Map
DAYS 1-2: MELBOURNE AND THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD
Meet the Share Bus team in Melbourne in the morning for the handover, get to know your trip mates and grab snacks for the road. This is a shared rental, so the route below is the recommended plan and your group can change it. Then head down the Great Ocean Road, cut along the cliffs between 1919 and 1932 by returned First World War soldiers. Stop at the Twelve Apostles, limestone stacks the sea is slowly wearing away, The Razorback, The Grotto, Loch Ard Gorge, named after the ship wrecked there in 1878 with only two survivors, and London Bridge, which lost its span in 1990.
DAYS 3-4: THE GRAMPIANS (GARIWERD)
Inland, Gariwerd (the Grampians) is perfect for hikers and nature lovers: a run of tilted sandstone ranges with waterfalls, lookouts and wildflowers in spring. Major Thomas Mitchell named them in 1836 after the hills of Scotland. Watch for kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas. Gariwerd holds the majority of Victoria's known Aboriginal rock art sites, and you can learn the stories of the Djab Wurrung and Jardwadjali peoples, the traditional owners of this country.
DAY 5: MOUNT GAMBIER
Cross into South Australia to Mount Gambier, a town built on the slopes of an extinct volcano. Its crater holds the Blue Lake, which turns a vivid cobalt blue each year from about November to March. The Umpherston Sinkhole is a collapsed limestone cave turned into a sunken garden in 1886, and the Cave Gardens are another sinkhole right in the town centre. Nearby is Tantanoola Caves Conservation Park, a limestone cave full of formations, close to the town known for the "Tantanoola Tiger", a wolf shot there in 1895.
DAY 6: ROBE AND THE COORONG
Before Adelaide, stop at Robe, a seaside town and a fisherman's paradise. In 1857 thousands of Chinese gold seekers landed here and walked to the Victorian goldfields to avoid the tax Victoria charged at its own ports. Relax on one of its white sandy beaches, then either settle in for the night or drive a little closer to Adelaide to see the Coorong, a 140 km chain of salty lagoons behind the dunes, where pelicans gather in their thousands and the water can turn pink.
Overnight: Robe, or near the Coorong
DAY 7: ADELAIDE AND THE BAROSSA
Spend the day in Adelaide, the city Colonel William Light laid out in 1837 inside a ring of parkland. Wander the city, or head out to the Barossa Valley for wine tastings. German-speaking Lutherans settled the valley in the 1840s and planted some of its first vines, and the churches and bakeries they left behind are still part of its character.
DAY 8: COFFIN BAY NATIONAL PARK
Head across to the Eyre Peninsula and Coffin Bay National Park, near Port Lincoln, named in 1802 by Matthew Flinders after his friend Sir Isaac Coffin. Look out over Point Avoid, walk the long sweep of Almonta Beach, take in Golden Island offshore and swim in the calm water of Yangie Bay. Bring your camera. Afterwards, head into Port Lincoln, home of Australia's southern bluefin tuna fleet, for fresh seafood.
DAYS 9-10: THE EYRE PENINSULA
Take two days up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. Greenly Beach has rock pools that fill and spill with every wave, perfect for a dip on a calm day. Talia Caves are hollows the sea has carved into the cliffs, and you can walk down into the largest, the Woolshed. Venus Bay is a small fishing village on a sheltered bay, with clifftop lookouts facing straight into the Southern Ocean.
DAY 11: CEDUNA AND CACTUS BEACH TO EUCLA
Pass through Ceduna, the heart of South Australia's oyster country, where you can try the seafood or throw in a line. Cactus Beach is a famous surf break, not for beginners, but anyone can watch from the dunes. Nearby, the road runs between two lakes, one pink and one blue. Then the plain ends at the Bunda Cliffs, a sheer limestone wall dropping into the Great Australian Bight, before you cross the border into Western Australia.
DAY 12: ACROSS THE NULLARBOR
The Nullarbor Plain, Latin for "no tree", begins in earnest at Eucla, where the ruins of the 1877 telegraph station are slowly being buried by sand dunes and the old jetty still reaches out from the beach. Drive on to Madura and its lookout to camp, or if you're up for it, keep going past Cocklebiddy, above one of the longest underwater caves in the world, Caiguna and the start of the 146.6 km 90 Mile Straight, Australia's longest straight road, towards Balladonia before finding a free camp.
