slower than its 243 km suggests. Tight curves posted at 35 km/h, coaches and rental motorhomes that do not always use the pull outs mean your average pace falls well below the speed limit, so plan for full days and not for clock watching.

Bells, brothers and the road built by soldiers

María insisted we start before dawn, and the reason is a story. The Great Ocean Road was built between 1919 and 1932, largely by hand, by around 3,000 returned soldiers of the First World War, who worked with picks and explosives on the cliffs, in part to give men a purpose after the war. She told me it is often called the world's largest war memorial, and after that I could not look at the retaining walls the same way. The original memorial arch at Eastern View was destroyed in a bushfire in 1983 and rebuilt. Many drivers pause under it for a moment of quiet before the selfies, and I did the same.

Anglesea, Aireys Inlet and Lorne

We stopped at Aireys Inlet for the white Split Point lighthouse, which will be familiar to anyone who grew up on a certain Australian children's TV show, and María can sing the theme song if you let her. Lorne comes next, with its long pier, a pub that serves proper schnitzel, and the walk to Erskine Falls through fern gullies that smell of wet earth. We stayed in a small motel near the beach, but Lorne books out early in school holidays, so reserve weeks ahead. Kennett River and the Grey River Road are reliable for wild koalas, and the noisy king parrots are hard to ignore. Please do not feed them, the rangers ask you kindly.

Apollo Bay, and a pie worth stopping for

Apollo Bay is the natural overnight stop. The Apollo Bay Bakery is known for its curried scallop pie, made with Bass Strait scallops in a mild curry gravy under puff pastry. It is nothing like the standard suburban beef pie, and locals will argue about the best time to buy one before the queue builds. Around the corner, the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse pours cold local beer with a view of the harbour. In midwinter, the town hosts WinterWild, a festival of firelight, food and music that celebrates the stormy Southern Ocean, and dates vary each year.

Otways: canopy, lighthouse and glow worms

Turn inland at Skenes Creek and the road climbs into cool temperate rainforest, which surprises most visitors. The Otway Fly Treetop Walk lifts you 25 metres above the forest floor, and there is a zipline tour for anyone who likes their views fast. Farther south, the Cape Otway Lightstation, built in 1848, is the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia, and the koalas in the manna gums around Cape Otway Road are famously relaxed. Bimbi Park, nearby, has campsites and cabins among the trees and koalas that treat the place as their own. The Gadubanud people are the Traditional Owners of this coast, and the lightstation now interprets that history alongside the shipping one.

At Melba Gully, near Lavers Hill and described as one of the wettest places in Victoria, a short paved loop of about 15 minutes lights up with wild glow worms in the mossy banks once full darkness falls. Skip the commercial tours and come after dusk with a red light torch, walk slowly, keep quiet and do not touch the banks. The Otway beaches like Johanna are also good for a free camp in season, with parks fees for campsites.

Shipwreck Coast: the Twelve Apostles and beyond

The rock stacks were once called the Sow and Piglets. The name was swapped to Twelve Apostles in the early 1920s because it sold better to tourists. There were never twelve, more like nine, and one of them collapsed in 2005. María's advice: skip the midday coach crowd. Go at first light, then walk down to Gibson Steps when the tide is low to stand beside the stacks instead of above them. A helicopter flight from the visitor area is pricey and short but shows the whole coast in a way that no lookout can, and you can book it on arrival.

In June 1878 the clipper Loch Ard hit the reef at night. Of about 54 people aboard, only two survived, an apprentice named Tom Pearce and a passenger named Eva Carmichael. Tom found Eva clinging to wreckage and dragged her to the gorge that now carries the ship's name. A life sized Minton porcelain peacock, meant for a Melbourne exhibition, was salvaged from the wreck and now sits in the maritime museum at Flagstaff Hill in Warrnambool. Another well told story is London Bridge, an arch that collapsed in 1990 and left two tourists stranded on the isolated end, who were rescued by helicopter. The name has stuck to the remaining stack.

Locals do not say Loch Ard like a tragedy, María said. They say it like a warning that the sea is not personal, it is just honest.

Port Campbell to Warrnambool

Port Campbell is a sensible overnight stop, with a beach, a jetty and fish and chips on the grass. Beyond it, past Peterborough, the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Martyrs have the same rocks as the Apostles with a tenth of the crowd. Inland at Timboon, the Railway Shed Distillery pours single malt whisky in an old station, with cheese and cider from local farms nearby. At Warrnambool, between June and September, southern right whales come into Logans Beach to calve, and you watch from a fenced platform, free, with a thermos of tea. Warrnambool also holds the old legend of the Mahogany Ship, a wreck supposedly buried in the dunes and lost again after each sighting, and María enjoys telling it in the pub with slightly different endings each time.

Number 2 of 11The Legendary Pacific Coast

Sydney to Brisbane, roughly 900 km of surf, banana farms and koalas.

Leaving Sydney and the highway trap

This one felt like a road trip in the classic sense: windows down, a lot of salt in the hair. We flew into Sydney, collected a car, and arranged a one way drop at Brisbane. Book that early, because drop fees vary a lot. The Pacific Highway is now mostly a divided highway that bypasses the old coastal towns, which is great for time and dull for scenery, with little to see beyond sound barriers and gum trees. María's rule was to leave the highway whenever we had time, following the brown Tourist Drive signs into the headlands and fishing villages the bypass skips.

