The Ideal 2-Week Road Trip on Australia's East Coast

Planning an Australia itinerary can be a full-on feat in itself. We started out with ambitions of seeing the whole country — the East Coast and the South, the Outback, Perth and surrounding areas on the West Coast. Then we realized Australia is almost exactly the size of the U.S…and our plans quickly had to change. We were traveling for 3.5 months, and aimed to budget two weeks in Australia. With that timeframe in mind, we decided our best option was to road trip the East Coast, with a couple flights along the way to make things efficient.

Follow this guide to plan your ideal East Coast Australian road trip!

When we went: We visited Australia in mid-March, which is late summer transitioning into fall. Weather was beautiful nearly the entire time, with highs in the mid 70s (Fahrenheit) further south and 80s up north.

What we listened to: Aussie Faves playlist here.

Costs: Australia was one of the pricier places we visited on our extended trip. Similar to New Zealand, we found renting a car for most of the trip and staying in Airbnbs to be the most economical option for two people.

Use the table of contents below to jump around and explore our favorite parts of Australia!

GETTING THERE & AROUND

We flew from Auckland straight to Melbourne, arriving late in the evening and spending two nights (one day) before flying again up to Cairns.

Since there are so many stops along Australia’s East Coast, we wanted to road trip to get the most of the sights. From Cairns, we rented a car and drove south, stopping all along the way and ending in Byron Bay, where we took a flight to Sydney as our final stop.

All together, the drive was about 21 hours total, split up over a week and a half. While some driving days were quick and easy, there were others where we spent up to 8 hours in the car traveling through pretty desolate country. We love road trips and the flexibility they allow, but were definitely relieved to be out of the car for the remainder of our travels afterwards.

DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

Melbourne

Day 1: Arrived in Melbourne late at night and checked into our Airbnb in the Windsor neighborhood. Woke up early the next day thanks to the noisy tram outside and the (super cute) barking weiner dog pup owned by our host. Normally we’re sleep-in people when we travel, but having only one day in Melbourne, we appreciated getting an early start. As is our typical style, we went nonstop that day, walking and taking the trams everywhere around the city.

Highlights below! Read about the full whirlwind day here.

Our host’s recommended breakfast place in Windsor, Journeyman Cafe, where we had the most stylish, delicious breakkie and coffee. (P.S. Sam was obsessed with “breakkie” and all of the other shortened words in Australia because she already abbreviates things constantly.)
Hot jam doughnuts from a food truck at the Queen Victoria Market.
Gelato at Pidapipo in Carlton.
Wandering neighborhoods, from the CBD and Chinatown to the very hip Fitzroy and Collingwood, to the beachside St. Kilda. Our favorite activity!
Hotel Jesus Mexican food in Collingwood

Melbourne skyline as seen from the Victorian Arts Centre.

Cairns

Day 2: Woke up at 6:15AM to take the train and skybus to the airport and flew to Cairns. We were shocked at how warm and tropical it felt that far north! Our Airbnb was an amazing open air house with treehouse vibes in a super nice neighborhood. Explored the nearby botanic gardens and got lunch at the cafe there. Took the bus to the CBD and hung out at the lagoon. We learned that none of the beaches are open during the summer due to stingrays, so people basically hang out at a community pool area all summer. Had delicious ramen from Ganbaranba Noodle Colosseum for dinner. We were amazed to see hundreds of fruit bats all occupying the same trees to sleep during the day, and all taking flight at the same time at dusk!

Day 3: Got up early and went down to the marina at 7 for our Great Barrier Reef scuba excursion. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up having the best day of it for a mix of different factors. Read more about why our day was a #fail and how you can do it better. When we got back to shore in the late afternoon feeling a little down and out, we realized it was St. Patricks Day! We couldn’t miss the celebration so we stopped in a big pub and shared a pizza and pitcher of green beer while watching rugby on TV.

Townsville & Magnetic Island

Day 4: Left Cairns and made the 4-hour drive to Townsville. There are quite a few tourist attractions on the drive down, but it was raining so we stuck to the ones that were right off the road — Paronella Park and Frosty Mango. Paronella Park is the ruins of an old Spanish-style mansion and grounds built by a business mogul in the early 1900s. Think great Gatsby or Hearst Castle. It has a pretty cool history, but for the $45 ticket price we probably wouldn’t do it again. Frosty Mango, on the other hand, was a highlight of the day. It’s an exotic fruit farm with tons of ice cream flavors made from fruits we’d never heard of. A must-stop! Sam tried a soursop flavored ice cream and Ray stuck with the more standard mango. We found Townsville’s sprawling suburbs very charming right away, and again stayed with the sweetest retired couple in a beautiful Airbnb. We explored The Strand — their seaside boulevard with lagoon and walking path — and got delicious gyros at The Strand Souvlaki Bar to end the evening.

