The best motorcycle roads in Western Australia

Western Australia is a state where the planning problem is distance. The good roads are real and plentiful; they are just further apart than riders from the eastern states are used to, and the empty bits between them are properly empty.

Mundaring Weir Road

The Perth classic. About 23 kilometres of flowing corners through jarrah forest, dropping down to the weir and back up, starting roughly twenty minutes from the city.

It is a different character from the tight eastern-state mountain roads — more flow, longer radius corners, fewer hairpins, and a surface that is generally good. Best in the morning, before the heat and before the traffic.

Combine it with the roads around Kalamunda and Mundaring for a proper half day rather than treating it as a single out-and-back.

The Perth Hills and the Scarp

The Darling Scarp is Perth’s riding backyard, and there is far more of it than the famous roads suggest.

Kalamunda, Lesmurdie and the Zig Zag. The climbs up the scarp are short but fun, with views out over the plain.

Roleystone and Araluen. South side of the hills, with the Canning Dam roads and a network of quiet lanes through the bush.

Chittering Valley. North, and probably the best flowing riding near Perth — open, fast, rolling farmland with excellent surfaces and light traffic. The run up through Bindoon and back through the valley is a genuinely good half day.

Toodyay and York. Out over the scarp into the wheatbelt, both make excellent day destinations with fast open roads and historic towns at the end. The road from York back through the hills is a favourite for good reason.

The south west

The best riding in WA, and it wants a weekend.

The forest roads. Nannup, Pemberton, Manjimup and the roads through the karri forest. Tall trees, tight corners, cool air and almost no traffic. The Nannup to Balingup road is a highlight, and the forest network around Pemberton rewards wandering.

Margaret River and the coast. Caves Road and the network between the coast and the highway is deservedly popular — pleasant riding, spectacular scenery, plenty of stops. Busy in holiday periods.

The far south. Walpole, Denmark and the run east to Albany, through more forest and along the southern coast. Different weather and a different feel — cooler, wetter, greener.

Realistically this is a two- or three-day trip from Perth, and the ride down is a few hours of highway to be endured rather than enjoyed. Worth it.

The long ones

Albany Highway and the inland run. Not a corner-carving road, but a genuinely good long ride with the character WA does best — huge skies, empty roads and enormous distances.

The Great Southern. Roads around the Stirling Range and out toward Bremer Bay. Remote, beautiful, and demanding proper fuel planning.

North of Perth. The Indian Ocean Drive up toward Cervantes and beyond is a fine ride, and once you are past Geraldton the distances become a serious planning matter rather than an inconvenience.

The WA-specific planning problems

Fuel. The single biggest one. Gaps between towns are longer than eastern riders expect, rural pumps close early, and single-pump towns fail. Plan to refuel at about 80% of realistic range, treat remote fuel as a waypoint, and carry both card and cash. The fuel planning guide is worth reading before any south-west or wheatbelt trip.

Coverage. Mobile signal disappears quickly outside the corridors. Plan your route before you leave, and on remote rides consider a satellite messenger — a phone-based crash alert cannot send anything from a place with no signal.

Heat and fire. Summer in the hills and the wheatbelt is serious. Check fire danger ratings; on the worst days, roads close and you do not want to be out there. Carry more water than you think.

Wildlife. Kangaroos everywhere at dawn and dusk, and emus in the wheatbelt, which are worse — they change direction unpredictably and they are tall enough to come through a screen.

Road trains on the highways. Give them room, and expect a substantial buffeting when one passes in the opposite direction.

The upside of a big state

Here is the WA compensation: there is an enormous amount of sealed road out there that almost nobody rides. The hills network alone has hundreds of kilometres of lanes with no reputation, and the wheatbelt has a grid of quiet roads that go on for as far as you want.

For a rider who records rides and watches the map fill in, WA is the state where you will run out of ambition before you run out of grey. Ask for a route that avoids what you have already ridden and you will keep getting genuine answers for years, which is not true everywhere.