This post covers our trip across the Nullarbor plain! If you are interested in reading about the earlier stages of our road trip, I have included the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Day 17

The 17th day of our road trip was a little bit different than the others as we had been preparing for this specific day for our entire trip, as we would begin our crossing of the Nullarbor Plain! If you ever drive across Australia via the south coast, you will have to cross the Nullarbor, which is a 1200km stretch of land that separates Western Australia and South Australia. While it used to be known for being a rough and difficult drive, its current infrastructure just means that it is a really long drive through the desert.

We planned to cross the Nullarbor in two days, with a stop about half way in the town of Border Village (on the WA/SA border) overnight. Though there are modern conveniences located at roadhouses on the highway every 200km or so, we were warned to pack extra water and provisions in case of a breakdown due to the remote location of the drive and lack of cell service.

Though most of the highway isn’t super scenic, there were enough sights to see to keep us mostly entertained for the 5 hours of driving we endured that day. We had both done some research before to know where to stop, and I really enjoyed this website which had some great recommendations.

Our first stop of the day was the town of Penong to see Australia’s biggest windmill. There were also several other windmills as part of a larger windmill museum which we took a look at. It was a quick first stop.

Next, we pulled in to the Head of Bight Whale Centre to have a look at the beautiful cliffs. Unfortunately we were not there during whale spotting season, but really enjoyed the amazing views.

We then stopped at the Nullarbor Roadhouse, which is part of the Nullarbor road’s rich history and holds a historic model of the old roadhouse that you can take a look at. There was also a replica of the most fun animal crossing signs on the highway, which included a sign for wombats, kangaroos, and camels!

We arrived at the Border Village Roadhouse in the late afternoon, and had a little walk around the very small section of land near the highway that was safe to walk along. We took at look at the state border sign and crossing station, and took a photo with the giant kangaroo statue.

A fun fact about Border Village is that it is in a unique time zone, Australian Central Western Standard Time (ACWST). It is 45 minutes later than Western Australia time and 1 hour and 50 minutes behind South Australia time.

To get the full experience, we had dinner in the roadhouse and of course both got chicken schnitzels. The portions were HUGE and delicious, and it was a really nice meal after a long day of driving.

Day 18

When planning this portion of our road trip, we had debated staying at another roadhouse near the end of the Nullarbor to break up the long drive, but considering that the roadhouses didn’t have much going on, we figured one night on the Nullarbor was enough. We had a 7 hour drive ahead of us on Day 18 of the trip, taking us to the town of Norseman, Western Australia.

We started our trip with a check at the border station for any fresh fruits and vegetables and other items that are banned from crossing into Western Australia. It felt funny to have an inspection when crossing a state border, but we passed through without a long wait or any issues.

There was definitely less to see on this second day of the drive, partly because we did not have 4 wheel drive access that would have permitted many more adventures off the main highway That was okay, though, as it kept us on the road in the right direction. We stopped a couple times at some off-road viewpoints, and also made a stop at the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, which had an interesting pub area that we enjoyed taking a look at.

Our next major stop was the Balladonia Roadhouse, which has a small museum showcasing how the Skylab (USA’s first space station) parts crashed into the area nearby and were on display.

We were so excited to finally make it Norseman. We knew we were close when our phone signals started working again, and were very happy to finally pull into town late in the afternoon on Day 18!

We walked around Norseman for a little bit that evening, though it was very hot. The town had a community pool that was free to everyone, so we went for a swim and then relaxed for the night.

We made it to Western Australia! We had accomplished the part of the road trip that we were most worried about given the age of our car, and were very happy that we got across without any major issues. We did get a chipped windshield from a wayward piece of gravel, but it was a small price to pay for an otherwise smooth drive.

I’ll be writing next about our time exploring Western Australia as we made our way around the coast up to Perth. Some truly spectacular beach photos will await in my next posts!