Wine, dunes and dolphins

The Hunter Valley, about two hours north of Sydney, is Australia's oldest wine region and worth a night for the Semillon and the cellar door lunches. Farther on, Port Stephens has dolphin cruises and the giant dunes of Stockton Bight, which are protected Worimi land, so you visit with a permit or an Aboriginal guided tour. Sand boarding down the dune faces is a proper local sport, the sky looks cropped and the sand gets into everything. Forster and Tuncurry, near Wallis Lake, are known for oysters eaten from the lake shore, and a cheap motel here is easy to find outside school holidays.

Kangaroos at Trial Bay

South West Rocks and Arakoon National Park, near the Macleay Valley, hold a small wonder. At dawn, wild eastern grey kangaroos graze on the sandy flats below the ruins of Trial Bay Gaol, a 19th century prison, close to the surf. It is a rare place where kangaroos feed right beside the sea, so arrive early, stay quiet and keep your distance. The campground here is one of the nicest on the coast.

Woolgoolga and the unlikely Sikh temple

Near Coffs Harbour, at Woolgoolga, there is a Sikh temple built in the late 1960s by a community that arrived to work on banana farms. The town hosts a Curryfest each year and serves some of the best vegetarian curries on the coast. Nobody had warned me about this, and it is exactly the kind of stop that turns a trip into a story.

Coffs Harbour has the Big Banana, opened in 1964 and widely credited as the first of Australia's Big Things. Most visitors take a photo and leave, but the real tradition is the frozen chocolate dipped banana on a stick, a legacy of the post war banana boom. María rolled her eyes fondly and bought two. From Coffs, we took the road up to Dorrigo National Park for the Skywalk over the rainforest canopy, and the Aboriginal Gumbaynggirr community offers guided walks and bush food experiences in the region, which you can find through local visitor centres. Bellingen, in the hills, is where you buy sourdough and secondhand books.

Port Macquarie, koalas and a story of survival

The Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, founded in 1973, cares for injured koalas from bushfires and car strikes. You can watch the rehab yards from a viewing area. It is honest, low tech and moving, and it runs on donations. Then walk the coastal path to see the painted rocks on the breakwater and finish at a fish and chip shop on the Hastings River.

Grafton, purple in spring

Grafton, on the Clarence River, turns purple in October and November with jacaranda blooms and holds one of the country's oldest flower festivals, with garden trails and cafés that lean into the colour. It is a detour off the highway and worth one lazy afternoon.

Yamba, Angourie and Cape Byron

Yamba's local prawns are the sweet ones, boiled in the shell and eaten straight off the wharf. Nearby, the Blue Pool at Angourie is a flooded quarry that locals jump into from the rocks. Farther north stands Cape Byron Lighthouse at the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Get there for sunrise and you may see dolphins in the surf. The land is cared for by the Arakwal people, and María taught me to say the name with care. In Byron itself, the Stone and Wood brewery pours a very good pale ale, the farmers markets sell tropical fruit, and the town's hinterland villages of Bangalow and Mullumbimby are calmer than the beachfront.

Number 3 of 11Pacific Coast Way

Brisbane north through the Fraser Coast to Cairns, about 1,700 km of tropical Queensland.

Cane country and the smell of sugar

After the southern coast, this felt like changing planets. The road bends inland, the sugar cane rises, and the sea keeps appearing between plantations. Between June and November, during the crushing season, you may still see cane fires at dusk in some areas, walls of orange flame beside the road with the smell of caramelised sugar hanging in the air. It is less common than it used to be, because many farmers now harvest green, but it remains a regional sight. Drive carefully near burning fields, because smoke can drift across the highway.

Rainbow Beach, K'gari and the whales of Hervey Bay

Rainbow Beach is named for its coloured sands, and María repeated an Aboriginal story about a rainbow spirit falling into the dunes and staining them. She was careful to tell me it was one telling among many, and that Elders would know it better. Across the strait, K'gari, formerly called Fraser Island, is the largest sand island on the planet and home to some of the purest dingoes in Australia. Access is by barge and needs a 4WD and a vehicle permit, or you can join a guided tour from Hervey Bay. Keep your distance from dingoes, keep food locked away, and never walk alone with small children. Hervey Bay, from July to October, is a humpback whale nursery, and the whale watching boats leave from the marina with good odds.

Bundaberg, turtles and rum

Bundaberg is the home of rum and ginger beer, and the distillery tour on Hills Street ends with a tasting for adults and a soft drink for drivers. Between about November and March, loggerhead turtles nest at Mon Repos, a few kilometres from town, and rangers take small groups to watch hatchlings scramble toward the sea. It is one of the great wildlife moments in the country. Book well ahead, because sessions sell out.

