By Lee Atkinson
No list of great ocean roads is complete without the most famous of them all, The Great Ocean Road.
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Nothing beats a seaside drive and in Australia we're spoilt for choice when it comes to great ocean roads.
And with the falling Australian dollar, staying in the country is an even more attractive option in 2016. A recent study by Ford found 77 per cent of Australian families will be opting for a domestic trip over going overseas this year.
Great Beach Drive, Queensland.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland
We've put together a list of top 10 coastal touring routes, a mix of long-time favourites like Victoria's Great Ocean Road and the Grand Pacific Drive south of Sydney as well as a few off-the-black-top adventures to challenge your off-road driving skills, all with one thing in common – great ocean views.
Eyre Peninsula, SA: driving South Australia's Eyre Peninsula (that triangle of land between Adelaide and the Nullarbor) is one long ocean drive that is, thanks to its relative remoteness, blissfully traffic-free for the most part. Camp beside the beach or bed down in an historic waterfront pub, dangle a fishing line from a jetty (there's one in every town), eat your fill of the world's best oysters, swim with sealions (or great whites if you dare) but whatever you do, don't miss the cliff-top drive at Elliston on the west coast with its quirky outdoor sculpture gallery. Air down your tires and take a drive along the beach in Coffin Bay National Park: time it right and you'll be the only ones there. exploreeyrepeninsula.com.au
Limestone Coast, SA: the tiny seaside town of Beachport, roughly halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide, makes a great base from which to explore two of the best little ocean drives in deep south. Bowman Scenic Drive is a short (10km) but dramatic sweep around the beaches and dunes south of town that's sealed all the way but if you're up for some heart-in-the-mouth dune-cresting soft-sand adventure, take the beach road north to Robe. The visitor centre in Beachport has good 4WD trip notes and keep an eye on the tides – it's less than 60km but will take you at least half a day. thelimestonecoast.com
Challenge your off-road driving skills on one of these trips.
Great Beach Drive, Qld: stretching approximately 200 or so kilometres from the north shore of Noosa (via the ferry at Tewantin) to the northern tip of Fraser Island (via the barge at Inskip Point) this is a great on-the-beach drive for first timers – it's challenging enough to be exciting but as long as you travel at low tide and keep your air pressure low you're not too likely to get into trouble, and if you do, there's plenty of people around to help you out. Be warned though, the rainforest-filled lake-splattered centre of Fraser Island is so bewitching that you will want to explore beyond the beach so allow a few extra days. australiasnaturecoast.com
Great Tropical Way, Qld: you don't need a 4WD or SUV to enjoy some of the most picturesque rainforest-meets-the-beach roads in the country – the Captain Cook Highway between Cairns and Mossman via Port Douglas (around 75km) is a beautiful stretch of oceanfront road and is sealed the entire way – but a bit of extra clearance means you can follow the coast road further north across the Daintree River and through the World Heritage rainforest to Cape Tribulation and beyond to Cooktown. queensland.com/journey/great-tropical-drive
Great Ocean Road, Vic: no list of great ocean roads is complete without the most famous of them all, The Great Ocean Road, along Victoria's southern coast between Geelong and Warrnambool. The section between Lorne and Apollo Bay was affected by bushfires during Christmas 2015, but it's still one of the world's best coastal road trips that really does live up to the hype. Continue west beyond Port Fairy to Portland and Nelson and you'll leave the tourist buses behind – keep the sea on your left and you can't go wrong. visitgreatoceanroad.org.au
Grand Pacific Drive, NSW: another great ocean road that never fails to disappoint, a highlight of the Grand Pacific Drive between Sydney and Wollongong is the cantilevered Sea Cliff Bridge road that curves around the cliffs, 50 metres out to sea. It's a popular one-day drive, but take a week and follow the coast all the way to Melbourne, driving the coast-hugging roads of Wilsons Promontory, Philip Island and the magnificent Bunurong Coastal Drive (between Cape Paterson and Inverloch) along the way – it puts the fun back into the Sydney-Melbourne commute. sydneymelbournetouring.com.au
Legendary Pacific Coast, NSW: you'd be hard pressed to call the Pacific Highway that snakes its traffic-choked and roadwork-wracked way between Sydney and Brisbane a great drive – but detour off the highway on to the coastal byways and you'll discover a much more pleasant way to get from A to B. Waterside driving highlights include the coastal roads through Myall Lakes National Park from Hawkes Nest to Mungo Brush, from Kew to Port Macquarie via Laurieton and Lake Cathie, the 4WD track from Port Macquarie's north shore to Crescent Head and beach hopping your way north from Ballina to Byron Bay. pacificcoast.com.au
Indian Ocean Drive, WA: the west coast has some of the most dazzling beaches in the country with blinding white sands lapped by turquoise seas. The 420km-long Indian Ocean Drive from Perth to Geraldton follows the coast the entire way and highlights beyond the beautiful beaches include the Pinnacles, wildflowers (at their best between August and October), eating fresh rock lobster straight from the boat, wandering around the ghost town of Greenough and the museums and monuments of Geraldton. australiascoralcoast.com
The Great South West, WA: take a trip through the wild west tracing the shoreline around the south-west corner of the country, from Margaret River south to Augusta and then east to Albany and beyond to Esperance. Although there are some short inland sections for the most part the road follows the coast, including the spectacular 40km stretch of oceanfront curves just to the west of Esperance (called Great Ocean Drive on the maps). A chain of wild and beautiful national parks make this the perfect playground for SUVs and 4WDs, with a network of tracks leading out to fantastic beachfront camping areas. australiassouthwest.com
Lap of Tassie: for such a small place Tasmania punches way above its weight when it comes to get-your-camera-out scenic coastal drives – one of the advantages of being an island state – but if you had to narrow it down to three really good ones head for the east coast (the whole thing, Hobart to St Helens, it's all good), the Bass Highway across the top (Devonport to Stanley), and for a bit of off-road fun the vast expanse of wave-washed Ocean Beach near Strahan on the west coast. Do all three and you've effectively done the Tassie lap. discovertasmania.com.au
This article brought to you by Ford.
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