12 Outback Roads So Hot They MELT Under Road Trains (122°F)

Two in the afternoon, mid-January, and the bitumen ahead of your road train is shining like it's wet. It isn't wet. It's melting. On these twelve Australian roads, summer heat goes after the surface, the tyres, the cooling system and the driver. We rank them by what that heat does to a loaded truck, from bleeding bitumen on the Hume to the highway that left hundreds of people waiting out 47°C at a roadhouse. And there's one rule out here that matters more than anything. CHAPTERS 0:00 Two in the afternoon, and the road is melting 0:32 #12 Hume Freeway (Broadford, VIC) 1:55 #11 Newell Highway (Narrabri, NSW) 3:17 #10 Strzelecki Track (South Australia) 4:49 #9 Flinders Highway (Cloncurry, QLD) 6:12 #8 Oodnadatta Track (South Australia) 7:34 #7 Malanda–Millaa Millaa Rd (Atherton Tablelands, QLD) 8:57 #6 Birdsville Track (SA / QLD) 10:21 #5 Stuart Highway (Port Augusta, SA) 11:45 #4 North West Coastal Hwy (Pilbara, WA) 13:32 #3 Marble Bar Rd & Great Northern Hwy (Pilbara, WA) 15:33 #2 Great Eastern Highway (Boorabbin, WA) 17:30 #1 Eyre Highway (Nullarbor, SA / WA) SOURCES • NPR: Meanwhile In Australia, Part Of A Highway Is Literally… (5 Jan 2018) • Global News: Canadians waiting for snow to melt as Aussies watch… (Jan 2018) • European Rubber Journal: Overheated truck tire starts fire on NSW highway (21 Jan 2013) • trans.info: How you can avoid tyre damage and accidents during hot… • FreightWaves: 4 ways heat waves can scorch truckers • FreightWaves: Baking temperatures put Australia's trucks and drivers… • Bureau of Meteorology: Monthly Climate Summary for South Australia, January… • Bureau of Meteorology: Seasonal Climate Summary for South Australia, summer… • Bureau of Meteorology: Monthly Weather Review Australia, January 2019 • The Grey Nomads: 'Track corrugations are shaking our rigs to pieces!' (11 Feb 2015) • Infrastructure Australia: Strzelecki Track Upgrade and Sealing, assessment brief (2015) • Snowys: Strzelecki Track Part 1 (road trains, Cooper Basin… • Broadsheet: January Was Australia's Hottest Month on Record… (1 Feb 2019) • Weatherzone: Australia more than a degree above average in January… (3 Feb 2022) • SMHI: Tangerat globalt värmerekord för januari? (Mardie and… (13 Jan 2022) • South Australian History: Oodnadatta Track (William Creek, only watering hole) • National Geographic: South Australia's Adventures of a Lifetime: Track the… • The Grey Nomads: Tourists lucky to survive Oodnadatta Track crash (22 Mar 2018) • Daily Telegraph UK via PressReader: Vehicles 'drowning in tar' after Australian heatwave… (6 Jul 2018) • Panorama/Express: Heatwave causes roads to melt and sees cars abandoned… (6 Jul 2018) • AAP via InDaily: Track still closed but punters race to Birdsville… (4 Sep 2026) • Aussie Animals: Birdsville Track ghost stations (517 km; Mungeranie… • South Australian History: The Birdsville Track (heat deaths along the track) • 1News / AAP: Roads melt as temps soar but WA locals keep their cool… (8 Jan 2026) • Wikipedia: Marble Bar, Western Australia (160 days, 31 Oct 1923 –… • 4BC: Outback Australian town 'robbed' of 100yo world record… • AIDR Knowledge Hub: Bushfire, Boorabbin National Park, December 2007… • SES Volunteers Association WA: Boorabbin review (names of the three drivers, 30 Dec 2007) (29 Sep 2010) • Wikipedia: Boorabbin National Park (coroner's finding, citing ABC… • Monument Australia: Trevor Murley, Lewis Bedford & Robert Taylor memorial • Big Rigs: Good rest area for truckies on bad WA road (Boorabbin) (7 Nov 2023) • PowerTorque: Chilling out on the Nullarbor (1600 km Eyre Highway;… (Jan 2020) • SBS NITV: WA bushfire leaves hundreds stranded as pit stop turns… (6 Jan 2020) • SBS NITV: Threat remains for bushfire south of Perth (Eyre… (10 Jan 2020) • Trucksales: Eyre Highway still closed (supplies flown in,… (9 Jan 2020) • Countryman: Owner-operators avoid major hit amid Eyre closure… (Jan 2020) • AAP: Eyre Highway remains closed in WA amid bushfire (22 Feb 2024) • The West Australian / Albany Advertiser: First fire, now flooding, predicted to keep WA's main… (26 Jan 2026) Always check road conditions and closures with the local road authority before travel (VicRoads/DTP, Transport for NSW, DIT SA, QLD TMR, Main Roads WA, NT Road Report). If you run these roads, or you're planning to, subscribe. It's free, and it'll never ring you on a forty-seven-degree afternoon. #trucking #roadtrain #australia #truckdriver #outback #dangerousroads #heatwave #nullarbor #pilbara #truckers #highway #roadhouseintel #aussietruckers