crossing Nullarbor

The South Aust. section does not have many good places, Just short of the Border
the Cliff Lookouts are Ok. no shelter though. Th e Wa section has some very good ones, with fireplaces you need to collect wood before you get there though, as the areas have been pretty well cleaned out. A good shady level place is about Ten Ks West of Mundrabilla, and after you pass Caiguna, there is Butler, and also Newman Rocks can be recommended, toilets also there. You can get more info from Main Roads WA web site
have good trip
cheers Ringa

You'll only need a couple of days if travelling in a Cruiser, ha ha....
Having travelled the Nullabor twice I have 2 comments. Firstly I recall not being able to drive a peg into solid limestone ground (result-no tent for the night) and having to sleep in the car, bugger!!! (Does your sway require pegs ?) and secondly, on my last trip (E to W last year) we topped up with diesel at Eucla/Border Village only to find that at Mundrabilla 50ks further along it was about 15c/litre cheaper, bugger again....
Last year we left Sydney on a Wed morning & stayed at Broken Hill, had the 5000km service done the next morning and drove to Ceduna, left Ceduna and drove through to Southern Cross (about 1600km), then to Perth the next morning, all up just over 3 days. As you can imagine we saw nothing, but that was not the purpose of our trip. My first crossing was much more leisurely.......
Its a great drive, I hope you enjoy it.
Stu

Nice camping overlooking the cliffs, but yes, it is right out in the open. You can get off (even with a Cruiser) on tracks other than the lookouts. My secret spot (shhhhh) is around 42 k west of Nullabor roadhouse there is a turn-off to Cook. Not far up it on your left is a clump of trees which appeared well used by campers, although we had it to ourselves. There is plenty of room for others there anyway. The east side of Yalata between Nundroo and Penong there are several patches of bush (both sides of road) where you can follow tracks and get a reasonable camping distance from the road.

Yalata is well treed, but it is aboriginal land and i believe camping there is a no-no.

Doesn't take long to get across. First time we did Balladonia to Minnipa by getting up at dawn and travelling to dusk, with a couple of stops to see the cliffs.

We have been over and back twice and had no problems finding reasonable spots. A couple of times we resorted to recognised rest areas (WA side) - but choose well vegetated ones of reasonable size where we could get away from the road and anyone else. Each time i have taken notes, but it has just been hundreds of spots. If you want any more ideas in specific spans if you are going to take a structured trip, let me know and i can dig out my notes. There's a stretch where station fences limit distance you can drive from the road - i think it was between Mundrabilla and Madura, not quite sure now. Even then there were a few spots. Otherwise when you get out into SA, just drive off the road and keep going - nothing much to stop even a Cruiser.

We travelled this year in January and the weather was not too hot.

We don't use open fires - have a camp gas stove in the Patrol and a nice little kitchen area in the caravan. Living in the country we are paranoid about fire.

Enjoy your trip

Motherhen

Hi casnat

I too am heading off across the nullabor but have to wait until boxing day to leave.
If you check out post 26622 you will find lots of other info as well.
I am taking my patrol so i will be able to venture futher off the track

Evan

Hi Trevor
I'm leaving Melb on the 14th heading for Perth.
Stopping at Peterborough SA the first night and then heading west from then on.
Need to be in Perth by the 21st, so no huge hurry for me.

Keep an eye out as we should pass each other somewhere in the middle bit. LOL.
Give me a call on the UHF Probably on 40 for most of the way but scanning all channels on the other radio so take your pick.

Cheers

If you are after a coastal diversion then you can head to Streaky bay and to the Point Westall trail and check out the Sea lions at Pt labbat. Then on to Bairds bay and the beutifull Venus bay. The Talia caves and beach are fantastic before jumping back onto the road (It should be bituminised by now they have been doing it since 1988) that heads to Pygery and then you are back onto the Eyre Highway. Be shure to head the 16k North of Wudinna and check out Mt Wudinna and if you have time there are plenty of other granite rocks around with info available from the road house.

G'day Trev,
We came home that way in Sept. There is a terrific road from Hyden to Norseman. Its dirt but better than most bitumen roads. The drive has heaps of sites that can be visited with good information in them. Several that we pulled into had near new toilets in them. Its called the "????? and Granite trail" If you can get a brochure at Hyden it will explain everything about it. We didn't discover it until we were about a third of the way across. We camped in a terrific patch of scrub about 30k's west of Mundrabilla and plenty of firewood. Next night was at Fowlers Bay in the C/Park and it was fine but could be busy over holidays.
have a good and safe trip

I agree with Des Lexic.

I've found the link to the brochure for the Granite and Woodlands Discovery trail. Well worth it, and shorter travel distance and time, nice campsites - the breakaways probably being the best.

Tim

Just a few suggestions from recent trips:

- Call into Cocklebiddy Cave, and climb down into it - should be nice down there on a hot day.
- Call into Twilight Cove which is about 90minutes drive from Cocklebiddy - great spot - its where the cliffs meet the beach. Camp near the beach.
- Eyre Bird Sanctuary is well worth a visit for a couple of hours - can actually drive there along the coast from Twilight Cove. Its located in the old telegraph station, and is manned by caretakers who will charge a small fee, and give you tea and scones. But phone them us before you go.
- Go to the whale watching area at the head of the bight, just east of Nullabor - there won't be whales at this time of the year, but its a great view from the boardwalks.

Theres heaps more to see as well. There are lots of very good roadside camps marked. These days most of them are in bush thats a reasonable distance from the highway.

Best places for diesel are Mundrabilla (SAFF), Nundroo (SAFF) and Penong (Caltex).

NO FIRES AT THIS TIME OF YEAR PLEASE
Mac

If you can, get a copy of the Australian Geo map of the Nullarbor. It has heaps of info on all types of interesting places to see on the crossing. To check out all of them would take months but it would make a great trip. It was published in early 1997, just after I did my trip to WA, but I don't think things have changed much.

Duncs

If you just want to get off the road out of sight for the night, look for one of the many dirt roads into an old microwave site, one about every 30km, either north or south of the highway. Most go in far enough so you can't be seen from the road. Some still have signs, usually a 4-letter abbreviation. From Norseman thru to about 1/2 way between Balladonia and Caiguna, you will get trees, but after that, it's pretty bleak till towards Madura if you want reasonable shade. On the plain between Madura and Eucla, there is little shady vegetation, tho a couple of stops have shade, but they will be busy. As stated earlier, Newman Rocks, also Buldania Rocks, about 20k out of Norseman are supposed to be good spots.
If you have the time, Eyre telegraph station/bird observatory is well worth a detour, as is Twighlight cove. The 20km beach drive between the two requires a detour thru a track thru the dunes for a few km, as there is reef on the beach for some of the way. The track may be tricky to find.
South of Caiguna, a few km north of the cliffs is Baxter's memorial, but the track in is quite slow, and you'd need to allow about 3 hours return.
Cocklebiddy cave is worth a look - about 10km west of Cocklebiddy and about 8km in to the NE, I recall. Also Weebubbie cave and some blowholes about 10km west of Eucla (at the top of the escarpment), accessible via a well formed road from the motel.
Gerry