1770, Rockhampton and Cape Hillsborough

The Town of 1770 marks where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland, and the sunset there is good enough that it seems unfair. Rockhampton, on the Tropic of Capricorn, is beef country, and a steak dinner at a local pub is the right way to mark the crossing. Farther north, at Cape Hillsborough National Park, wild agile wallabies and eastern grey kangaroos come down to Casuarina Beach at first light to graze on seaweed and mangrove pods along the tide line. Arrive before sunrise, walk softly, and stay out of their way. A campground within the park sells out early in winter.

Stinger season and the Whitsundays

North of roughly Rockhampton, from about October or November to May, box jellyfish and Irukandji make many mainland beaches unsafe for swimming. Look for netted enclosures, wear a full stinger suit or head to the reef and islands, where operators supply suits. Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, with sailing trips, seaplane flights over Heart Reef, and a lagoon swimming pool by the harbour that is free all year. Bowen, on the way, is famous for its mangoes, and in season the roadside stalls sell mango sorbet made from frozen cheeks with no added sugar. Buy two, always.

Townsville, Ingham and Mission Beach

Townsville has a rock pool called The Strand, a climb up Castle Hill and a ferry to Magnetic Island, where koalas sit in trees beside the bays. Ingham, on the Bruce Highway, is the heart of Italian settlement in the cane country, and its delis and pasticcerias sell house cured prosciutto, cannoli and proper espresso in place of highway roadhouse coffee. Nearby, Wallaman Falls drops about 268 metres and is often described as the tallest permanent single drop waterfall in the country. In the north, Mission Beach is cassowary country. These large flightless birds have a dagger claw and no patience for stupid behaviour. Slow to 40 km per hour when the yellow signs appear. Then Cairns, where Great Barrier Reef and rainforest sit within a short drive of each other.

María's warning about the north was blunt: respect the crocodile signs, and do not swim anywhere without an official beach and a stinger net in the wet season.

Number 4 of 11The Coral Coast Highway

Perth to Exmouth, about 1,200 km of pink lakes, ancient life and whale sharks.

Starting in Perth and heading north

This is the drive where Western Australia shows off. We picked up the car in Perth and, before heading north, took the coast road south for an hour to Lake Clifton near Mandurah, where thrombolites, low mounds that look like mossy river rocks, grow at the edge of the water. They are living structures built by cyanobacteria, a family that has been photosynthesising for billions of years and helped create the oxygen we breathe. It is a short detour and a strange way to begin a road trip, but María likes to start with something ancient.

Pinnacles, dunes and the Lobster Shack

Within a few hours north of Perth we were in the Pinnacles Desert near Cervantes, where thousands of limestone spires poke out of yellow sand. María recommended late afternoon, when the shadows turn them into a chess set someone left mid game. At Lancelin we tried the dunes. Cervantes is the home of the western rock lobster fishery, and the Lobster Shack, beside the wharf, serves fresh split grilled lobster with chips and tartare sauce on the outdoor tables. It looks like a garage and tastes like a holiday. Stay in a cabin at the caravan park, or take the small motel by the water, and book ahead in wildflower season.

Wildflowers between Geraldton and Coorow

From roughly August to October the country between Geraldton and Coorow blooms with wildflowers. Photographers arrive with tripods. Locals just say the paddocks are wearing their good clothes. Please stay on tracks, roadside flowers are fragile. Geraldton itself has a good waterfront, a Batavia shipwreck gallery with a reconstructed Dutch stone portico, and a very good fish market lunch.

Kalbarri, gorges and a pink lake

Kalbarri National Park has Nature's Window, a rock arch framing the river gorge, and the Skywalk, which juts out over the canyon. In hot months the gorge trails often close by mid morning, so walk at sunrise. On the way north, Hutt Lagoon near Port Gregory looks like strawberry milk from above. The colour comes from Dunaliella salina algae that produces carotene, and it is only vivid on bright cloudless days between about 10am and 2pm. On overcast mornings or late afternoons, the water turns dull silver grey or reddish brown, so time your stop for midday. Keep to viewpoints, and treat drone rules seriously.

Shark Bay, shells and the Dutch plate

At Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay, stromatolites grow slowly in the shallow water. They are among the oldest forms of life on Earth, and a boardwalk lets you stand over them without touching. It is a strange thing to feel humble at a puddle. Shell Beach in Shark Bay is made of billions of tiny cockle shells packed metres deep, and the story goes that locals once cut them into building blocks. In Denham, several old buildings, including the Old Pearler Restaurant, are made from coquina shell blocks. The Malgana Traditional Owners of Shark Bay teach the value of not wasting what the sea gives, an idea that stays with you at the restaurant table. Nearby, Dirk Hartog Island is where the Dutch sailor Dirk Hartog nailed a pewter plate to a post in 1616, one of the earliest recorded European landings in Australia. Monkey Mia's wild dolphins visit the beach at feeding time, ranger led and gently managed, and the resort has rooms, camping and a decent pizza on the sand.

Quobba, the blowholes and the Aquarium

North of Carnarvon, a road leads to Quobba Station and the blowholes, where spray leaps high through rock channels and signs warn that King Waves Kill. The ocean here is not to be argued with, so stay back from the edge. About a kilometre south lies a sheltered tidal pool known as the Aquarium, where the rocks protect a lagoon of coral and small tropical fish in waist deep clear water. It is the easiest snorkel of the trip. Carnarvon itself sits on the Gascoyne fruit belt, and roadside stalls sell bananas, mangoes and tomatoes in season, all eaten before the next quarantine bin.

