Sydney is a popular starting point for the famous East Coast Australia Road trip, and there’s more to this region than Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour.
We spent a few months travelling along the East Coast, and in this post we’re going to outline our favourite hidden gems and places to visit between Sydney and Brisbane that we think are a must for every road trip.
From charity-ran koala hospitals, to abandoned aeroplanes and historic towns, this itinerary promises to be one you won’t forget in a hurry!
Places To Visit Between Sydney and Brisbane
This is the shortest section of the popular East Coast route, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be short on places to stop between Sydney and Brisbane.
You’ll also still need to be prepared for this ‘longer than the average UK road trip’, so here are a few quick key facts you need to know followed by our favourite road trip essentials.
How far is it from Sydney to Brisbane
It’s 916 km, providing you stick to the coastal route. Detours will obviously add additional km to the clock
How Long Does It Take To Road Trip From Sydney to Brisbane
It averages at around 10 hours of constant driving. I would allow for one week for a ‘fast’ road trip.
What Is The Average Cost Of Fuel For A Sydney to Brisbane Road Trip?
The price of unleaded is hovering around $1.80 per litre, and $1.90 for diesel. If you’re like us, this will probably be your biggest expenditure after food.
*Of course, this fluctuates. Use fuel map Australia for the latest prices near you.
Woy Woy
Time from Sydney: 1 hour 10 minutes
Time from Brisbane: 9 hours 10 minutes.
Just an hour from Sydney is Woy Woy. This little town sits on the edge of a river and is a great little hidden gem between Sydney to Brisbane.
There are no high-rises here or big shopping centres, so many they just drive straight through. To us though, it’s a highlight of our trip.
The river that runs through it provides a home to hundreds of pelicans who call the nearby island – Pelican Island – home.
If you’re there around 3 pm, you’ll get to see the daily feed; the local rescue team comes to feed them scraps of fish and check their health. They’re really helpful and happy to answer any of your questions.
Other Things To Do In Woy Woy
Take a stroll down Fisherman’s wharf, grab a bite to eat at the waterfront cafe or indulge in a bit of history at the Aboriginal carving site just south of Woy Woy.
Top L: Woy Woy Pelicans waiting for their daily feed Top Top R: Pelicans relaxing on the waters Bottom: Dec and one of the local pelicans at Woy Woy
Long Jetty
Time from Sydney: 1 hour 20 minutes
Time from Brisbane: 9 hours.
Long Jetty is yet another unique little town on the Central Coast.
Its streets are lined with vintage stores and trendy cafes but this wasn’t what we loved most about Long Jetty.
Long Jetty is a photographer’s dream as its lake consists of, you guessed it, Long Jetties.
3 historical long jetties jut out from the beach, Parry’s, Watkins and the original ‘long jetty’ from which the town gets its name.
Each with its own history but ‘long jetty’ is the main attraction. At 351m long, it’s the longest jetty in New South Wales and was built in 1915.
Other Things To Do In Long Jetty
Around Lake Tuggerah is a 12km return cycle track to Chittaway Bay and back, or you can head in the other direction to a small town called The Entrance (more on that next).
Bike hire is available at the innovation centre, or you could hire paddleboards and head out on to the water!
There’s Pelican feeding along here too by the rescue team, but it’s a lot busier than at Woy Woy.
The Original long jetty at sunset
The Entrance
Time from Sydney: 1 hour 20 minutes
Time from Brisbane: 9 hours
The Entrance to what, I hear you ask? Well, this is where the ocean runs inland to make Tuggerah Lake.
At The Entrance Beach, you’ll find a stunning ocean swimming pool, similar to the one at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
So if you fancy a swim to break up your East Coast Australia road trip, just an hour and a half from Sydney, this is the place to come.
Other Things To Do At The Entrance
If you fancy a stroll, starting at the beach you can take the Coast to Lake walk.
This will take you along the beach to Tuggerah Lake and back to The Entrance, it’s about an hour and a half walk but the views are worth it. This is also where the cycle path through Long Jetty starts if you want a bit of a longer ride.
Heading to Sydney from Melbourne? Check out our Melbourne to Sydney road trip itinerary!
Watagans State Forest Abandoned Plane.
Time from Sydney: 1 hour 40 minutes.
Time from Brisbane: 8.5 hours.
This state forest is just one hour inland from Newcastle and it’s one of the places to visit between Sydney and Brisbane that we’d recommend in a heartbeat.
The abandoned plane at Watagans state forest isn’t well known about, it isn’t signposted at the park and there are no official tracks to it.
We stumbled across it thanks to the Wiki Camps app (I’ll link to its pin here to help you find it). The track up to the nearby car park is so steep we actually ended up parking in a pullover and walking for 20 minutes to reach it, but it was worth it.
Other Things To Do In Watagans State Forest
With over 40 aboriginal sites that have historical engravings and stories attached to them, there’s plenty to do at this stop on your road trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
There are also plenty of walking tracks and lookouts, including one track that goes to creek falls which looks beautiful after heavy rain.
Camden Head Rock Pools
Time from Sydney: 4 hours
Time from Brisbane: 6 hours.
While you’re travelling along the East Coast, it’s safe to say you’re going to see your fair amount of beautiful beaches.
Camden Head is a beach with a difference and one of the most memorable things to do between Sydney and Brisbane.
Camden Head is home to a huge rock platform that sticks out from the beach, creating some epic rock pools and fishing platforms.
