Motorcycle travel in Australia
The road is the reason you came
Routes out of eleven Australian cities, the long-distance planning that makes them work, and the conditions you will actually meet on the way.
Australia is not one ride. It is a wet tropics coast, a desert centre, an alpine high country and a southern island, each with its own season and its own road surface.
This guide is built around that fact. Pick the city you are starting from and you get the rides that actually begin there — the pass roads, the coast runs, the long empty stretches — plus what the weather and the distance will ask of you.
Nothing here is a booking service. It is reading material for the part before you leave: which road, which month, how far between fuel, and what to carry.
Rides by city
Each city is a starting point, not a destination. The ride begins on the edge of town.
All locationsSouth-east corridor
Linked by sealed highway, so one ride can pass through several.
- Sydney Coast and escarpment, with a mountain wall to the west New South Wales
- Melbourne Cool-climate coast that turns into alpine country inland Victoria
- Brisbane Subtropical ranges behind a warm coast Queensland
- Adelaide Hills rising straight off a grid-planned city South Australia
- Hobart Cold temperate, mountains close to the water Tasmania
The north, west and centre
Longer approaches, monsoon seasons, and legs planned around fuel.
- Cairns Rainforest ranges dropping to a tropical coast Queensland
- Darwin Monsoon country with a hard wet season Northern Territory
- Alice Springs Desert ranges cut by dry river gaps Northern Territory
- Perth A coastal plain with a low escarpment to the east Western Australia
- Broome Tropical coast behind a red pindan hinterland Western Australia
- Exmouth Arid limestone cape between two oceans of desert Western Australia
Guides and trip ideas
Route plans, preparation and the practical detail that decides how a ride goes.
All guides
Guide
When to Ride in Australia, Region by Region
Australia has no single riding season. The best month in Darwin is the worst month in Perth, and the Centre swings from 36 °C afternoons to frost in six months. Here is how the calendar actually works.
Guide
Gear Checklist for an Australian Ride
A working checklist for riding in Australia: the helmet standards that actually apply, clothing that copes with heat and with frost, and the kit that earns its place once a trip runs past a week.
Guide
Motorcycle Rides in New South Wales
New South Wales packs coast, escarpment, mountain crossings and alpine country within a day of Sydney. Here is how each of the state's main riding areas works.
Guide
Motorcycle Rides in the Northern Territory
The Territory is one long ride between two very different climates. This guide covers the Top End parks, the Stuart Highway south, the MacDonnell Ranges and the unsealed Mereenie Loop, with the fuel and season realities that shape each leg.
Guide
South Australia: Hills, Flinders and Eyre
Adelaide puts a tight hills run, a coastal peninsula and the Flinders Ranges within reach of one tank. Here is how each of the state's riding regions works.
Guide
Motorcycle Rides in Victoria
Victoria fits coast, tall forest and alpine country into a small state, and most of it is within a day of Melbourne. Here is how the main riding regions work.
Travelling by road instead
Not every trip works on two wheels. If the plan involves carrying a family, a surfboard or a lot of gear, a campervan covers the same roads with more room and a bed at the end of the day. That is a different kind of trip, and it is worth being clear about which one you are planning.
Australia campervan hire with Wicked Campers is the option we point to for that version of the journey — vans, not motorcycles.