Day 5: Caught the 10:30 AM ferry over to Magnetic Island, an island 8km off the coast of Townsville known for its beautiful beaches, forts, hikes, and wildlife. You can purchase all-day bus passes and bus around the island all day to the various sites. Saw a wallaby almost right away at the first beach we stopped at! Bussed all the way to the end of the line and went swimming in Horseshoe Bay, a beach with stingray nets so you can actually swim in the bay. Got snacks and did the hike that leads up to some WWII forts with a really cool view. The hike is known for koala sightings, but unfortunately they kept hidden while we were there. Ferried back to Townsville in the early evening and stopped again for gyros (we were hooked!) before making the couple-hour drive down to Airlie Beach for the night.

View from the forts hike on Magnetic Island.

The Whitsundays

Day 6: Airlie Beach was our hopping off point for a 3-day boat trip we had booked in the Whitsunday Islands, which is one of our travel highlights to this day. We had the morning to spend in Airlie before launching off on the sailing trip, so we spent some time at a bar planning other legs of our travels and then picnicked and swam at the lagoon. Finally it was time to check in and meet the other people we’d be spending the next few days on a boat with, which included two Welsh/English couples, another English couple, and one German couple. Full post about our amazing sailing excursion, and how to pick the perfect one for you, here!

Headin’ on down to the lagoon in Airlie Beach, picnic supplies in hand.

Day 7: Visited the absolutely striking Whitehaven Beach this day where we got to spend time with baby sharks and stingrays. Headed over to a gorgeous reef and spent some time snorkeling, then sailed for a long time to get to our spot for the night. Everyone was having a great time chilling on the front of the catamaran getting splashed by waves and spotting dolphins. Watched the sunset with our newfound friends and drank with them late into the evening, spotting shooting stars from the front of the catamaran and comparing rules of American football vs. rugby.

The stunning swirled sands of Whitehaven beach.

Day 8: Despite rain in the forecast, we lucked out and got nice weather. Stopped at another reef for snorkeling and stand-up paddle boarding before making the long boat ride back to Airlie Beach. Ray even got to drive the boat for awhile! We were very ambitious and immediately started our next leg of the road trip, a 5-hour drive to Rockhampton. There’s really nothing in Rockhampton — it’s just a stopping point between Airlie and Hervey Bay. We ate McDonald’s (aka Macca’s) there — which tastes so much better than in the U.S, checked in to a really strange Airbnb, and just crashed for the night.

Hervey Bay & Fraser Island

Day 9: There was really nothing to see between Rockhampton and Hervey Bay so we started our day by making the 4-hour drive straight there. Our Airbnb was in such a beautiful house! We wandered down to the esplanade in town and explored for a bit, stopping at the Torquay Hotel for dinner and drinks. This was where we learned about Australian meat raffles...the tradition of raffling off, well, meat in pubs to raise money for various organizations. Needless to say we didn’t have the capacity to store giant steaks at the moment and didn’t enter.

Day 10: Had a tour planned to Fraser Island the next day and got a bright and early start. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island, so after you ferry over from Hervey Bay you hop in a huge 4-wheel-drive van with your tour group and start the off-roading adventure. The Fraser Island tours are a pretty set schedule of sights, but we chose a tour with Unique Fraser because it’s the day trip that does the most destinations. Full rundown of Fraser Island coming soon!

Munchin’ bananas in front of the SS Maheno shipwreck on Fraser Island.

Brisbane

Day 11: Next came the drive down to Brisbane. On the way, we stopped in Noosa for lunch, checked out the beach, and did a quick hike up to a lookout point. Stayed in the New Farm neighborhood of Brisbane and explored around the hood that evening. Found a cool restaurant / bar called Bloodhound that had really good food.