Ningaloo, the reef you can walk into

At Coral Bay and Exmouth, Ningaloo Reef starts a few paces from the sand. Whale shark season runs roughly March to July, and humpbacks pass from about August to October. In the Cape Range National Park, Turquoise Bay has a natural drift snorkel where the current carries swimmers along the coral. Read the signs at the beach on the day, enter where the current direction is marked, and leave the water at the clearly signed sand spit. Missing the exit can carry you into a channel that leads to the outer reef pass, and the rangers take it seriously. Campsites in the park, such as Osprey Bay, book out early, and Exmouth has motels, a brewery for the evening and the Yardie Creek gorge for a sunset boat trip.

Number 5 of 11The Explorers Way

Adelaide to Darwin, about 3,000 km through the heart of the continent.

Adelaide, then the empty quarter

This was the longest continuous stretch, and it changed how I think about distance. We began in Adelaide, and the food at the Central Market is worth a morning before the long road. If you have a spare day, the Barossa Valley for Shiraz and the Flinders Ranges for Wilpena Pound sit within reach. Adelaide is also where you can order a pie floater, a meat pie sitting upside down in green pea soup with tomato sauce, a South Australian oddity that María dared me to finish. Then north on the Stuart Highway, past Port Augusta and the rocket range at Woomera, where a small museum tells the story of the Cold War missile testing.

Coober Pedy, opal and life underground

Coober Pedy is the opal capital, where more than half the residents live underground to escape the summer heat, which can climb past 45 degrees Celsius. María booked us into an underground motel, and the silence at night felt like being inside a held breath. The town has underground churches, including the Catacomb Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Elijah, built by a mining community of Greeks, Serbs, Italians and Croatians who dug sanctuaries straight into the sandstone. Step inside and the carved altars and rock ceilings feel like a secret cathedral.

The town name comes from an Aboriginal phrase often translated as white man in a hole. Locals swap tall tales about opal miners, and one of the best is about a character called Crocodile Harry, a larger than life eccentric who claimed to have hunted crocodiles in the north before settling here. Whether every story is true or not is a matter that María declined to settle. The Kanku Breakaways nearby, painted in pinks and creams, look like a lunar postcard. On a hot evening, the Opal Fields golf course, which has no grass, lets you play with a piece of artificial turf you carry yourself, and night golfers use glow in the dark balls. It is absurd and charming.

Emergency airstrips and the speed limit trap

Long stretches of the Stuart Highway double as emergency runways for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, marked by wide white markings across the road and signs. Do not stop or park on them. The Northern Territory allows 130 km/h on much of the highway, but that speed makes any collision with cattle, wild camels or kangaroos far more dangerous, and a 600 kg bull can crush the cabin of a vehicle in spite of a bullbar. Keep to a speed that suits your vehicle and the light.

Devils Marbles and the Tropic line

Farther north near Tennant Creek, Karlu Karlu, also called the Devils Marbles, is a scatter of enormous granite boulders that seem balanced by a giant with a sense of humour. The site is sacred to the Aboriginal Traditional Owners, so stay on marked paths and leave the rocks where they are. Just north of Alice Springs there is a Tropic of Capricorn marker where every traveller pretends to stand on the line. Alice Springs is the natural breather, with cafés, a desert park and a chance to swap a dusty car for a shower.

Daly Waters, Larrimah and the outback pub

The Daly Waters Pub holds one of the Northern Territory's oldest liquor licences, from the 1930s, and every surface is covered with hats, bras, banknotes and business cards from other travellers. A chicken and barramundi dinner there is a rite of passage. At Larrimah, a village of very few people, the Pink Panther pub sells cold beer and stories about a local character named Paddy Moriarty, who disappeared in 2017 in a mystery that became a documentary. Roadhouses along the highway keep caps, banknotes, cut off ties and mudflaps pinned to the walls, left by drivers who broke down, survived or simply wanted to be remembered. Add your own, and buy a quandong pie if the bakery has one, made from the native desert peach, with a tart flavour like rhubarb.

Mataranka, Katherine and Darwin

A few hours north, the Mataranka thermal pools are warm, clear and shaded by palms, and swimming in them at dusk felt like a secret bath. Katherine Gorge, in Nitmiluk National Park, is best by boat or canoe at sunrise, and Edith Falls, nearby, has a pool for a cool swim. Close to Darwin, Litchfield National Park has waterfalls, termite mounds and safe swimming holes in the dry season. In Darwin, the Mindil Beach Sunset Market runs on dry season evenings, with food stalls, live music and a view of the sun dropping into the sea. It is the right ending for 3,000 km. If the driving has worn you out, the Ghan train runs the same corridor and is a comfortable alternative for part of the way.

Katherine Gorge, María said, is a road trip's reward. You have earned it once you get there, so do not rush the boat.

Number 6 of 11The Red Centre Way

Alice Springs to Uluru and Kings Canyon, a loop of about 1,150 km.

