Australia’s five best coastal drives

There’s something exhilarating about an Australian coastal road trip. Driving with your windows down, seeing the vast expanse of shimmering ocean meet the horizon, exploring sandy coves and beaches, stopping at cute waterfront hamlets… it’s just magical. Here are our top five iconic coastal drives.

Surfers, sightseers, families on holiday, car owners who want a great drive: almost every Victorian and visitors from interstate and overseas head for the Great Ocean Road at some point – in fact, it’s the state’s most popular tourist attraction.

The road hugs the beach for most of its length, and twists around cliffs above the ocean, pressed by hills and forest. It starts just south of Geelong, taking in coastal towns such as Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne and Apollo Bay then heads inland past Cape Otway through verdant rainforests and some of the country’s best campgrounds.

Next up, it’s the Shipwreck Coast with its coves and sentinel landmarks such as the Twelve Apostles. It’s a cracking drive any time of the year and one of Australia’s best.

This drive, which starts from Cairns, is a tropical Far North Queensland gem. You’ll find cane fields, mango stalls and tropical rainforests -- and just past the beachside village of Palm Cove, the road is literally at beach level.

Clear blue waters, sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef, lap tiny beaches and rocky headlands. Stop at beachfront campgrounds (under swaying emblematic palm trees, no less) or continue to swanky tourist haven Port Douglas.

Further on, Mossman is a true FNQ country town and then you’re on the doorstep of the Daintree World Heritage-listed tropical rainforest.

For a succinctly different coastal experience, head northeast from Hobart through the historic fishing towns of Swansea and Bicheno, taking in spectacular Wineglass Bay enclosed by the Freycinet Peninsula.

Stop to slurp oysters at one of the many producers, visit cool climate wineries, admire the lichen-coloured rocks of the strikingly beautiful Bay of Fires then continue your lap of Tassie across to Launceston and beyond.

WA is all about vast distances and endless landscapes, but to experience some of its incredible coastline you only have to drive a relatively short distance north from Perth.

Start the Indian Ocean Drive at Yanchep (with its phenomenal National Park), enjoy rock lobsters and the lunar-like Pinnacles at Cervantes, swim at Hangover Bay or Thirsty Point (surely the two are related), then onwards to scenic Jurien Bay for diving, fishing and snorkelling.

You can stop at Geraldton (the journey is around 4.5 hours from Perth), or, for the longer haul, keep rambling up the coast past Monkey Mia and Shark Bay to Broome.

A must-do for even semi-serious 4WD owners, because on Fraser Island you don’t just drive along the beach, you drive on it.

It’s the world’s largest sand island and the seemingly endless stretch of beach on the seaward (eastern) side is its only highway, complete with speed limit signs. Barges leave regularly from Hervey Bay on the mainland.

Fishing is big (all you need is a surf rod, bait and a deck chair) and you can camp, or stay at the more luxurious Kingfisher Bay or Eurong Beach Resort. You’ll need a permit and take all necessary off-road precautions including recovery gear (it’s not unusual to get bogged), but then, you couldn’t get any closer to the water if you tried.

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