Crossing the Nullarbor:

If you think the Nullarbor is boring–it’s not
If you think it is all sandy and desert - it’s not!
If you think it has the longest stretch of straight road in Australia – it has.
The trip across the Nullarbor is 1434 kms from Norseman in WA to Ceduna in SA.

We left Kalgoorlie heading back to Norseman. On this trip you pass through the great Western woodlands. This is recognised as the largest and healthiest temperate woodland remaining on Earth. It stretches from the edge of the Wheatbelt to the Nullarbor Plain. There are many beautiful eucalyptus in this woodland.
We just refuelled at Norseman plus filled a jerry can as well for security and started on our trip across the Nullarbor. We planned to go about 370 klms per day stopping at free camps across the way.

At first there are trees as normal and then you see medium bushes but the whole area is covered with vegetation. I think there has been some rain as all the bushes had lots of new growth.
Gradually the trees become sparse and stunted, like twisted bonsai trees. The grass is yellow and dry dotted with some tufty stunted shrubs. As far as the eye can see it is flat.

When we came to Mundi Lookout you get quite a shock to see a large ridge running along and dropping down to a vast plain with just a few scattered trees and stunted shrubs. I didn’t realise that we were on a tableland and as we descended from the lookout we then were then travelling on this plain.

The next section is flat yellow dry grass, a few very low bushes and no trees. Although it is barren it feels majestic as you see how the plants adjust to this harsh climate.


When you get into SA the road across the Nullarbor runs very close to the Great Australian Bight. There are many look outs where you can view the magnificent Bunda Cliffs which are very sheer cliffs. The sea is very blue and clear. These cliffs are very unstable and you have to be careful not to get too near the edge. If you are here in the whale season you will see whales all along this coast line but we were too late – they have all gone past.


The vegetation here is amazing – just small tough low rounded bushes but if you put your hand on them they are either spiky or very strong. I guess they have to endure harsh winds and hot temperatures



Various parts of the Eyre Highway are marked runways where the Royal Flying Doctor Service can land in cases of emergency, we have passed over about 3 – 4 of these on our journey. The sides of the road have been cleared and are generally wider to allow room to land. We also passed the start of the dog fence which we drove along in the north of SA.
As we neared Ceduna you are really off the barren plains and are in the western wheat fields so we felt we were back in civilization again.

There is one and half hours time difference between WA and SA (plus an extra hour for Daylight saving) They advise you to turn your clock back three quarters of an hour before you get to SA and then another when you get to the SA border. I did this but when we got to Ceduna I realised that I had forgotten the extra hour for Daylight Saving. We took ages adjust.

It was a very interesting trip across and completely different tho expectations