Site menu:

You’re the Best

Use these links and we benefit a little bit without cost to you. Expedia.co.uk Lastminute.com Amazon.co.uk
Thanks very much.

Sponsors

Subscribe for Free Updates

Site search

Zimbabwe Ireland Yoko Singapore Malaysia Funny Travel Botswana PoTW Cook Islands France Malawi Namibia Morocco Switzerland UK Italy UAE South Africa Zambia New Zealand Tanzania India Spain Thoughts Info Australia

-- Powered by Category Cloud

RSS Posts

Comments

Archives

Eyre Highway: Crossing the Nullarbor

Posted by daveb on January 29th, 2009

We left Kalgoorlie and pointed Don, our car, towards Adelaide in the adjoining state of South Australia; over two thousand kilometres away. It took us four days to get to Adelaide and I’ll spare you four fairly uninteresting journal entries by writing one fairly uninteresting one instead. As in Western Australia, the roads here are long, straight and allow for great speeds. Unlike in Western Australia, there were relatively few dead kangaroos on the roadside and much more traffic — we passed at least a couple of cars each hour!

Surprisingly, there are people living out here. Every now and again (and I mean only now and again) we spotted houses from the road and there were a number of gravel track turn-offs with modified oil can letterboxes indicating some form of human presence. The handy Nullarbor tourist map highlights each township and roadhouse along the way, listing the top tourist picks at each one. Our favourite was Yalata which, as listed in the brochure, has two tourist attractions: the “lookout for camels, wombats and kangaroos” road sign and a second one informing of the “Eastern End of Treeless Plain”.

Squiffy hit her boredom threshold on day one and slept most of the way when she wasn’t behind the wheel. On the other hand, I found the drive quite invigorating. At most points the roads were nearly completely flat and straight. The asphalt disappeared on the horizon at its vanishing point. In absence of the same quantity of road kill that we saw along the western coast, we could travel more quickly without the same level of worry about bruising our car and reducing local wildlife numbers. Seldom does one get such a long time to think, without distraction. In hindsight, I just wish that my brain could have pondered something more useful than “bloody ‘ell, this is a long road”.

Notable moments included:

  • The somewhat regular Royal Flying Doctor Service “Emergency Airstrip” signs at the side of the road, indicating that we might have to share the tarmac with a landing plane.
  • The Nullarbor Plain (translates as “No Trees” in Aborigine) is the focal point of this trip as it’s about halfway between Perth and Adelaide. A driver has already travelled a long, long way to get to it and has a long, long way to go after crossing it. The whole journey between the two cities is commonly referred to as “crossing the Nullarbor”.
  • The density of stars in the night sky from the camp site of the roadhouse in the middle of the Plain.

We’ve deemed it too much effort to put up our tent for single-night stays. Instead, we sleep in the car. Usually on the air bed in the boot, but if we really can’t be bothered with moving all of our kit to the front two seats, we’ll recline the front passenger seat and sleep as we can (see pics). We spent two nights like this at noisy roadhouses in which, even though they’re in the middle of nowhere, invariably have a disproportionate amount of noisy drunks in their camp site. Avoiding a third night of similar disturbance, we headed for the solitude of a sheep station that also offers “heritage accommodation” and stayed in the shearers quarters.

Cruise control is a wonderful thing.

Comments

Comment from fraser n leonora murray
Time: January 29, 2009, 11:51 pm

Wow,well done ,it looks great,we are driving from Perth to Adelaide in Sept 2009.We intend taking 10/12 days but going South when we leave Perth and going alone the West and South coasts then up to Kalgoorlie/Leonora/Norseman and on to Adelaide.
Any advise/tips would be most welcome,best places to stay etc.
Looking forward to replies.
PS.
Love your little country.We are from Scotland and just love your vast distances.

Comment from daveb
Time: January 30, 2009, 1:02 am

@fraser n leonora: Great to hear from you again. I’ve dropped you an e-mail with some discoveries that we made — hope you find something useful. Feel free to get back in touch if there’s anything else you want to know.

Comment from bill Milner
Time: March 22, 2009, 10:25 am

Fun to read your entries. Nice pix. Nullarbor is not an aboriginal word. It’s two words combined: Latin. Null and arbor. No trees. I traveled the Nullarbor in the 70’s. No trees, no vehicles either. Try a nice visit north of Adelaide, Andamooka. Mine some opals.

Comment from bill Milner
Time: March 22, 2009, 10:30 am

Interesting side note, hamburgers across Australia: Sydney, hamburgers come with a large slice of beet root (pickled beet… yuk!) Adelaide, hamburgers are made with ham, Perth, hamburgers don’t come with meat unless you ask.