Byron Bay

Day 12: Ate breakfast at New Farm Deli right across from our Airbnb. Having seen exactly zero koalas so far, we decided to stop at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on our way out of Brisbane to get some much-needed Australian animal time. Highly recommend it! Beyond just koalas, we got to see platypus, dingos, emus, an enclosure where you can hang out with and feed kangaroos, and our favorite part...a herding dog show! Full post coming soon! We also stopped in Surfers Paradise for lunch. It literally has such strong South Beach, Miami vibes. We made it to Byron Bay around 6pm, just in time to head to the beach for one of the most gorgeous sunset walks. We made the long walk into town and went to Beach Hotel, a popular hangout with outdoor seating and live music. There’s an alleyway with tons of food nearby where we stopped for pizza before walking back to our Airbnb.

New friends at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Arriving at the beach at golden hour in Byron Bay.

Day 13: A glorious day in Byron Bay! Started out with delicious coffee and breakkie sandos at The Top Shop alongside so many cool surfer peeps. Took a long walk down to Byron Beach, Wategos Beach and then up to Cape Byron Lighthouse. We were amazed by all of the gorgeous beaches that weren’t even crowded! It started sprinkling outside and we ended up grabbing drinks at Beach Hotel again. Then we ventured further down the beach to a more secluded part of Byron Bay, and went to a restaurant/bar called Tree House. We got delicious nachos and drinks, and the vibe along with everyone there was so bohemian and cool. We even saw actress Michelle Monaghan (from True Detective season 1!) there and were a bit starstruck.

Sydney

Day 14: Grabbed breakkie at Green Garage, a grocery store and walk-up food counter, in Byron Bay before driving off to Ballina to catch our flight. Stopped at some sprawling and gorgeous beaches (again, not at all crowded!) before dropping off the car and boarding our flight to Sydney. Arrived and checked into a Marriott which wasn’t in the main part of town for the first night there because we had points to burn. Because we weren’t really near much, we had a pretty chill night going out for Vietnamese in Crows Nest, enjoying drinks at our hotel, and booking some upcoming travels.

Beautiful Ballina and no one on the beaches!

Day 15: Got breakkie at the Marriott and checked out, then headed to our Airbnb in Darlington. Time to truly explore Sydney! The agenda included:

Took a ferry over to Manly. It was awesome to get a nice view of the Opera House and entire harbour, but we didn’t find Manly too exciting and the beach was really packed since it was a weekend.
Walked around the Opera House and nearby botanic gardens
Explored Newtown neighborhood. Walked up and down King Street people-watching all the stylish people and browsing all of the delicious looking ethnic restaurants.
Headed over to Enmore and had dinner at a nice Lebanese place called Emma’s Snack Bar. It was a bit pricey for the portion sizes but really delicious. We got the tabouli, turmeric spiced fried fish (our fave) and chicken shawarma.

View of Sydney Opera House from the ferry to Manly.

Day 16: More Sydney exploring! The highlights:

Breakfast at a small walk-up cafe by our Airbnb. Sam pondered out loud what a “jaffle” was on the menu, thinking it was some type of waffle. A friendly dad couldn’t help but chime in and ask if she was joking...turns out it’s kind of like a panini!
Headed over to Bondi Beach and did the popular Bondi to Coogee walk, which winds past the iconic Bondi Icebergs Club swimming pool, a bunch of different beaches, coves, and even a scenic cemetery overlooking the ocean. Hung out at Coogee for a while and the chilly water felt great after the long walk.
Explored the Surry Hills neighborhood and got drinks at The Clock Hotel.
Explored The Rocks area under the Harbour Bridge and grabbed dinner at a pub.
Walked up observatory hill and watched the sun set over the bridge and Opera House.

Sunset overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge. How bout them poses?

Day 17: Our last day in Australia! We went to the Eveleigh / Carriageworks Market in our Airbnb neighborhood. Really cool farmers market in a huge old carriageworks building where we got the most delicious breakfast — morning buns, curry pies, and iced coffee. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport to fly on to our next destination...Bali!

ACCOMMODATIONS

We stayed in Airbnbs all throughout Australia, and most of our hosts were nice retired couples with truly beautiful homes. Among our favorites were this treehouse style home in Cairns, this lovely couple’s home in Townsville, this gorgeous oasis in Hervey Bay, and this stylish loft in Sydney.

Haven’t used Airbnb yet? Use this link for $40 off your first stay.

FOOD & DRINKS

We didn’t experience much food in Australia that was super different from our regular cuisine, but we can recommend some of our favorite restaurants and bars throughout the East Coast.