Forget the stories you might hear of vast treeless plains, with nothing to see and hour upon hour of featureless driving. This might have been the case in the 1970s when the Nullarbor track from South Australia to Western Australia was located inland near the rail line.
Welcome to the current Nullarbor drive, which features roadhouses with fine dining and caravan parks, forests, escarpments, bush camping, magnificent cliffs overlooking a vast blue ocean and whale watching.
We spent six days in our Explorer Motorhome, travelling the 1203 km from Ceduna in South Australia to Norseman in Western Australia in September 2021, in a small window of open border crossings.
Historical ruins remind you of a time when the area was more populated
Ceduna is a sizeable seaside town; we did a good stock up here on fuel and food supplies, filling our on-board water tank and buying extra water containers, as we knew that fresh water was not easily available on route.
First stop on our journey was Lake MacDonnell, which features an eye-catching causeway with a pink lake on one side and a green lake on the other. Bacteria and algae create the pink colour with the right amount of salinity and sunlight. Nearby are Sinclair Beach and Port Le Hunte, with towering white sand dunes dominating the landscape.
There are many excellent bush camp sites to be found using the popular apps for your camp at nighttime. Our first night was at the old Cohen school with a few ruins left to remind us of a time when this area was more populated.
On our second day, the landscape had many changes from pastures and crops to thick scrub and trees, finally converging into a sparse flat plain. Our destination for the day was to go to the Head of the Bight, which is an Interpretative Centre managed by the Yalata people. Southern Right Whales can be easily seen off the cliffs and walkways from May to November.
Enjoying the spectacular scenery
We were privileged to witness three sets of mothers and babies frolicking in the calm blue waters only 400 metres offshore. An hour passed by easily, just admiring these magnificent animals that were once hunted close to extinction. We camped for the night in the allotment near the gate to the Bight.
Heading a little further west on our third day, we found a track in to the Bunda Cliffs and made a campsite for that day and night right near the edge overlooking the ocean. Just us, the vast blue ocean, the towering cliffs and as luck would have it, a mother Southern Right Whale and her calf. We watched them travelling along the cliffs close to shore, come right past us and then return in the late afternoon. The calf stayed near the surface, but mum dived deep at times, returning to her calf often. We were so close we could easily hear them clearing their blowholes.
Incredible limestone cliffs stretch along the coast for over 100km, making them the longest uninterrupted sea cliffs in the world. There are four signposted official photo stops to take in the views and the majesty of these cliffs.
The landscape is ever changing
Border bound on our fourth day, we crossed into Western Australia after a quarantine inspection. Almost all fruit and vegetables need to be surrendered when entering Western Australia. If you are going west to east, the quarantine station is at Ceduna. Hint, have some tinned vegetables and fruit to tide you over until you get to a supermarket, as the roadhouses do have limited supplies, but it tends to be very pricey.
Eucla van park was home for the night. No water fill ups out here, but power if wanted, laundry facilities, showers and one of our best fi ne dining experiences at the nearby service station and restaurant. We could have been at any one of the big city restaurants. The food was exceptional in appearance and taste.
Leaving Eucla, you travel west through the vast Roe Plains with the imposing Hampton Tablelands, an escarpment with an abundance of trees and bushes on your right side for 200 kilometres of your journey.
You can see by the plains, cliffs and escarpments that the Nullarbor was once a shallow seabed, which over the millions of years has led to the laying down of limestone up to 300 metres deep. This has resulted in an extensive system of underground caves, many of which need permissions to be explored.
The six-day drive felt leisurely
The Caiguna blowhole is part of this cave system and can be easily accessed just off the highway. It is an example of a natural limestone blowhole; you can hear and feel the air being expelled. We spent our fi fth night here in the nearby bush camp, surrounded by bushes of tiny, many coloured wildflowers. Wildflower season is from around September to November in this area. With little to no rain, nature can still show off its splendour.
If wildflowers are not your thing, maybe golf is. From Ceduna in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia is the world’s longest golf course. You can play a hole at each roadhouse, stopping, starting or ending at the golf courses in the towns of Ceduna and Kalgoorlie. Each hole is officially marked and named for its surrounding area.
The journey along the Nullarbor is an experience in itself
The Nullarbor road itself is a magnificent, well-maintained highway, with two lanes fully sealed all the way, wide shoulders, a centre rumble strip, four Flying Doctor plane landing strips and 10 roadhouses along the way all with full facilities.
Our sixth day took us to the town of Norseman, where it was time to restock the larder, the fuel and top up with water. The pace of our journey over six days felt leisurely. We were able to take in much of what there was to offer enroute and not once were we bored with our surroundings. We felt very safe, and our connection to the rest of the world was never far away. A journey well worth doing, not just to get from point A to B, but for the experience itself.