Comment from daveb
Time: March 22, 2009, 11:49 pm

@bill Milner: Quite right, quite right — I made a ‘thinko’ when documenting the origins of the word ‘Nullarbor’. Thanks for correcting me on this. Love your note on hamburgers — as it happens, I absolutely *love* beetroot! Just goes to show that for everyone that hates it, somewhere in the world another loves it to balance out the world. Without balance, we’d all fall off the side of our planet…

Comment from Papibryn
Time: April 13, 2009, 9:45 am

found this site on a google search, very helpful as am planning a campervan trip Sept next, perth up to broome then down to port augusta and back across the nullarbor to perth via the south west.

did Perth to Broome back in 76 just after a wet, the dirt was interesting to say the least.

Comment from daveb
Time: April 20, 2009, 2:05 am

@Papibryn: We know somebody who crossed the Nullarbor in a Land Rover and Mini(!) in 1968… I gather the road surfaces have been improved several times since then. Good luck with your road trip — let us know how it goes.

Comment from Lisa McMaster
Time: April 6, 2012, 12:49 pm

Hi guys, fun to read your account, especially as I went west on the Eyre Highway in 2002. I was advised to ring some of the car hire companies and see if any wanted a vehicle relocated and struck gold on the third attempt – I had the use of a camper van for 1 Aussie dollar a day to cover insurance plus petrol (not inconsiderable in cost due to the distance!), I was given 2900 km and 6 days to do the journey. The good part was that I did not have to stay at any roadhouses, just camp the van in the bush somewhere and drive to the roadhouse to get showered in the morning. I woke up surrounded by emus and kangaroos on a couple of days. It was also possible to dive off to a fantastic viewpoint to see the Southern Wright whales and their calves in the Bight and the abandoned telegraph station at Eucla.
The real stunner of course was the night sky – no sodium or indeed other lighting to disrupt the view. I can strongly recommend taking this journey, although of course I don’t know how much things have changed since 2002!

Comment from william adams
Time: May 13, 2012, 9:54 am

Hi
We traveled the same route, @ the same, it’s a wonder we did’nt bump into each other, lol

pics here…

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.186794560196.125217.673230196&type=3

Comment from Klaudia
Time: February 20, 2013, 4:17 am

I really wish to book mark this specific posting, “Eyre Highway:
Crossing the Nullarbor | Escape the City” on my very own page.

Would you care in case I personallydo? Thx ,Selma

Comment from air mattress with pump
Time: June 2, 2013, 3:00 pm

I blog quite often and I truly appreciate your content. The article has really peaked
my interest. I will take a note of your website and keep checking for new details about once per week.
I opted in for your Feed too.

Comment from wii fit board
Time: April 17, 2014, 6:20 am

Become 24 hour fitness a student again. Keeping fit is one of the many requirements
for becoming a Marine, so you must take responsibility for your own routine.

Comment from dave wilson
Time: September 3, 2014, 4:57 am

we drove it in 1967 when it was about 800 miles of dirt road…in a short wheel base land rover…talk about a loooong drive!

Comment from serviced apartments phnom penh cambodia
Time: October 6, 2014, 6:34 pm

And you can find serviced apartments in London ranging from one-bedroom apartments to two bedroom apartments for
a single person, a couple or for the whole family.
Today, the city is making a concerted effort to position itself as a global energy hub with the Energetica project, a 750m energy and technology scheme
which is predicted to generate an estimated 500m annually.
All the hotels provide daily housekeeping services to
the guests. In addition to the best accommodation Melbourne has
a diverse range of things to do and activities that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Comment from nashville seo
Time: October 24, 2014, 8:54 am

I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This piece
of writing posted at this web page is really pleasant.

Comment from Zaboo
Time: December 21, 2014, 2:20 pm

Glad to catch this article. I like the papgraarh not all sports people are good role models. But then neither are all doctors, all lawyers, all teachers or all politicians I’ve been fortunate to see some special moments by star athletes too that go on unnoticed. +3Was this answer helpful?

Comment from Silisto
Time: April 2, 2015, 8:29 pm

I agree with Richard that it should have come out beofre the iPhone; I’m not sure if it has as much educational value as the iPod yet the lack of capacity for podcasts or instructional videos, and the lack of notes.I was disappointed when it came out, I thought it would be the iPhone without phone component but pretty much everything else. However, after being convinced by quite a cynical friend that it was worth it, I did end up buying one.Now, on my iPod Video 60gig my whole library was only 17gig, and much of that was music I’ve been meaning to delete cause I skip past it every time I listen on shuffle and lots more space was taken by podcasts I’d already listened to (I manually manage my iPod too ). Anyway, going down to 16gig was good because I was made to rethink what I wanted to listen to. But, it wasn’t $550 just to trim my playlist which I could have done on my iPod.I’d wanted a PDA for a long time, but knew I wouldn’t use a 3rd device (iPod & mobile phone being the other two) and would hate carrying it around. I love my Blackberry, but needed something with more function. So the iPod Touch looked the way to go. I was majorly pissed off when I found the notes tool was missing but I’m hoping that Apple comes to it’s senses or that I can use a hack tool to put this app on (which I shouldn’t have to do, but i’ll save that rant for another day).But, in the end I bought the iPod Touch because I simply like it. (I’m waiting for your response $550 to make you happy?!.. well, lots of people can spend that on other things to make them happy! Like drugs, food, clothing, whatever their interest!)

