Brisbane to Adelaide road trip: Drive distance, hours & best stops

Brisbane to Adelaide road trip: Victorian section

Once over the Murray River, you’re into Victoria and cruising along the Mallee Highway. Manangatang has a swimming pool, and you can take a detour south to the Lake Tyrrell pink lake if you wish. Kulyen has a bushland reserve, but Ouyen at the crossroads with the Calder Highway is the most practical stop.

There’s a café, bakery, park, swimming lake and (pretty ropey) caravan park, but it is best known as the gateway to Murray Sunset National Park and Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. Wildlife gathers around the lakes at the latter, while Murray Sunset brings campgrounds, red kangaroos, pink lakes and a whole lot of mallee scrub.

Otherwise, it’s 239km from Tooleybuc to Pinnaroo. The good news upon reaching Pinnaroo is that you’re finally in South Australia. The bad news is that there’s not much to Pinnaroo beyond a golf club and petrol station. So grit it out for another 145km to Tailem Bend.

Here, you meet the Murray River again. The Tailem Bend ferry crosses it and a 25km walking route loops around both banks.

Suggested Tailem Bend attractions: Old Tailem Town Pioneer Village, Tailem Info Station, the Bend Motorsport Park. 

Tailem Bend accommodation picks: For racetrack views, the Rydges Pit Lane. For river views, the Tailem Bend Riverside Motel.

Click through to the next section: Adelaide Hills.