The Big Lap

The shape of it

The Big Lap follows the sealed coastal highway network in a single loop around the continent — roughly the Bruce, Pacific, Princes, Eyre and Great Northern highways strung together. It doesn't have to include every inch of coastline, and most people build in inland detours (the Red Centre is the most common) rather than hugging the water the whole way.

Which way around

Most first-time lappers leave the east coast in autumn and head north, timing their arrival in the Top End and Kimberley for the dry season (May–September), then continue anticlockwise across the north, down the WA coast, along the Nullarbor, and back up the east coast through the following spring and summer. Clockwise works too — it just reverses which legs you're doing in which season. See Seasons & Regions for the full seasonal logic.

How most people actually do it

Very few laps are one continuous drive — most are done in stages, with multi-week stops in favourite spots and sometimes a return home partway through for a season before continuing. Treat the 9–12 month figure as a guide for total time on the road, not time behind the wheel.

What to know before you commit

• Budget realistically for the full duration — see Money & Concessions for typical monthly costs.
• Decide early whether you're detouring inland (Red Centre, Savannah Way) or sticking to the coast — it changes your fuel and water planning significantly.
• Book ahead for the dry-season northern leg; caravan parks in the Top End fill out months in advance.

A rough pace to plan around

Spread over 9–12 months, the Big Lap works out to roughly 40–50 km a day on average — which sounds slow until you remember that average includes the weeks-long stops most people make in favourite spots along the way. A more realistic way to plan it: budget two to four weeks each for the major regions (the east coast run, the Top End and Kimberley, the WA coast, the Nullarbor crossing, the return leg), with the actual driving days inside each region totalling far less than the calendar time spent there. Trying to hold to a fixed daily distance for the full year is the fastest way to turn the lap into a chore.

Most people also don't attempt the whole thing in one unbroken run — a return home for a season partway through, particularly over the wet season if you're not detouring inland, is common enough to be considered a normal way to do the Big Lap rather than a compromise.

If you want the full circuit broken into a realistic month-by-month plan around your own dates rather than working from averages like these, that's exactly what a Custom Lap Itinerary is for. See Services & Pricing for the full list.