Alice Springs first

The Red Centre is one place where María spoke less and listened more. We flew into Alice Springs, and spent a day before driving, at the Desert Park to meet the animals of the arid zone and the School of the Air to understand how children learn across enormous distances. Camels are part of the story too. Wild camels descend from those imported in the nineteenth century, and Australia now has the world's largest wild herd. Afghan cameleers, who opened up the desert for exploration and trade, are part of the region's untold history, and a memorial in Alice Springs honours them. Evenings in town are for kangaroo or camel burgers at a pub garden, and a cold beer in the dry air.

If your timing is right in April, Alice Springs hosts Parrtjima, an Indigenous light festival that projects artwork onto the cliff faces of the MacDonnell Ranges, drawing on stories that are thousands of years old.

West MacDonnell Ranges, the underrated half

Before Uluru, we spent two days in the West MacDonnells, west of Alice Springs. Simpsons Gap has rock wallabies at dusk, Standley Chasm glows orange around midday, Ormiston Gorge holds a cold permanent waterhole, and Ellery Creek Big Hole is an icy swim. Glen Helen Gorge and its homestead pub make a good overnight, with rooms, cold beer and a red cliff for a backdrop. The Larapinta Trail follows the ranges for those who want to walk, but even without hiking, the light here is extraordinary.

Tnorala and the baby from the Milky Way

Just off the road towards Hermannsburg lies Tnorala, also called Gosse Bluff, a ring of eroded hills left by a comet or asteroid that struck about 142 million years ago. The rim remaining is roughly 5 km across today. In the Western Arrernte tradition, the crater began when a baby carried by dancing women from the Milky Way fell to earth, and the ring of cliffs is the mother's shelter. It is rare to find astronomical history and Indigenous story lining up so neatly. You need a permit to visit some areas, so ask at the visitor centre in Alice Springs.

Hermannsburg, watercolours and strudel

Hermannsburg is the old Lutheran mission that became the home of Albert Namatjira, the Arrernte artist whose watercolours of the ranges changed how Australians saw the desert. The historic precinct has a small gallery and the Kata Anga Tearooms, famous for apple strudel and a pot of tea on the verandah. Buy a card or a painting from the local cooperative, because the money returns to the community.

Mereenie Loop and Kings Canyon

The Mereenie Loop connects Hermannsburg to Kings Canyon on roughly 150 km of largely unsealed, corrugated, bulldust track across Aboriginal land. It requires a transit permit, which costs only a few dollars and is sold at visitor centres in Alice Springs and at Kings Canyon Resort, and it demands a vehicle with good clearance. Many standard rental contracts, even for AWD cars, void insurance on the loop unless you hold an authorised 4WD hire agreement, so check before you go. If you prefer bitumen, drive to Uluru via the Stuart and Lasseter highways.

Kings Canyon's Rim Walk, roughly 6 km, is one of the great walks of the country, and in hot weather it has an early morning start rule, with a cutoff for setting out. The Garden of Eden waterhole at the bottom is a shady, quiet detour. Kings Creek Station, nearby, has camel rides at sunrise and a bush campground, and the resort has rooms and evening bars. Around the fire, María taught me to make damper, a simple bread of flour, water and salt buried under hot coals until the crust hardens, then cracked open and drenched in golden syrup. It tastes better than it sounds.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Uluru is not a tourist attraction to the Anangu, the Traditional Owners. It is a living cultural landscape governed by Tjukurpa, the foundation of law, story and land. The climb was permanently closed in October 2019, and a signpost says palya, welcome, but reminds you to walk gently. María said there are stories she can tell and stories she can not, and I was honoured to hear only the first kind. At the base, the Mutitjulu waterhole belongs to the story of Kuniya, the python woman, and Liru, the poisonous snake, and the cultural centre explains it in the words of the Anangu.

Sunrise at the Talinguru Nyakunytjaku viewing area is more peaceful than the crowded sunset carpark. The base walk around Uluru is about 10 km, best done early, and a ranger guided Mala walk gives the story of the rock. In the evening, the Field of Light installation and the Sounds of Silence dinner are the major paid experiences, and both book out in high season. Do not take rocks or sand, the national park receives parcels each year from people who did and regret it. Kata Tjuta, the domed rocks a short drive away, has a walk called the Valley of the Winds that most visitors overlook. On the way in or out, Curtin Springs cattle station has a bar with tall tales and a view of Mount Conner, a flat topped monolith that tourists sometimes mistake for Uluru.

Remedies from the bush

Traditional Arrernte, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women use native plants such as irmangka irmangka, a native fuchsia bush, to make balms for aches and skin. The genuine products are sold at Aboriginal owned art centres and community cooperatives along the route, and buying there is better than a gift shop souvenir. Ask before you photograph anyone and follow the signs at sacred sites.

Number 7 of 11The Great Eastern Drive

Tasmania's east coast, Orford to St Helens, about 176 km of granite, oysters and orange rock.

Arriving in Tasmania

Tasmania arrives after a ferry ride from Victoria, or a short flight, and the air feels different. Taking your own car on the Spirit of Tasmania saves hire costs and gives you a night on the water, while flying into Hobart and hiring a car is simpler for short trips. María's family have a habit of saying the island keeps its own calendar. From Hobart, we drove east over the Sorell causeway and through Dunalley, where a canal cut in 1905 lets fishing boats pass between the bays, and traffic sometimes waits for a vessel to go through. That should tell you the pace of the place.

