Five great drives to do in Western Australia: The ultimate WA road trip

Across the Nullarbor

Crossing the Nullarbor by road is an epic three-day journey across a landscape like no other. Nullarbor might mean "no trees" in Latin, and yes, it's long and flat, but you'll be surprised by how much there is to see and do along the way, and by how much vegetation there is, including mulga trees and vast expanses of grey-blue saltbush stretching over the horizon. Peer over the edge of the Great Australian Bight – the longest line of sea cliffs in the world – and wander around the rather spooky ruins of the old telegraph station at Eucla that is being slowly covered by shifting sand dunes. See bits of the American Sky Lab space station that crashed landed near Balladonia Roadhouse in 1979 and play a round or two on the longest golf course in the world on the 1365-kilometre-long, 18-hole, par 72 Nullarbor Links. Spend some time exploring the ghost towns of the goldfields around Kalgoorlie and artist Anthony Gormley's 51 spectral sculptures of people on the shimmering salt pan at Lake Ballard, near the tiny half-deserted town of Menzies. www.nullarborlinks.com, www.australiasgoldenoutback.com

Grand Central Road

If you're keen for an outback adventure, and don't mind camping and a few corrugations, take the road less travelled to WA, the Grand Central Road from the Red Centre. Part of the Outback Way, a 2720-kilometre-long red dirt highway that stretches from Winton in Queensland through Alice Springs, Uluru and the central deserts to Laverton in the WA goldfields, it's the ultimate way to get from the far north-east of the country to the far south-west. Highlights of the WA half – aside from the mesmerising desert landscape, herds of wild camels and carpets of delicate wildflowers (in spring) – include the Giles Weather Station at Warakurna, with its small museum to Len Beadell, who built most of the country's legendary outback tracks including the notorious Gunbarrel Highway in the 1950s; Indigenous art centres such as the Tjulyuru Gallery in Warburton; and the famous "Chooky Burger" from the Tjukayirla Roadhouse (pronounced Chook-a-yer-la) between Warburton and Laverton. www.outbackway.org.au

The Great South-west Edge

A road trip around Australia's south-western corner should come with a warning: you can't help but be seduced by the beaches, forests and wines of this part of the world and you will spend longer than you planned to in this spectacular place – or at least you'll wish you could. From the goldfields around Kalgoorlie spear south to the coast at Esperance where turquoise seas wash up against some of the brightest, whitest, finest sands in the country. Keep the sea on your left as you continue west to where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet at Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly tip of Australia. Watch whales at Point Ann and see more wildflowers than you can count in Fitzgerald River National Park, visit the new National Anzac Centre in Albany, drive through forests of karri and rise above it all on the treetop walk in the Valley of the Giants near Walpole. Watch the surf roll in near Margaret River and enjoy some of the country's finest wine at hundreds of cellar doors. www.australiassouthwest.com

Coral Coast