Anyone who has driven the Great Ocean Road knows the scenery does most of the talking. But which Australian road trip actually delivers the most nature per kilometre, the densest wildlife, the widest run of ecosystems, the closest brush with the coast? New research from car rental company Redspot has attempted to answer that question properly, scoring 25 of the country’s major touring routes against ten measures of natural value.
The analysis measured protected land, internationally listed wetlands, native vegetation, wildlife records, terrain variation and campsite access across every route promoted by Australia’s state and territory tourism authorities, producing a ranked list that puts some genuine surprises ahead of the country’s more famous coastal drives.
A short drive tops the nature index
Topping the list is the Grand Pacific Drive in New South Wales, and it does so as the shortest route in the study. Across just 158.8 kilometres, roughly three hours behind the wheel, it scored 68.69 out of 100, ranking second nationally for ecosystem diversity and third for named natural water features, at 30.23 per 100 kilometres.
Close behind sits the Great Tropical Drive in Queensland (556.3 kilometres, scoring 64.56) and Tasmania’s Great Eastern Drive (199.9 kilometres, scoring 61.66), which also claims the title of Australia’s most coastal route: 75.7 per cent of its length runs within five kilometres of the sea, narrowly ahead of the Great Ocean Road at 75.2 per cent.
Rounding out the top five are Tasmania’s Western Wilds and New South Wales’ Waterfall Way, the latter notable for crossing more distinct environments than any other drive in the country. Over just 170.8 kilometres, Waterfall Way passes through an average of eight separate bioregions per 150 kilometres, well ahead of the Grand Pacific Drive’s 6.3 and Victoria’s Great Alpine Road at 5.85, and cuts through the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area along the way.
The desert drive with the most wildlife
For travellers chasing wildlife rather than rainforest, the standout is Explorers Way, the 3,062.3 kilometre run from Adelaide to Darwin. Despite its arid stretches, it recorded 930.8 species, the highest of any route studied, ahead of the Great Inland Way (855.8) and Queensland’s Pacific Coast Way (774.8). It’s a reminder that species density doesn’t always track with obvious greenery: some of Australia’s richest wildlife corridors run straight through the outback.
For those who want to camp their way along the coast rather than book ahead, the Legendary Pacific Coast, running from Sydney to Brisbane, is the easiest route in the country to find a spot, with 23.33 listed campsites per 100 kilometres. Four of the five most campsite-dense routes studied run along the east coast, making it the more forgiving option for spontaneous overnight stops.
Full list of Australia’s top 10 nature road trips
- Grand Pacific Drive, NSW, 158.8km, score 68.69
- Great Tropical Drive, QLD, 556.3km, score 64.56
- Great Eastern Drive, TAS, 199.9km, score 61.66
- Western Wilds, TAS, 544.8km, score 61.63
- Waterfall Way, NSW, 170.8km, score 59.92
- Legendary Pacific Coast, NSW/QLD, 990.1km, score 56.83
- Great Alpine Road, VIC, 345.1km, score 55.62
- Sydney to Melbourne Coastal Drive, NSW/VIC, 1,446.4km, score 55.45
- Kosciuszko Alpine Way, NSW, 431.0km, score 55.08
- Pacific Coast Way, QLD, 1,912.9km, score 51.79
Getting the logistics right
Redspot’s Head of Operations, Yasmyn Schneps, said the research was designed to help travellers plan around the landscape rather than just the destination.
“It’s easy to plan a road trip around where you’ll end up, but the real magic often happens along the way,” she said.
“Our research shows just how much Australia’s road trips pack in, from rainforest and wetlands to outback drives where almost none of the native bush has been cleared.”
Schneps pointed to a few practical basics for anyone planning a longer nature-focused drive: choosing a vehicle suited to the route, checking road conditions in advance, planning fuel and overnight stops on remote stretches, and staying alert for wildlife, particularly around dawn and dusk when animal activity near roads increases.
For travellers plotting a nature-led route through Australia, the data suggests the smartest planning tool isn’t distance or drive time, but which ecosystems a route actually crosses, and there’s now a ranked list to work from.
