Melbourne to Sydney - Britz

Five nights and 1,528 kilometres from Melbourne to Sydney in a campervan, along the coast rather than the inland highway.

Wilsons Promontory comes first, at the southernmost tip of the mainland, where granite headlands and white beaches are reached on walks from the campground, then Lakes Entrance at the end of Ninety Mile Beach, which separates the Gippsland Lakes from the sea.

Eden follows on the Sapphire Coast, a whaling port until 1930 whose museum keeps the skeleton of Old Tom, a killer whale that worked alongside the whalers, then Narooma, with Montague Island and its fur seals offshore, and Jervis Bay, where the sand is quartz and among the whitest anywhere, before the run into Sydney.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Six days for 1,528 kilometres is a fair pace and the coast road is sealed throughout. Campsites inside Wilsons Promontory are balloted in peak season and need booking a long way in advance. Whales pass this coast northbound in winter and southbound in spring, which makes either shoulder season the better bet, though no sighting can be promised. A one-way hire between the two cities is a common arrangement, so vehicle availability is rarely the constraint, and the inland highway can always be taken on the return if time runs short. Eden and Narooma are the quiet stops and the better ones, with long empty beaches and very little traffic outside the summer holidays.