Orford, Triabunna and Maria Island

Near Orford, you can look across to Maria Island, named by Abel Tasman in 1642 after Maria van Diemen. I made an unforgivable amount of jokes about it, and María, unflappable, let me have them. From Triabunna, a ferry crosses to the island, where wombats graze on the old convict settlement lawns and you can walk to the painted cliffs. Back on shore, the wharf sheds serve hand shucked oysters and pan fried abalone from the cold Mercury Passage. The back roads are also dotted with honesty boxes, roadside tables stocked with new potatoes, berries, free range eggs and jam, where you drop coins into a padlocked tin. Carry small change and use it.

Swansea, spikes and cold pinot

Swansea is the town for a slow lunch, with a bakery, a pub, and views across Great Oyster Bay to the granite Hazards. Just north, the Spiky Bridge, built by convicts in the 1840s, has an odd row of stones along its edges, and legends say they were to stop cattle jumping off or to keep the road inland. Devil's Corner cellar door, in a converted shed near Apslawn, pours cool climate Pinot Noir and sparkling wine with a food truck lunch beside the vines. The local wines suit the seafood, and the view over Moulting Lagoon is quiet.

Wineglass Bay and the red water rumour

Freycinet National Park is famous for Wineglass Bay, and a popular rumour says the name comes from whaling days when the bay ran red. Others argue it simply describes the shape. Either way, the hike to the lookout takes about 90 minutes return and the beach below is spectacular. Fresh oysters at the Freycinet Marine Farm, eaten within sight of the water, cost less than a pub sandwich. The Cape Tourville lighthouse walk is short, flat and gorgeous at sunrise, and Coles Bay has cabins, a bakery and a few good guesthouses that book out in summer.

Bicheno, penguins and the Bay of Fires

At Bicheno, little penguins waddle ashore after sunset in a guided viewing, and some nest under boardwalks and fishing sheds along the shore, so keep to the paths and use only red light. Nearby, Kate's Berry Farm serves a bowl of raspberry ice cream that María insisted was medicinal. Farther north, the Bay of Fires is named after the fires Captain Tobias Furneaux saw on the shore in 1773, lit by the Aboriginal people of the area. The granite boulders are stained orange, and the colour is not from iron but from a living lichen. Trampling or scraping the rocks kills it, and it takes decades to regrow, so stay on the sand. Binalong Bay, at the south end, has the whitest sand. Pyengana Dairy, inland near St Columba Falls, sells cheddar and coffee, and the cows outside are the reason.

Number 8 of 11Princes Highway and the Sapphire Coast

Sydney to Melbourne along the southeast coast, about 1,040 km, with the Grand Pacific Drive at the start.

Grand Pacific Drive and a doughnut in Berry

We began on the Grand Pacific Drive south of Sydney, which is only about 140 km long but stuffed with drama. The Sea Cliff Bridge, opened in 2005 after a rockfall, curves out over the ocean at Clifton, and the road below feels like flying. Wollongong has the Kiama Blowhole nearby, a fish and chip lunch and a lighthouse. In Berry, queue for a hot cinnamon doughnut from the famous doughnut van, and browse the antique shops. It is a good first night, with a quiet pub, a cottage stay and cheese from the farms.

Jervis Bay and the whitest sand

From there, Hyams Beach at Jervis Bay claims some of the whitest sand in the world, squeaky underfoot. Dolphin cruises leave from Huskisson, and Booderee National Park has quiet beaches, bushwalks and a campground among the trees. Ulladulla and Batemans Bay come next, with fish co-ops where you can buy prawns and fish cooked to order at the wharf.

Tilba, Gulaga and cheese

Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba are preserved 19th century timber villages under Gulaga, also called Mount Dromedary, an extinct volcano that holds sacred maternal significance for the Yuin people. The walking trail climbs through temperate rainforest that is entirely unlike the coastal farmland below, and walkers should respect the cultural significance of the mountain and follow the signs. In the village, the dairy sells wax coated heritage cheddars and farmhouse cheeses that you cannot easily buy in city supermarkets, and the tearooms serve scones with local cream. Stay in a guesthouse in the village for a quiet evening under the mountain.

Narooma, Montague Island and the Sapphire Coast

The stretch from Tathra to Eden is called the Sapphire Coast for its deep blue water. Stop at Tathra Wharf for coffee, at Merimbula and Pambula for oysters, and at Narooma for a boat trip to Montague Island, where little penguins and fur seals live. Pambula and Merimbula grow both Sydney rock oysters and the flatter native oyster, the kind eaten by Aboriginal people for thousands of years, which has a deeper mineral finish. A dozen eaten at a lakeside table is the perfect lunch.

