Free Camping on the Nullabor

We are setting off this morning to cross the nullarbor
We have bought the camps 5 book and it provides you with all the info you need
Even has pictures of the camp sites
Google earth is also a valuable tool

Hi Ken

We recently drove nullabor - exploring 4wd tracks off side as well , but free camped near highway on each day (3 days).

The camps 5 book mentioned above was helpful but not necessary if stopping before dark.
Some spots mentioned were not correct.

From melbourne our first stop was west of port Augusta as below



an hour west of Pt Augusta - lake gilles at 53 H 665118 6341902



Bunda Cliffs (camps 5) , 669 - SCENIC LOOKOUT at 52 J 630254 6504868



20km west Balladonia at 51 H 535439 6434624

At each of the places above we lite small fires.


There seemed to be few places to stop close to Perth so we drove straight thru but one place made by a road diversion was at 50 H 426407 6441090

At all these places you could get your van in , but not many places for a large rig so if you saw one I'd grab it.
For us with just a car we could get right away from others.

Also it is a lot shorter (>100km) by taking the dirt highway straight west from Norseman instead of going up to Kalgoorlie.
I would not go this way with a big van if road was wet .

Overall an easy no hassle trip.

hi ken d
there is a very imformative book
by ron and viv moon called

across the bight and nullarbor for about $25
an adventures guide from
port augusta to esperance

it gives a lot of very good and detailed imfo of things and many places to look at
while travelling that section of highway
i bought it from a fishing and camping store in wa

but no doubt it will be in one of your outlets somewhere in your state
it's put out by rons own publishing co

www.guidebooks.com.au

the nullarbor is a lot more interesting than some people give it credit for and if you've got the time to spend

and are interested in remote country and its unique features then it can make the trip across much more than just and endurance long distance trip from
a to b you might be amazed at how much there is to see
cheers
barry

Hi Ken and Chris

It is wide open country with lots of opportunities to pull well off the road. East of Mundrabilla, there are no fences, and private camp spots are easy to find just about anywhere. West of Mundrabilla there are station fences which limit distance, but some rest areas cover a large area so you can get behind vegetation, and well away from the road and other campers who generally seem to stop close to the road. Rest areas which are designated overnight stops have a pit toilet, but are generally close to the road and get crowded. These and other large rest areas are listed in Camps 5.

We have had no safety concerns, whether parked near the road, in the open near the cliffs, or tucked away down side roads.

Motherhen

A couple of nice spots we found when Geocaching on our trip last year were at the following spots. I will cut and paste the info so please excuse the formatting.

THE CACHE IS LOCATED AT BULDANIA ROCKS WHICH IS ON THE EYRE HIGHWAY EAST OF NORSEMAN WA.

MEASURED FROM THE NORSEMAN POST OFFICE, TRAVEL 29.4 KM EAST. THERE IS A TRACK TO THE LEFT WHICH IS CLEARLY MARKED WITH A WHITE SIGN WITH THE WORD "WATER" CUT INTO IT. BULDANIA ROCKS ARE ABOUT 500M INTO THE TRACK. THE TURN OFF IS 32 DEGREES 04.920 SOUTH AND 122 DEGREES 02.218 EAST. TRAVEL TO THE ROCKS AND PARK THERE, WHICH IS NEAR A GNAMMA HOLE.

DO NOT DRIVE ONTO THE ROCKS THEMSELVES, THERE ARE GNAMMA HOLES DEEP ENOUGH TO HIDE A CAR.BULDANIA ROCKS WAS USED AS A WATER CATCHMENT AREA WHEN CAMELS WERE USED FOR TRANSPORT. THE PLACE IS VISITED BY MANY ANIMALS INCLUDING DINGOES, CAMELS AND KANGAROOS. BEWARE OF POISONOUS SNAKES IN THE AREA.

DO NOT LEAVE ANY LITTER AND YOU MAY LIKE TO HELP THE COUPLE WHO HAVE SPENT A LOT OF SPARE TIME REMOVING RUBBISH THAT HAS BEEN LEFT BEHIND BY TRAVELLERS OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS OR SO.

This spot is a good safe distance from the highway and very sheltered.


At S 32° 06.798 E 123° 10.409Newman Rocks, again off the road and another lovely spot.

You can find more about Geocaching at this link. http://www.geocaching.com/

Hi Ken, I'll add my two bobs worth. As a long time tourist (5.5 years) we crossed the Nullarbor three times in our 28 ft motorhome. Never had a problem finding a quiet spot for the night even without Camps 5. There is really so many of them. Even some of the bigger rest area's are not that bad as October is no high season yet. But more often we just pulled off the road when we saw a little track, ducked behind the bush (not on the Nullarbor part of the Nullarbor if you know what I mean) and had a good sleep. Oh, and just ask fellow travellers coming from the other direction where they were the night before. And one other important thing, ask them where they bought fuel and at what price. Can differ a lot. And as for safety. We never felt unsafe during our whole trip.