Summer is seriously creeping up on us and before you know it, Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ will be back on the radio (sorry if it’s stuck in your head now). Sure, you could celebrate the festive season with your loved ones at home – but why not pack the car, crank up the tunes (cue Carey) and hit the highway for an epic Aussie road trip?
In the lead-up to summer, eBay Australia surveyed more than 1,000 Aussies to discover the nation’s top ten road trip routes. Topping the list with 27 per cent of the votes is – no surprises here – the Great Ocean Road. Snaking all along the southwest coast of Victoria, starting in Torquay (1.5 hours from Melbourne CBD) and finishing up just before Warrnambool, this coastal stretch offers up beautiful bushwalks, stunning beaches and, as a final prize, the towering wonders of the Twelve Apostles.
Coming in a close second with 26 per cent of the votes is the gorgeous, 1,000-kilometre Pacific Coast Drive from Sydney to Brisbane (or vice versa). This neat roadie winds through more world-famous Aussie landmarks than we have time to tell you about, but our favourites include the Merewether Baths in Newcastle, the Hunter Valley wine region, the Dorrigo Rainforest near Coffs Harbour, hippie paradise Byron Bay and the lush Gold Coast hinterland.
Australia’s five favourite road trips are all coastal routes, with many Aussies also voting for the Great Barrier Reef Drive from Cairns to Cape Tribulation, the Grand Pacific Drive from Sydney to the Sapphire Coast, and the Great Eastern Drive from Hobart to the Bay of Fires. However, road trip fever isn’t just confined to the coast – it stretches all across the nation, from the rugged outback of the Red Centre Way loop in the Northern Territory to the charming, inland Heritage Highway in Tasmania.
When it comes to nailing the quintessential Aussie road trip, the survey also revealed that Australia’s go-to anthem is ‘On the Road Again’, while our top road trip snacks are sausage rolls, meat pies and peanut M&Ms. Now the real questions: who’s behind the wheel, who’s in charge of the tunes and who’s on snack duty?
Here are Australia’s ten favourite road trips:
- Great Ocean Road: Torquay to Allansford, VIC
- Pacific Coast Touring Route: Sydney, NSW to Brisbane, QLD
- Great Barrier Reef Drive: Cairns to Cape Tribulation, QLD
- Grand Pacific Drive: Sydney to Sapphire Coast, NSW
- Great Eastern Drive: Hobart to Bay of Fires, TAS
- Red Centre Way Loop: Alice Springs to Uluru, NT
- Nullarbor Plain: Norseman, WA to Ceduna, SA
- Heritage Highway: Launceston to Hobart, TAS
- South West Edge: Perth to Esperance, WA
- Coral Coast Highway: Perth to Exmouth, WA
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