Old Tom and the killer whales of Eden

Here is my favourite story of the entire trip. In the nineteenth century, at Twofold Bay near Eden, wild orcas reportedly helped whalers hunt baleen whales, herding them into the bay and alerting the crews by breaching and slapping the water. The leader was known as Old Tom. Whalers gave the pod the tongue and lips of each catch, a tradition known as the Law of the Tongue, and the practice ended in the 1920s. His skeleton is displayed at the Killer Whale Museum in Eden. The local Thaua people of the Yuin nation have their own tradition of a spiritual bond with the killer whales, told by Elders and worth hearing from them through local cultural tours. It is a strange, moving tale of animals and humans cooperating, and it is also a whaling story, so it is told with mixed feelings. María quietly told me local families still argue about it. Whale watching cruises run from Eden in season, from about September to November.

Mallacoota and Lakes Entrance

Mallacoota, tucked into East Gippsland, was heavily hit by the 2019 to 2020 bushfires. The town is rebuilding, and every coffee you buy there feels like a small thank you. The inlet is a good kayak paddle, and campgrounds line the lake. Farther along, the Gippsland Lakes are the largest inland waterway system in the country, and Lakes Entrance has fish and chips that are famously fresh. Arrive at the golden hour, walk the footbridge to the ocean beach, and look back at the boats. Metung, near Lakes Entrance, is a tidy village for a night and a sundowner before the final run to Melbourne.

Number 9 of 11Eyre Peninsula Seafood Frontier

Port Lincoln to Ceduna, about 700 km of oysters, sea lions and cuttlefish.

Port Lincoln and the tuna capital

If you like seafood, María said, this is the honest frontier. A short flight from Adelaide lands you in Port Lincoln, which has one of the country's largest fishing fleets and is often called the tuna capital. Every January long weekend, the Tunarama Festival takes over the foreshore, with a World Championship Tuna Toss, in which contestants throw a tuna, now a replica, like an Olympic hammer, a nod to the strength once needed to unload fishing boats. You can also book a swim with tuna, or a cage dive to see great white sharks at the Neptune Islands. In Lincoln National Park, the beaches are empty, and Whalers Way has sea cliffs and seals. A glass of local white at a cellar door on Boston Bay finishes the day.

Coffin Bay and the oyster waders

Coffin Bay, named after Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, produces oysters that locals eat straight from the shell, with a squeeze of lemon and no ceremony at all. You can join a guided wader tour, pull on chest high rubber waders, walk into the shallow water of the oyster leases and shuck a dozen from the racks, served on a floating table. Both Pacific and native flat oysters are farmed here. The national park beside the town has kangaroos, emus and a scenic drive to Yangie Bay, and the campground fills up in summer.

Sea lions, haystacks and the Streaky Bay coast

At Baird Bay, near Streaky Bay, small tour operators run swims with Australian sea lions and bottlenose dolphins in the shallows. The animals decide the interaction, not the tourists. Also near Streaky Bay, Murphy's Haystacks are pink granite inselbergs that look like something out of a fairy tale, and Elliston has an open air sculpture trail along the coast. Point Labatt has a colony of sea lions viewable from a cliff lookout. In the evening, a pub meal of whiting and chips is the standard order.

Cuttlefish, whales and Oysterfest

Between May and August, tens of thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather near Point Lowly, close to Whyalla in the Upper Spencer Gulf, and they change colour like living neon signs. It is one of the few places in the world where a mass breeding aggregation like this can be seen, and snorkellers in waist deep water can swim beside animals as heavy as 10 kg. Whyalla celebrates the season with Cuttlefest, with art, dives and citizen science events. West of Ceduna, the Head of Bight hosts southern right whales from June to October, viewed from clifftop boardwalks. Ceduna's Oysterfest, held on the October long weekend, fills the town with music, shucking contests and a very good hangover cure.

Number 10 of 11The Silo Art Trail

The Wimmera and Mallee, western Victoria, roughly 200 km of giants on grain silos.

Horsham and the wheat country

This was the trip within a trip. María drove us out to the wheat country, where the sky seemed twice as big. We spent the first night in Horsham, and the second in Halls Gap at the foot of the Grampians, where the Gariwerd rock art shelters, the Pinnacle walk and the wine trail make an easy second day. Mobile signal drops between silos because the flat, rolling wheat country creates dead zones, so download the offline map for the trail before leaving Horsham. Country roads in the area are mostly sealed, with some gravel.

Brim, Sheep Hills and the painted faces

The Silo Art Trail began in 2016 in Brim, when the artist Guido van Helten painted four local farmers across a set of concrete silos. Since then, artists from around the world have added more. Sheep Hills, painted by Adnate, portrays Wergaia and Wotjobaluk elders and children of the area with a quiet dignity that stopped me mid sentence. It reflects the long connection of Aboriginal people to this grain country, and it is a reminder that these silos stand on their land. Patchewollock's silo, by Fintan Magee, shows a local farmer against the dusty sky. Rupanyup and Lascelles have their own portraits, painted by other artists. Each silo faces a particular direction, so the light changes the mood. Golden hour lights the faces best when you approach from the direction that puts the sun behind you, so check the sun angle before choosing your route.

Wycheproof and the tiny mountain

Mount Wycheproof is listed as one of the world's smallest registered mountains, at about 43 metres. Locals hold the title with a wink. We walked up in about four minutes, then sat on a bench and talked to a man who told us how rain used to arrive.