At low tide, you’ll be able to explore the pools and try your luck at finding a blue-ringed octopus… just be careful where you’re sticking your hands.
Other Things To Do At Camden Head
Camden Head is actually within Kattang Nature Reserve so there’s a lot of wildlife spotting to be done here.
Or if you fancy a walk, Perpendicular Point walking track is a 3.7k return walking track that offers some fantastic views from the cliffs edges as well as a good vantage point for whale spotting.
Rock Pools. Photo from Pixaby.
Port Macquarie
Time from Sydney: 4 hours 10 minutes.
Time from Brisbane: 5 hours 50 minutes.
We absolutely loved this coastal town and it was easily one of our favourite places to see on the way to Brisbane.
There is so much to do here, we’d recommend coming for a few days as a good halfway point on your road trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
Our favourite thing in Port Macquarie was its free Koala sanctuary. They do guided tours every day at 3 pm where you get to learn a lot more about their patients and resident koalas as well as see them getting their daily treat; so you’re almost guaranteed to see them awake.
Other Things To Do In Port Macquarie
Visit the lighthouse or take a walk around the historical Rotto House, located next to the Koala sanctuary.
We have heaps more suggestions in our post all about our visit to Port Macquarie.
Just one of the Koalas you’ll get to meet at Port Macquarie
South West Rocks Gaol
Time from Sydney: 4 hours 56 minutes
Time from Brisbane: 5.5 hours.
If you like history and old buildings, this is one of the most interesting places to see on the way to Brisbane.
It’s an old abandoned prison that’s seen its fair share of inmates but it isn’t like other prisons, you can find out more about it in our dedicated South West Rocks post.
Other Things To Do At South West Rocks
There are some really nice walks around the South West Rocks area, as well as a clean camping site if you want to splash out and pay for a site.
They get kangaroo visitors around here so don’t be surprised if you get one pop by to try and steal a biscuit or two.
Leah walking the abandoned cell block of South West Rocks jail
New England National Park
Time from Sydney: 6 hours 15 minutes.
Time from Brisbane: 5.5 hours.
The New England National Park is one of the best National Parks in New South Wales and is a great spot to spend a few days, especially if you’re a fan of hikes and amazing views.
The first place you need to go is Point Lookout, it’s 1500m above sea level so on a clear day you can see everything from the rainforest canopy below right out to the Pacific ocean in front. It’s only a 200m walk from the car park so it’s suitable for everyone.
Wrights lookout was another favourite of ours but a slightly longer walk. It isn’t as tall, but it has unrestricted views across the valley and the walk takes you past some of NSW most endangered bush scrub and once you reach the top you’re actually standing on top of an extinct volcano – pretty cool if you ask me.
Its roughly a 2-hour return walk and officially graded a 4 by the NSW Park Rangers (difficult with some inclines, no always signposted)
Other Things To Do At New England National Park
Cascades walking track takes you past some of the waterfalls in the area while the LyreBird track takes you through the valley. There are a few camping grounds available with a NSW parks pass.
The misty mountain view from Points Lookout at sunset
Tweed
Time from Sydney: 8 hours 50 minutes
Time from Brisbane: 1 hour 15 minutes
This is the last New South Wales town you’ll visit on your East Coast Australian road trip, and the first town of Queensland. But how can it be both?
Tweed is a border town that is split almost completely in half by the NSW/QLD border and it’s such a cute little town you have to stop and see it. In the centre, right on the border, you’ll find the border statue in the middle of the round-a-bout.
It makes for a great photo opportunity and inside there’s a little bit of history on how the border was decided.
Other Things To Do In Tweed
Besides all the shopping and little cafes available at tweed, it also has possibly the most unique coastal landscape that you’ll see on your road trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
At Tweed, you’ll find Australia’s very own Giant’s Causeway and you can read all about it in our dedicated post about Tweed!
Tweed Head looks incredible from above
Mount Tamborine National Park
Time from Sydney: 9.5 hours
Time from Brisbane: 1 hour.
If you’re looking for magical places to see on a road trip from Sydney to Brisbane, then look no further than Mount Tamborine National Park.
Not only is it a web of walking tracks through a beautiful rainforest, but it’s also home to Glow Worms and a collection of beautiful wine tours! What more could you want?
The Glow Worm cave tour was the highlight of our trip to the mountains and we’d highly recommend it.
Of all the places to visit between Sydney and Brisbane, this one marks the final stop! You’re just one hour from Brisbane now so take the time to fully immerse yourself in nature here.
Other Things To Do At Mount Tamborine National Park
As I mentioned briefly there are heaps of walking tracks to do here, all with varying difficulty and scenery.
We did a more in-depth post about the walking tracks in Mount Tamborine if you want to know the full details. Our favourite was Curtis Falls as it offers great views of waterfalls as well as an interesting winding track through the valley jungles.
So those are our 10 favourite places to see between Sydney and Brisbane. There were so many others that we could have added to the list but these stuck out the most for obvious reasons.
If there’s anything we took away from part one of our East Coast Australian Road trip, it was that every single part of Australia is so different. As soon as you cross the border from New South Wales into Queensland, it just all changes and I can assure you, the same will happen again in Part 2 – Brisbane to Cairns!!
What were your favourite places to visit between Sydney and Brisbane? We’d love to hear about the ones we missed off our list!! Join in the conversation on our Facebook group!
Other posts we think you’ll love:
