Travel Distances in Australia

Travel distances are huge in Australia.

When you plan your trip to Australia, remember how big country Australia really is. The Australian continent is as large as the whole Europe, or the USA, but travellers often forget that north Queensland for example is as far away from Victoria, as is Italy from Scandinavia. Scroll down for a travel distance calculator, a table with distances between cities in Australia, and information about driving around in Australia.




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Calculate Travel Distances
If you need to calculate travel distances to places in Australia, you can use the travel distance calculator below.
 
Distance between Cities in Australia
Here's a table with road distances between bigger cities in Australia (in kilometres):

City	Sydney	Brisbane	Canberra	Melbourne	Adelaide	Perth	Darwin
Sydney	0	926	287	885	1375	3940	3917
Brisbane	926	0	1203	1696	1968	4261	3425
Canberra	287	1203	0	669	1159	3724	3945
Melbourne	885	1696	669	0	728	3422	3754
Adelaide	1375	1968	1159	728	0	2694	3027
Perth	3940	4261	3724	3422	2694	0	3981
Darwin	3917	3425	3945	3754	3027	3981	0

Trip Planner Driving Directions
If you want to get driving directions between places in Australia, you can use the "calculate travel distances and get driving direstions" gadget below.
 
In Australia, we drive on the left hand side, just like in England. If you are from mainland Europe, the USA, or anywhere else in the world where you drive on the right hand side, you'll find it strange to turn in intersections and to go around roundabouts clockwise.

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The slowest lane is the one furthest left, and we overtake other cars from their right hand side. Everything seems to be exactly the opposite, except - one rule remains the same - if there are no signs or traffic lights in a crossroad, you give way to any cars coming from your right hand side, not left.


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Kangaroos and Cattle on Australian Roads
Driving in the countryside seems quite relaxed in Australia. Roads are small outside the big cities (in fact, many Australian "highways" only have one lane in each direction!) and traffic is relatively scarce.

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As lovely as it is to see kangaroos hopping across the roads, it’s one of the worst traffic hazards here so avoid driving at dusk and dawn when they’re most active. It’s hard to believe but yes, cattle wander freely across the highways in many parts of Australia – and being bigger they are obviously even more dangerous than kangaroos, but they don’t move very quickly so they are easier to see in time. Kangaroos can hop out in front of your car with no warning so speeding is not a good idea.


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Australian Road Train
Also, if you think that Swedish trucks are long enough on European roads, wait until you see Australian road trains. They can be 50 metres long, so take care on the roads when overtaking - being so long they take long time to pass. They are also very heavy and go slow uphill and fast downhill so avoid overtaking them when they go downhill.


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Trucks Carrying Over Size
And finally, be warned that when Australians say over-size, they mean over-size. While travelling on Australian roads, you often see big trucks carrying loads so big that they need half of your lane too. They often have other smaller cars driving in front of them with "over-size" signs on, that means the big guy is just around the corner. Slow down, because they won't - they're too heavy.