Pies, tea and the Friday raffle

The best food on the trail comes from the country bakeries and the volunteer run community stores. In Rupanyup and Hopetoun, pies are judged harshly and generously. Buy two, always. It is the road trip tax. At CWA bake sales, look for date scones with thick cream, citrus curd and pickled green tomatoes. On a Friday night, the local pub is the town's living room, and a meat tray raffle raises funds for the volunteer fire brigade. Buy a ticket, you might win a tray of sausages, and you will certainly meet the neighbours. Near Underbool, in the Murray Sunset country, seasonal pink salt lakes turn colour depending on the algae.

Number 11 of 11The Great Alpine Road

Wangaratta to Bairnsdale, about 300 km through Victoria's mountains.

King Valley, Beechworth and Bright

We finished in the mountains, where the trees change colour and the air has a bite. From Melbourne we drove up the Hume Highway to Wangaratta, then took a detour through the King Valley, where Italian families make Prosecco and serve long lunches among the vines. Beechworth, a preserved gold rush town, has a famous bakery, a honey shop and the courthouse where Ned Kelly stood trial. In Bright, autumn turns the town gold and red with imported maples and poplars, and the whole place seems to pause for photographs. Cyclists ride the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail from Wangaratta, and the Bright Brewery pours a good ale on a warm afternoon.

Harvest in the Ovens Valley

In autumn, from about March to May, the lower valley towns of Bright, Harrietville and Myrtleford celebrate the nut harvest. Some orchards let you pick your own chestnuts and walnuts, and the bakeries serve roasted chestnuts and chestnut tortes. The valley's cold river water and long summers also suit hop growing, and small breweries and cider mills serve wood fired pizza with alpine trout. Ask at the tourist office for the current pick your own orchards.

Mount Hotham, brakes and chains

From Harrietville the road climbs to Mount Hotham, at 1,861 m one of Victoria's highest alpine villages, with views across ranges that fold away like blue paper. The descent back to Harrietville drops roughly 1,300 vertical metres over narrow switchbacks, and riding the brake pedal can boil the fluid and cause the brakes to fade. Select a low gear, first or second in a manual or the low range in an automatic, and let engine braking do the work. In winter, you must carry snow chains on alpine roads, from around the June long weekend to the October long weekend, and police do spot checks and issue fines. Check the Parks Victoria and resort rules for exact dates and vehicle exemptions, because rental cars often exclude chain fitting.

Cattlemen's huts, Omeo and Cassilis

The high country was once the domain of cattlemen who grazed cattle in summer, and folklore about them appears in the Banjo Paterson poem The Man from Snowy River, whose landscape lives on in these ranges. High on the Bogong High Plains, rustic wooden huts such as Wallace Hut, built in 1889, stand among snow gums. Built as emergency shelter during sudden blizzards, they remain unlocked under a bush rule: anyone can shelter inside, provided you restock the dry firewood before leaving. Omeo, a former gold town, is a charming stop, and Cassilis, an almost vanished gold settlement, can be explored on foot. Dinner Plain has cosy lodges for the night, and Bairnsdale is the gateway back to the coast and Lakes Entrance.

The mountains, María said as we finally rolled toward Bairnsdale, are the cure for a long summer of coast. They remind you that Australia has seasons after all.

Planning the whole tripRoutes, costs and how to combine them

Use this to choose which drives fit your dates and your budget.

What each route costs

The numbers below are rough Australian dollar estimates for fuel in a small petrol car at about 16 to 25 cents per kilometre, and they will rise for a 4WD, a campervan or remote roadhouse prices. Add lodging, food and activities from the daily costs further down. Prices change, so confirm current rates with operators and park authorities before you go.

Illustration only: a two week comfortable trip for a couple, such as the Great Ocean Road, Silo Art Trail, Great Alpine Road and Princes Highway, might total roughly A$6,500 to 8,000 including hire and fuel, or roughly US$4,200 to 5,200 at recent exchange rates. Exchange rates and school holiday pricing move the number significantly.

A sample fortnight for first timers

If you only have two weeks, María's suggestion was to fly into Melbourne, drive the Great Ocean Road, cross into the Wimmera for the Silo Art Trail, then swing east through the Great Alpine Road and finish along the Princes Highway to Sydney. It is scenic, mostly sealed, and free of the large empty stretches that need special preparation.

For American travellers

US visitors need an Electronic Travel Authority, which is usually applied for through the official Australian ETA app before departure. A valid US driver's licence in English is generally accepted for short stays, but an International Driving Permit is a sensible backup. Get travel insurance that covers vehicle excess, rental car collision damage and emergency medical costs, and check whether unsealed roads are excluded. A local SIM or eSIM from a major carrier gives the best coverage outside cities. Expect fuel to be priced per litre, not per gallon, and to cost more in remote roadhouses.

On the roadTwelve habits that keep a long drive safe and cheap

Rules, etiquette and hard won sense that María made me learn early.

She told me once that the safest thing you can carry in Australia is not a tool or a map, it is patience. A road will still be there tomorrow, she said, and so will the sunrise.

ReferenceQuick facts for careful planners

These are compact reference points gathered from the trip and from checking official sources. Confirm all figures with park, road and tourism authorities before you travel, because fees, closures and conditions change.