Comment from buy brand viagra online
Time: April 8, 2015, 10:16 am

The genius store called, they’re running out of you.

Comment from Una
Time: April 14, 2015, 5:55 pm

There are several other marine electronics that are also
required for better communication and entertainment
needs while you are on the sea. Regardless of automation, I believe it’s still important to understand
the concept. It is a burr under my saddle, a spur in my
side, I am learning to harness it and take it for a ride,
like a bucking bronco, riding out of the tight pen into an expansive field.

Comment from insurance life quote
Time: April 26, 2015, 6:12 am

I love reading these articles because they’re short but informative.

Comment from Milton
Time: May 2, 2015, 3:15 am

and done, home is home. I agree with the view that we have a responsibility to conttibure to change SA into what we want it to be. It will not happen in a day, months not even years, but decades of repeatedly making positive contribution and fighting the evils that are destroying our country. We cannot afford to be silent or abandon our roots. I know it’s easily said than done, especially when there is so much going wrong that one looses the will to live there. I come from the Eastern Cape, and the last time I went home in 2009, there were no public toilets in my hometown. It did not come as a surprise to me because I had been witnessing the degeneration every year, and not just with toilets but with everything, the roads, the filth just about everything. But I am determined to go back and see what little difference can I make.So I say to all those who are thinking about going home, let us go, and to those already gone, good on you.

Comment from generic levitra
Time: May 28, 2015, 7:33 am

Yo, that’s what’s up truthfully.

Comment from auto insurance
Time: May 28, 2015, 7:46 am

It’s a relief to find someone who can explain things so well

Comment from purchase viagra
Time: May 28, 2015, 7:56 am

I found myself nodding my noggin all the way through.

Comment from Gold Coast SEO
Time: September 1, 2015, 7:48 am

Ten of my artworks (including this one) shall be on display on the Gold Coast Sofitel Lodge in April.

Comment from gaming center near me
Time: February 8, 2016, 5:05 pm

Tournaments and events- A LAN gaming middle is not just a
spot where players pay to play and eat.

Comment from love poems for him
Time: February 11, 2016, 2:19 am

Guiding Questions for Reading Poems about Love : College students can use
this handout as a information when studying love poems from
quite a lot of poets.

Comment from fatigued all the time
Time: February 13, 2016, 12:46 am

The best method, as fatigue in menopausal ladies is primarily caused by
a hormonal imbalance, is to treat the issue directly at the source.

Comment from uçak bileti yurtiçi
Time: February 14, 2016, 4:13 am

Yemek derseniz elbette çok lüks lokantalar?n yan? s?ra
bolca dönerci (Alman dönerine bay?l?yorum!) ve sosisçi de (umar?m domuz eti
yiyorsunuzdur, çok lezzetliler.) var ve fiyatlar? da oldukça ucuz.

Comment from dog running harness pets at home
Time: May 23, 2016, 5:57 pm

A rocket recall is a should, along with a fail-proof depart
it” command in case you encounter something
dangerous like a rattlesnake or other hikers or canines that don’t need your dog to approach.

Comment from anime
Time: May 30, 2016, 4:46 pm

The content created on this course is to be used as a portfolio material or present college students with
the advertising and marketing materials required to start out
as a freelancer.

Comment from venture capitalist definition wiki
Time: June 5, 2016, 3:22 pm

The finds at Mapungubwe are important for two causes: they have been wealthy in skeletal materials and in gold and different objects, and since
no Ancient Ruins Company had plundered here, nearly all
have been undisturbed and could possibly be examined the place
they lay.

Comment from UAC Contractors
Time: June 8, 2016, 9:43 pm

Hello, i believe that i saw you visited my web site thus i came to return the prefer?.I’m attempting to to find things
to enhance my site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

Comment from custom printing near me
Time: June 18, 2016, 8:31 pm

Meanwhile Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.) Google is competing with each YouTube and Google Play Music.

Comment from ups near me
Time: July 14, 2016, 11:49 am

All companies making gadgets for a Home windows computer need to have Microsoft log out on the new driver before it
may be added to the working system.

Comment from foreclosures west seattle
Time: August 3, 2016, 10:24 pm

Narrow your search by price, square ft, beds, and baths to seek
out foreclosures that suit your standards.

Write a comment