It is 595 kilometres from the Perth GPO to Hannan Street. If you do it in one hit you are looking at six and a half hours behind the wheel, more with stops. It is a straightforward drive on a sealed two-lane highway. Here is how to do it properly.
The route
You take the Great Eastern Highway from Perth. The road number is National Route 94. It runs east from the Perth metro, climbs the Darling Scarp at Greenmount, crosses the wheatbelt, climbs again into the goldfields, and ends in Kalgoorlie. Same road the whole way. Easy navigation.
From Kalgoorlie the same highway continues to the South Australian border and on to Adelaide, but that is a different trip.
The drive in three stages
Mentally it helps to break the trip into three sections, because the landscape changes properly between each.
Stage one: Perth to Northam (97 km)
You leave the Perth foothills, climb the scarp, drop down into the Avon Valley. The Avon at Northam is one of the few proper rivers you will see all day. The road is mostly two-lane, mostly fast, mixed traffic.
Northam itself is a decent stop if you got a late start. There is a real bakery on the main street, a couple of cafes, fuel everywhere. It is a wheat town with a long railway history. You will see the Avon Descent rapids if you take the scenic detour through town.
Stage two: Northam to Southern Cross (293 km)
This is the wheatbelt. Big paddocks, low silos at every siding, the occasional small town clinging to the highway and the railway. Meckering, Cunderdin, Kellerberrin, Merredin, Bodallin, Southern Cross.
Merredin (260 km from Perth) is the natural lunch stop. There is a real cafe scene if you are willing to wander off the main road. The Merredin Tigers footy oval is right there. Plenty of fuel. Free overnight stop at the showgrounds if you are caravanning.
Southern Cross (376 km) was where the first proper goldfields began. The town is built on a grid named after the constellation; the main streets are Antares, Altair, Achernar. It is also the last town before things get drier and emptier. Fuel up here. The next service is Yellowdine, 33 km on. The one after that is Coolgardie, 187 km.
Stage three: Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie (218 km)
The country changes. The wheat ends, the scrub begins. Salt bush, mulga, eucalypts. Bands of red dirt either side of the road. Termite mounds. The occasional roadhouse: Yellowdine, then a long stretch to Coolgardie. You start seeing mining-related signage at every turn-off.
Coolgardie (555 km) is the first proper goldfields town. Slow down through the main street; the speed limit drops sharply. The Marvel Bar Hotel and the old Warden's Office are both worth a quick photo. Coolgardie is where the rush started in 1892, a year before Hannan's strike in Kalgoorlie. You can stretch your legs, fuel up if you forgot at Southern Cross, then push on.
From Coolgardie it is 40 km to Kalgoorlie. The road runs alongside the original transcontinental rail line. You start seeing the mining headframes from kilometres out. The Mt Charlotte mine is the first one you spot. By the time you can see the Telstra tower over Kalgoorlie you are about ten minutes from a cold beer.
Fuel strategy
You can do the drive on one tank if you have a 70-litre fuel tank and a sensible car. Most modern sedans manage it with 50 km to spare.
For peace of mind, fuel at Northam (97 km, cheaper) and again at Merredin (260 km) or Southern Cross (376 km). After Southern Cross prices climb and stations are further apart. The roadhouse at Yellowdine, between Southern Cross and Coolgardie, is the only fuel for 187 km of highway if you skip it.
For caravans, motorhomes, and 4WDs running larger tanks, fuel at Merredin or Southern Cross is the sensible play. Kalgoorlie itself is dearer than Perth but cheaper than most goldfields roadhouses.
Wildlife
Kangaroos are the big risk. They come out at dusk and dawn and they will jump in front of a car without warning. If you can avoid driving the last hour into Kalgoorlie at sunset, do. If you have to, slow down. A bull eastern grey going through a windscreen at a hundred and ten makes a mess of a small car and a worse mess of the people in it.
Other things on the road: emus, very large flocks of pink and grey galahs that scatter as you drive through them, the occasional reckless echidna. Wedge-tailed eagles often work the carcasses on the shoulder; they take off late and they are big enough to dent a roof.
