Driving the Nullarbor - Perth to Melbourne

[Dont be a lemon]

[YOUTUBE]1hr1bklcZzI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[JohnWayne999]

Hi guys, I've just registered with this forum and apparently it's got this 5 days rule where during first 5 days I cannot post new thread. Can only reply to threads. Thing is after 5 days I'm already gone. So I thought I might hitch a ride on this old post.

Needing quick advices about driving from Sydney to Perth please. I drive a Toyota Prius at its best 2.3L / 100km on freeways. I plan to go from Sydney to Perth, which is 4000km. Fuel-wise equates to under $400 (calculating using $2 / L, running at 4L / 100km to be realistic).

Googlemap tells me it'll take just under 48 hours. I plan to do it over 4 days ie. driving only during the day. Pull over for the night. I'm quite young and healthy. 10 packs of musli bars and 5L water onboard should do me fine. The car itself has just been serviced last week and is good condition. 2010 make.

Any general and specific advices please?


By the way does Telstra (mobile phone) cover most of the areas between Sydney and Perth? If not, what if my car broke down and I need to call some body?

Thanks a lot.

 

[J_Moore]

4 days is double, but id give yourself 5 or 6 if you can. 4 straight days of solo 12 hour drives is brutal.

No reception out on the nullarbor, I don't think, but enough trucks go by you're not in any danger of being stranded very long. It's a well-used sealed highway. You're not 4wd'ing the Simpson or anything.

 

[Old Skool]

Any general and specific advices please?
.

It's not as remote as you might think. There is regular traffic.

I actually saw a guy bicycling across the Nullarbor.

Take a 20lt jerry can of fuel/water/extra belts etc, and try not to let your car get under 1/4 tank of fuel.

The day driving only tactic is smart. There's lots of critters out on the roads at night.

 

[kaysee]

...

Seafood in Ceduna is great and cheap, but you may get bashed.

....

Haven't been further than Adelaide - Ceduna... but I'll be bugged why anyone would stop there for the night. Easily the biggest dive I've ever been in.

Much better off detouring 1 hour SE along the coast to Streaky Bay... which is a great township (would retire there).

Bookmark it... Streaky Bay >>>>>> Ceduna.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

If you can help it, don't fuel up at either of the SA / WA border or Eucla, when I came across there last July they were both about 20c a litre dearer than other places.

I used to do the drive from Geelong to 400km north of Kalgoorlie in the late 80s a bit. First day to Port Augusta, second day to Eucla and last day to Leinster. The only time it differed was during the pilots' strike in '89. First day Leinster to Ceduna, second day Ceduna to Geelong. There was no accomodation anywhere, the road was full of tourist coaches.

When we did it in July last year it was towing a 3 tonne caravan. We came down through NT / Northern SA and turned right around Port Augusta. Spent a night at Kimba, a few nights at Ceduna in a park a few ks from the middle of town, it was a very nice spot and then drove onto Norseman with a stop a Head of Bight to watch the dozens of whales in the bay.

Make sure you're not relying on your car radio for any entertainment while going across. There are quite a few spots to pull up and look at the cliffs of the bight but don't leave it too late if you're going to do it. Everytime went to pull over for a look the spot was shut down because of the unstable ground. It was too hard to turn around with the van on the back so my family ended up missing out.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Did Ceduna-Kalgooorlie last year for a work assignment - can reccomend Oysterfest in Ceduna as a pretty good way to spend grand final weekend.

We did Ceduna-Nullarbor-Eucla-Madura-Norseman-Kalgoorlie over the course of about a week. Can reccomend the Nullarbor Links as a definate laugh if you're not in a rush to cross the plain.

Reccomend Eucla as opposed to Border Village - food's a fair sight better and its a proper motel (as opposed to a glorified servo.)

3G reception is good at the roadhouses on the SA side, but WA is a giant black spot from Eucla to Norseman.

If you can help it, don't fuel up at either of the SA / WA border or Eucla, when I came across there last July they were both about 20c a litre dearer than other places.

Eucla will generally be cheaper than Border Village - the same bloke owns Border Village, Cocklebiddy, Madura and Caiguna so the prices before Balladionia (apart from Mundrabilla), will generally be identical apart from Eucla.

 

[Milang_Panthers]

Bump.
Doing this in a week or so from Perth to Adelaide. What are the fuel prices like these days?

 

[Kram]

Watch out for UFOs.

 

[Macca19]

Will be going from Adelaide to Perth and back in March. Hoping to go Adelaide - Esperance in 2 days with a stop over in Eucla in the middle. Then going Wave Rock, Albany, Margaret River, Perth, Rottnest and back again.

 

[Macca19]

Just did the first leg of the nullabor trip, currently at Esperance. Stopped for a night in Eucla half way. Accommodation for what it was was decent enough. Comfy bed, good shower. Thats all we needed. Highest fuel price was at Nullabor roadhouse, $2.06 for 91 unleaded. Dont spend much time in Norseman. Man what a hole. Only saw a couple of dead wombats. Didnt see a single live animal on the trek over.

