- Australia's circumferential Highway 1 takes you all around the continent, generally following a coastal route. Here's the Highway 1 route from Perth to Darwin.
From Perth, Highway 1 — now Brand Highway — heads north just away from the Atlantic coast towards Geraldton. It hugs the coast between the town of Dongara and Geraldton.
From Geraldton, it becomes the North-West Coastal Highway as it heads to Carnarvon.
Side trips
- Between Gerladton and Carnarvon you may want to take a detour to Monkey Mia and have a close encoutner with the friendly dolphins.
- Just after Carnarvon, there's a turnoff at Minilya to Coral Bay and Exmouth, your jump-off points to Ningaloo Reef where you can swim with the world's largest fish, the whale shark.
Through the Kimberley
You'd need to return south to rejoin the North-West Coastal Highway heading northeast to Port Hedland — and on the Great Northern Highway — to Broome, gateway to the Kimberley.
From Broome, the Great Northern Highway traverses the Kimberley past Purnululu National Park to Kununurra close to the Northern Territory border.
The highway, now the Victoria Highway, heads east and northeast across the Northern Territory border towards Katherine where Highway 1 branches north and south — north on the Stuart Highway to Darwin and south on the same highway through Mataranka before it turns east again at Daly Waters into Carpentaria Highway.
Side trips
- On the way north to Darwin, you may want to visit Katherine Gorge and, farther north, Kakadu National Park before taking a well-deserved rest at Australia's Top End.
Next page: Darwin to Brisbane
Around Australia on Highway 1
- Sydney to Melbourne
- Melbourne to Adelaide
- Adelaide to Perth
- Perth to Darwin
- Darwin to Brisbane
- Brisbane to Sydney
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