South Western Highway
Australia · Oceania
About South Western Highway
Highway 1 of Australia is with a length of 14,500 km (9,000 mi), the longest national highway in the world. It can be considered a giant "ring road" as it, except for a few shortcuts, follows the entire coastline of mainland Australia. Part of the road also traverses Tasmania.
South Western Highway travel guide
Understand
Circumnavigating mainland Australia, this road goes through all states and their capitals and through or near most major attractions in Australia (two major omissions being Canberra and Uluru). Therefore, if you have time and don't mind long driving distances this is one of the best ways to see almost all of Australia. Created in 1955 out of existing state and local roads and tracks, Highway 1 is actually a network of roads. It's marked "National Highway 1", "National Route 1", "M1", "A1", "B1" or "R1" depending on the type and the quality of the route.
Getting there
If you come from abroad you will probably arrive by plane to one of the state capitals and buy or rent the vehicle that you will make the trip with.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.