Some good pointers in here. I am in Australia too and got the opportunity to take the long road instead of a flight from Brisbane to Canberra a few years ago.

Being the east coast this was definitely full of places to stop and see. Even on the return journey we took the inland road, because we wanted to visit the radio telescope at Parkes and the other telescopes at Coonabarabran. There is definitely less to see along that route.