Crossing the Nullarbor Plain is one of the foremost outback travelling accomplishments for Australians and overseas visitors alike. It’s said that until you’ve spent the time making your way across this endless, mostly treeless, plain you’ve not fully experienced the true loneliness – and freedom – that Australia can provide. It’s been driven, walked, cycled, trained and even skateboarded, and has come to represent everything that is vast and intensely featureless about much of the Australian Outback. With the compliments of Australian Traveller –Australia’s Best selling travel magazine here are some fascinating facts about this “roadtrip of roadtrips”.
The Nullarbor can be done fast or slow, and in fact sometimes it’s difficult to tell which is which; time has a way of telescoping on this famously arid drive. Foot to the floor, it can be done in less than 24 hours – but that’s foolhardy in the extreme. Allowing yourself anywhere from five to ten days is best for really embracing the wide expanse, occasional low spinifex and straight, straight bitumen. Driving east is more comfortable than driving west - you don't drive into the sun in the afternoon.
It’s easy to imagine the Nullarbor as it must have been millions of years ago when it was thought to be a vast seabed. The Plain itself covers around 200,000km2, and is gutted east to west by the ramrod straight Eyre Highway, which begins at the WA end at Norseman and terminates almost 1700km later in SA’s Port Augusta. In between, you’ll find only a few things to disrupt your train of thought as you drive. These include: the world’s longest straight bit of road (the 90 Mile Straight, 146.6km between Caiguna and Balladonia); giant semitrailers intent on sweeping you into the roadside gravel if you’re not careful; hundreds of feral camels (of which a handful are almost certain to stray out of the darkness into your path); ditto Big Red ’roos; a roadhouse or two; tourists (probably German) on bikes; and dozens of shimmering mirages as you slowly succumb to white-line fever.
The spectacular cliffs of the Great Australian Bight, some of the longest in the world, can be viewed from several different Marine Park lookouts and provide some important relief from the mesmerising uniformity. As do the plethora of underground cave systems, such as Cocklebiddy, one of the longest underwater caves in the world. Be sure to check out the museum at Balladonia for more info on these fascinating – and tremendously fragile – environments running beneath the Nullarbor’s extensive limestone surface.
The various towns dotted along the Nullarbor Plain range from Eucla at their largest (near the SA/WA border, with its much-photographed Old Telegraph Station being gradually reclaimed by sand dunes), to Ceduna, the last major town if crossing east to west, to Balladonia, Caiguna, Madura, Mundrabilla and Penong – which are essentially roadhouses with the odd hotel/motel and caravan park thrown in. Balladonia became briefly famous in 1979 when chunks of Skylab crashed to Earth nearby, Caiguna has its own landing strip, Madura is focused mainly on sheep farming, Mundrabilla is famous for large meteorites fragments discovered in the area, and Penong is known for its abundance of windmills. So don’t let anyone tell you there’s nothing to do out there.
At the WA end of your Nullarbor odyssey, you can elect to veer south and wind your way through Esperance and Margaret River – but to do so would be to abandon the Outback flavour of your journey. Instead, head north from Norseman along Route 94 for Kalgoorlie and the Golden Mile. And remember, if you’re travelling west to east from Perth across the Nullarbor (especially if you’re on the great Indian Pacific train journey), Kalgoorlie represents the last major town for many hundreds of kilometres. So be sure to stock up on water, snacks and plenty of in-car games.
Tell anyone you’re driving almost 2000km across the Nullarbor and you’ll get one of two reactions. The first is usually a mixture of bewilderment, pity and horror: “It’s so long and boring – why don’t you fly, or at least catch the train? It’ll take days and there’s nothing to see.” Others look at you enviously: “Wow, I’ve always wanted to do that!” The Nullarbor’s like that. There’s no denying it’s a long trip – four days, maybe more: it covers an area equivalent to England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, with 7000km2 left over. And it’s definitely flat, with long sections of empty straight between tiny settlements where shopping, nightlife and good coffee is non-existent. But once you’ve done the trip you could never argue that it’s boring, nor could you say there’s nothing to see. As far as great Aussie road trips go, this one can’t be beaten.
Total distance: Perth to Ceduna, around 2000km
Suggested itinerary:
Day 1: Perth to Kalgoorlie, 596km
Day 2: Kalgoorlie to Balladonia, 378km
Day 3: Balladonia to Nullarbor Roadhouse, 693km
Day 4: Nullarbor Roadhouse to Ceduna, 297km
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