For the U.S., there’s a curated route nearly coast to coast for dirt and gravel roads. Maps for sale at https://www.transamtrail.com/.
I’ve written about various curated routes in the U.S. here: https://opposite-lock.com/topic/12190/u-s-adventure-trails
We sometimes find a bit down in Queensland's Granite Belt, and there are thousands of kms left in the real outback, and forested areas. Closer to urban centres like south East Queensland, it's getting scarce.
Australia still has A LOT of wild places to explore.
Here's a small highlight reel of the drone footage from each state - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmmbpjMgFqY
But the most famous one is probably the Forgotten World Highway. Worth a look!
Oh,
I've driven every bit of that (not in one go) and I'm 100% certain there is no unpaved roads in there. In fact, it's getting close to a majority being 2 lanes in each direction (or 2+1 at least). It's all highway.
Some of those tracks in the mountainous, forested parts of eastern Victoria are in seriously rugged and isolated country, and I'm not sure all of them are even open to the public.
Len Beadell was the bloke who surveyed and built many of the outback roads in Oz, including the Gunbarrel Highway. His books about doing so are terrific and very entertaining..... he was one of the last of the worlds 'true' explorers, going alone into undiscovered country.
Books can be found here: https://www.lenbeadell.com.au/
Does Australia mean something else by gravel road than what I'm thinking as a US person?
Biking on gravel roads is unpleasant compared to paved or dirt IMHO. Gravel is unsmooth, loud, and can be loose. I certainly have the wrong tires for gravel, but even with wider tires, I don't think I'd dream of riding on gravel.
I grew up around them and they were fine to ride on. They're usually so low traffic that there aren't many corrugations, though outback gravel roads like the Tanami Track are an exception, and you don't ride (or drive) too fast on them. The noise isn't really an issue for me, it just sounds crunchy in a way that blends into the background. If you're riding on one lane country roads, you're probably already used to a bit of gravel on the surface.
I think the appeal is that you're sharing the road with 30km/h tractors and 60km/h utes, not 100km/h SUVs.
There is a whole community of gravel-riding cyclists, seeking monster rides.
https://breckepic.com https://www.epic-series.com/capeepic https://thestartlist.com.au/disciplines/gravel/ - and other affiliated European and African races https://southeastgravel.com - a regional gravel race series https://www.granfondoguide.com/Contents/Index/1324/what-is-a... less competitive, long gravel
No stress for your average country driver but negotiating right of way on a single track road used by heavy freight is not something you get taught at drivers ed! You would also be surprised at just how hilly and windy Victoria can be, and that at some point you will be driving through a rainforest.
Like most states here, it's huge, so if you do venture on an unsealed road adventure just be mindful of your fuel.
There's something increasingly messed up with Google's algorithm lately and there's little control. We've recently just been going up and down the east coast and it's idea of "eco" or "short" is just wild. There was an unsealed 15% grade climb over a freaking mountain, it just refused to think of a better way (the motorway that went around it).
I'd be less upset if there was more control over the options. Like a "prefer motorways" or "less turns" or "less hills". Even a "I'm towing" option.
I know it has that data to do it, why not let us use it? Hell I might even pay for it.
I haven't used Google Maps outside of the US, but I've always felt that it's got to be designed and built by people that have never driven a car in their life. They've almost certainly never driven in Australia. Sometimes updates bring good things, and sometimes they declutter the screen by removing important information like the names of cross streets.
If it's regularly sending you down avoidable gravel roads, you really ought to use something different. I'm more or less happy with google around me, although I'm comfortable enough with my surroundings to recognize and ignore most of the bad ideas; otherwise, I'd try something from Here --- they're the corporate successor of NavTeq, and have been doing digital maps since the 80s, and I liked their maps on Windows Phone. Something based on openstreetmaps is also attractive from an ability to influence the data perspective, too.
I've also noticed this for pedestrian routes inside cities. For some reason, it likes to send you zigzagging when there's a perfectly good straight route. And this is Paris, so it's not like the straight road is an 8-lane highway with no sidewalk.
My experience with both Google Maps and Waze is that despite having the best live traffic data, there are so many UI issues that it's almost dangerous to try to use those apps while driving. I'm seriously considering building my own navigation app just to get some usable information.