Definitely recommend a Streaky Bay detour. Lunch on the beach front was awesome. Fantastic seafood. Kimba was great for breakfast, though half the town was cordoned off by police.

Plenty of cars & trucks on the road. Saw probably 6-7 cyclists riding as well, and strangely one bloke running along bouncing a footy about 20kms from any sort of civilisation.

 

[lewigie]

I saw someone hitchhiking on the middle of the Nullabor when I went through it last month. Thought it was a bit strange.

Fuel wasn't $2 for me but it was something close, like $1.97. So carry jerry cans if you can.

Esperance is quite nice, but not as nice as Albany. If you can, try to go to Yallingup (it's about 80kms out) when you travel to Margaret River.

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Done this trip a few times.

Be careful driving at night around Eucla a few dead roos once you get pass quarantine.
You will get the ABC around night time on the radio so make sure you take your CD's.
Try not to park close to others if spending the night in a parking bay if you want good sleep.
Emergency Phones are around the place in parking bay's if your phone is down.
The best meals for me is at Ceduna & Eucla bust most of the roadhouses does a good Fish & Chips.

Now someone posted that 4 cops a based at Eucla that is not the case anymore it is now 10 , 5 from SA & 5 from WA.

Accommodation is basic after leaving Ceduna until Norseman.

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Kimba was great for breakfast, though half the town was cordoned off by police.

.

SA Police News



Tuesday


Kimba explosion
(3 photos)
Police conducted a controlled explosion in High Street, Kimba to render a substance safe.

 

[lewigie]

Done this trip a few times.

Be careful driving at night around Eucla a few dead roos once you get pass quarantine.
You will get the ABC around night time on the radio so make sure you take your CD's.
Try not to park close to others if spending the night in a parking bay if you want good sleep.
Emergency Phones are around the place in parking bay's if your phone is down.
The best meals for me is at Ceduna & Eucla bust most of the roadhouses does a good Fish & Chips.

Now someone posted that 4 cops a based at Eucla that is not the case anymore it is now 10 , 5 from SA & 5 from WA.

Accommodation is basic after leaving Ceduna until Norseman.

There really isn't anything even at Eucla to do for the police, except patrol the border for drug smugglers I guess.

Travelling into Ceduna and through the quarantine was easy, we said we had nothing, they let us past. The WA border however spent half an hour searching through the car.. I mean surely people aren't that interested in hiding fruit?

 

[Upgrayedd]

Did it, some points were often unbearable and it gets lonely as hell knowing your the only intelligent soul within 100k's, However once you pass adelaide and start hitting the limestone and dirt it gets much more intresting

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Travelling into Ceduna and through the quarantine was easy, we said we had nothing, they let us past. The WA border however spent half an hour searching through the car.. I mean surely people aren't that interested in hiding fruit?

The quarantine people at Ceduna take under 5 mins to look at the car but at WA we had to wait ages at a long weekend because they only had 1 person.

 

[Upgrayedd]

The quarantine people at Ceduna take under 5 mins to look at the car but at WA we had to wait ages at a long weekend because they only had 1 person.

Huge amount of drugs go on the Trip,

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Huge amount of drugs go on the Trip,

That's for sure a few needles in the parking bays

 

[bradrowe#32]

Watch out for UFOs.

I'm positive I saw a UFO while driving at about 9pm (very stupid). Something just hovered in the air with a light shining down. It could've been a helicopter, but I doubt it.

I did the trip last year - left Melbourne Sunday morning and arrived 4-5pm on Tuesday. Made it to Adelaide on Sunday evening, started early on Monday and drove through to about 2am before finally succumbing at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere. It was absolute stupidity driving through the night, but I was too buzzed when I tried to stop and sleep in the car at a petrol station and couldn't justify spending $$$ for a hotel room for a few hours. Heaps of kangaroos on the road - they just ******* stand there, right in the middle of the road but if you have your high beams on and sit at 70-80kms you can avoid them. I repeat again, absolute stupidity to drive at night.

The road trains weren't too bad - it was the caravans that killed me. They truly are the cyclists of the highways. They just sit there, sitting 30kms under the speed limits, cruising along. Jerks.

I wish I took longer to do it and checked out some of the sights, but I was in a hurry to get over for a job interview.

 

[bradrowe#32]

I wished I checked this out too;

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Stay behind road trains if you are driving at night because they clean up the roos

 

[Macca19]

Driving back through on Sunday & Monday. Agree on caravans though they arent that bad and easy to overtake with as much straight road as the nullabor has. Getting stuck behind one for km on end on a skinny country road with many twists and turns as they dont go above 60 or 70 in a 100 zone is rage inducing.

 

[bradrowe#32]

Stay behind road trains if you are driving at night because they clean up the roos

Very true. I realised that pretty early on.

 

[whiteoak]

The bitumen is for pussies.

Followed the actual railway line from well inside SA to Kalgoorlie in 2009.

Was truly brutal. But well worth it.

srs.