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.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