Overnight: Madura, or a free camp further west
DAY 13: THE NULLARBOR TO NORSEMAN
Drive the rest of the Nullarbor to Norseman, a small mining town named after a horse called Norseman, said to have turned up a gold nugget with its hoof in 1894. There are a few things to see, and best of all a free swimming pool to wash off the dust of the crossing. From here the road turns south towards the coast.
DAYS 14-15: CAPE LE GRAND AND ESPERANCE
This is often the highlight of the trip. Esperance takes its name from the French ship Espérance, which sheltered here in 1792, and its beaches are the ones in all the photos of bright white sand and kangaroos. In Cape Le Grand National Park, make sure you visit Lucky Bay, named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 when it gave his ship shelter from a storm. Kangaroos really do laze on the sand. Climb Frenchman Peak, a granite dome with a wind-carved cave near the top, for the view, then pick from many more beaches of white sand and clear blue water.
DAY 16: FITZGERALD RIVER NATIONAL PARK
Between Esperance and Albany lies Fitzgerald River National Park, one of the richest places for plants in Australia, with wildflowers found nowhere else, such as the royal hakea with its orange and red leaves. It has swimming and fishing beaches, rocky sea cliffs, calm inlets and walks both steep and easy. Hike East Mount Barren, a quartzite peak with views over the ocean, or find a snorkelling spot along the shore.
DAYS 17-18: ALBANY AND THE GREAT SOUTHERN
Albany, founded in 1826, was the first European settlement in Western Australia, and the first Anzac convoys sailed from its harbour in 1914. It's one of the biggest towns in the South West, so stock up. Nearby, Torndirrup National Park has The Gap, where the Southern Ocean surges into a granite chasm, and the rock arch of the Natural Bridge. Hike the Porongurup Range to the Granite Skywalk, or detour to Bluff Knoll, at 1,099 metres the highest peak in the Stirling Range and one of the few places in the state that sometimes sees snow. There are even more beaches here too.
DAY 19: DENMARK AND WALPOLE
Head to Denmark, a timber town in the 1890s and now a laid-back, artsy place. Surf at Ocean Beach, where the Wilson Inlet meets the Southern Ocean, or swim at Greens Pool, sheltered by a ring of granite boulders. Don't miss Elephant Rocks next door, huge rounded boulders that look like a herd wading into the sea. Then drive on to Walpole for the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, 40 metres up in the crowns of red tingle trees that grow only in this corner of the coast, or one of the free forest walks.
DAY 20: PEMBERTON AND THE KARRI FOREST
Pemberton sits in a forest of karri trees, which grow up to 90 metres tall, among the tallest hardwoods in the world. Fire spotters once kept watch from cabins built in their crowns, and you can still climb the Gloucester Tree, where 153 metal pegs spiral up the trunk to the lookout near the top. It's a little scary and well worth it. There's a dam and cascades nearby, and plenty of forest walks.
DAYS 21-22: HAMELIN BAY AND MARGARET RIVER
At Hamelin Bay, stingrays and eagle rays glide into the shallows beside the remains of an old timber jetty, close enough to reach out to, though they're wild and best left to come to you. Then spend time in Margaret River, a region known for food, wine and surf, where the first commercial vineyard went in in 1967. Try a few wineries, or if that's not your thing, a cheese or chocolate tasting.
DAY 23: DUNSBOROUGH, EAGLE BAY AND PERTH
The last day is for beaches. Dunsborough and Eagle Bay sit on Geographe Bay, named in 1801 by the French navigator Nicolas Baudin after his ship, with calm clear water and white sand. Don't miss the Natural Spa at Injidup, a rock pool where waves pour over a granite ledge, and grab an ice cream at Simmo's in Dunsborough. Then drive north to finish in Perth by about 5pm, perhaps with a few extra days to see the city.
Map
Pictures / Videos
Reviews