Rest areas in Western Australia

Reading the numbers

Western Australia holds 1,650 rest areas in the national dataset, plus 11 more from Main Roads WA that sit over 250 m from a national record. The Great Northern Highway alone accounts for 254 and the North West Coastal Highway for 159, so those two roads carry a large share of the state’s stops. After them come the Great Eastern Highway (91), the South Western Highway (73) and the Albany Highway (72).

For most WA stops the source lists little beyond the bay itself. Toilets are listed at 128 sites (8 per cent), picnic tables at 146 (9 per cent) and shelter at 220 (13 per cent). The more useful number for many drivers is the sealed surface, listed at 690 sites or 42 per cent. Where a seal is not listed, check the place before taking a long caravan off the bitumen, and plan toilet and water stops around towns rather than these bays.

The places below are the stops with the most listed facilities, and many add a dump point, which the source lists at only 32 sites statewide. Beasly Creek, House Creek, Robe River and Yannarie River (all under Ashburton), Edagee, Lyndon River and Yalabia (under Carnarvon) and Galena North and Galena South (under Northampton) each list toilets, shelter, picnic tables, an accessible toilet and a dump point. Accessible toilets are listed at 60 sites in all, so these few are worth marking on your route.

A heavy vehicle area is listed at 222 sites, 13 per cent, but a missing listing does not mean trucks stay away, and any bay beside a freight route may be shared. As for sleeping over, the data does not cover it at all. Rules vary between sites and managers, so read the signage, check Main Roads WA or the shire, and open the camping-rules guide for Western Australia linked on this page.