Road trains are the other thing. They are the size of small buildings, the front of one will be on you very quickly if you are overtaking, and the slipstream behind a four-trailer rig will move a caravan into the next lane. Give them space and time.
Where to break the trip
If you are not in a hurry, breaking it overnight makes the drive less of a slog.
Merredin (260 km from Perth, 335 to go). Pubs with rooms, a couple of decent motels, a caravan park. Good if you got a late start.
Southern Cross (376 km, 219 to go). Hotel, motel, caravan park. Quiet, small, easy to stop and start.
Coolgardie (555 km, 40 to go). Hotel rooms, caravan park. Most people just push on to Kalgoorlie but if you arrive late and you do not have a Kalgoorlie booking, Coolgardie is a sensible fallback.
What to pack
Water. Plenty of it, especially in summer. Two litres a person per day minimum if you broke down and waited for help.
A real spare tyre, inflated, properly mounted. Tyre changes on the side of the Great Eastern Highway in summer are not fun, and a few of the smaller stretches have minimal mobile coverage.
A paper map or downloaded offline Google Maps. The signal is patchy in places. You will not get lost (one road) but you might lose ETA estimates for an hour at a stretch.
Snacks and a cooler if you have one. Roadhouse food is fine but pricey and not always great. Pies, sausage rolls, instant coffee, the usual.
Sunglasses, hat, sunscreen. Even in winter the glare off the bitumen is hard work.
A jumper or fleece if it is winter. The car will be warm but Merredin in July at 7pm can be five degrees.
Driving rules and habits
The default speed limit on the Great Eastern Highway is 110 km/h. In towns it drops sharply (50 or 60). Speed cameras are uncommon but the WA Police do work this road, especially in summer holiday season.
Overtake on the long flat stretches where you can see clearly for a kilometre or more. There are designated overtaking lanes every twenty or thirty kilometres in the worst spots. Use them rather than crossing solid lines.
Headlights on during the day is standard practice for everyone going east. Better visibility for oncoming traffic.
Wave at oncoming locals if you fancy. The country lift (raise an index finger off the steering wheel) is not compulsory but you will get a few back and it is one of the small pleasures of driving rural Australia.
How to make the drive better
A good audiobook or podcast goes a long way. Six hours is six hours, and even with the scenery the wheatbelt gets samey after the third hour.
If you are travelling with someone, swap the driving at Merredin and Coolgardie. Each leg is roughly two hours; pairs nicely with one driver per leg.
Take photos at the proper places. The Avon River bridge at Northam, the grain silos at Cunderdin (often muraled), the Wave Rock turn-off at Hyden (well off the highway but a worthwhile detour if you have an extra day), the dry salt lakes east of Southern Cross, the first headframe on the approach to Kalgoorlie.
Doing it the other way
Driving back from Kalgoorlie to Perth follows the same route in reverse. Most people prefer this direction in summer because the morning sun is behind you rather than ahead. Leave Kalgoorlie around 7am, breakfast at Coolgardie or Southern Cross, lunch at Merredin, late afternoon arrival in Perth. The kangaroos are less of an issue heading west on the morning run.
A few oddities to look out for
Most of the highway is unremarkable bitumen, but a few things along the way reward attention.
The Cunderdin grain silos are sometimes painted as part of the WA Silo Trail; check what is current before you go. The Burra Rock silos (off-route via Marvel Loch) are part of the same trail. The whole project has produced some of the best rural public art in the country.
The Wave Rock turn-off at Hyden (an hour south of the highway) is the best-known detour. Wave Rock is exactly what it sounds like, a granite outcrop shaped like a breaking wave, and is worth a half-day if you have it. The drive south from the highway takes you through hot dry country with a quiet beauty of its own.
The salt lakes east of Southern Cross are not always full of water; in dry years they are flat white plains and look extraterrestrial. In wet years, when there has been actual rain, they fill briefly and reflect the sky for a few weeks before evaporating again.
The Kalgoorlie approach has a few minutes of headframe-spotting as you come over the last rises. Mt Charlotte is the closest, then Hannans North to the north, then the Super Pit's pit machinery to the south. It is one of the more distinctive arrivals to any town in WA.