Travelled 657 kilometres @ 16.8 litres / 100 kms
After a magic night camped on the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight, the next day we reached the South Australian-Western Australian border, which is marked by Border Village in SA and the WA Quarantine Station (which is about as hospitable as Checkpoint Charlie). Border Village had the renowned signpost pointing to many cities across the globe as well as the giant kangaroo, Rooey II. Our stop at Eucla, just next to the border in WA, hosted some real surprises. We visited the Old Telegraph Station built in 1887, which is now gradually being subsumed by the rolling sand dunes. Four inquisitive emus came to say hello and a few white cockatoos were squawking above. We trekked over sand dunes to view the remains of the old Eucla jetty. To Jan’s bemusement, the rather large squid with its protruding black beak I found washed up on the shore, impressed me almost as much as the jetty.
From Eucla, we drove along the longest straight stretch of road in the southern hemisphere – 90 miles or 146.6 kilometres – and then onto the biggest untouched temperate Eucalypt forest in the world, the Western Woodlands, before setting up camp just before Norseman at Fraser Range Rest Stop.
Often seen as a rite of passage that any self-respecting Aussie would have to do at least once in their lifetime, I do feel that crossing the Nullarbor is a must-do Australian road trip. Some may think driving across it is boring, though this was far from the truth for us. While certain patches were a bit tedious, we found the Eyre Highway contained a kaleidoscope of landscapes including the green farming fields near Ceduna, the treeless plain section where all you see is miles of low-lying scrub to the far horizon, the gentle hilly passes through Madura and Eucla, and the huge variety of trees in the Western Woodlands at Norseman. I fondly recall driving across the Nullarbor with a mate in an 1100 Austin Morris Minor with no air-conditioning back in the sweltering summer of 1978. Whatever time of the year, the Nullarbor shares with you her natural beauty, and the many unique and fascinating landscapes along the way will leave you with an indelible impression.
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