Building on last year's highly successful "Best Job in the World" campaign, officials are hoping to promote remote and rugged Western Australia by launching the "Extraordinary Taxi Ride".

In a nine-week journey over some 11 000 kilometres of road, five couples ? one from New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany and Britain ? will travel the state in the back of a taxi.

The couples, along with six Australian pairs, will travel one section each of the 11-leg journey, which starts in Perth on April 9 and traverses Outback and the beach-lined west coast before winding north to ex-pearling centre Broome.

"It's based on the story of a 1930s spinster and two colleagues who travelled from Melbourne to Darwin and back again by taxi, but with a modern twist," said Tourism WA director Stephanie Buckland.

That record-breaking trip, an epic 9000 kilometres along Australia's east coast, cost the wealthy and adventurous Ada Beal #300 and took three months in a soft-top taxi in 1930.

The fare roughly translates to about A$20 000 today.

Buckland said the 2010 ride would be a far cry from driver Charlie Heard's original journey, featuring four-wheel drive "stunt taxi" vehicles for the bumpier, more remote sections and involving support and film crews.

Participants will document their all-expenses-paid adventure online with video blogs and Twitter updates, and the official website will feature a live streaming "taxicam" and a guess-the-fare contest, she added.

More than 400 Perth cabbies have applied to drive the epic route, with a winner to be announced on March 11.

The northeastern state of Queensland last year advertised the "Best Job in the World", a six-month caretaker stint on idyllic Hamilton Island, drawing thousands of applications and global media coverage.

To find out more, visit http://www.extraordinarytaxiride.com.au.