sherie_in_oz

Gday,

Anyone driven the Nullabor?

We leave Melbourne tomorrow for Adelaide then next day start our drive to Perth across the Nullabor. :scared: :scared: :scared:
Can anyone tell us how long it took?? anyone care to share there experience and any tips? (where to stay etc..)

Thanx for any replies,

Sherie

ROBnCAZ

Blimey! Just a personal observation....but think I'd have checked the distance and how long it was gonna take before setting out on a journey like that!

cedar cottage

Hi Sherie, I have driven the Nullabor a couple of times, my best advice is DO NOT drive at Dusk and Dawn. As this is the time the roo's are out feeding and if you hit one of those your car will be totally destroyed. There are roadhouses all along the drive that you can have meals and there are showers, some free some for a coin donation. They are timed due to the lack of water so get in quick, and also buy some shampoo for desalinated water (David Greys make one) available at chemists, as you can not get a lather up with the other stuff and in the limited time in the shower you dont want to be left with shampoo in the hair..(Good look for the teenage daughter) Are you all in a car or do you have a tent??. There are Condensation shelters along the way especially past Eucla down on the flat where you can camp overnight for free and they have freshwater due to the tanks provided to catch the condensation. What else, you might be a little late for the whale watching season but well worth a look, it is aboriginal land and there is a campfire with free wood and showers (probably the best you will find out there) at Yatala it is on the Great Australian Bite so not far away the view is spectacular, it is not far from the actual town called Nullabor. There are signs directing you. I was the only driver when I did it so I took my time, but I know loads of people that have done it in 4 days when they had two drivers, the road trains do Adelaide Perth in 36 hours, so keep out of their way, they are the biggest trucks and they have three trailers with them. Your mobile phones wont work until Norseman, So if you are in any trouble everyone stops. Have a look at this web site as it has phone numbers of accommodation along the way. www.wilmap.com.au/nullarbor.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Suzette Sorry if it is a bit long winded but it is a long trip.

Grayling

Melbourne to Adelaide is a fair way.

Adelaide to Ceduna is a long way

Ceduna to Perth is the best part of 2000Km.

There are very few places between Ceduna and Perth.

Make sure you organise your overnight stops in advance and take plenty of water. You are talking about a long drive over a very deserted area. If you are not even sure how long it will take I think you need to look very carefully at your plans

Good luck

G

Grayling

Look here:

http://www.nullarbornet.com.au/plann...deTripper.html

G

invictia

Adelaide to Ceduna is 900 kms, can be done in 10-11 hours if you take it easy! Pop into Foodland and say hi! I work there most days! Eat ALL your fruit and vegies before you hit the border 13 kms from Eucla, they are very strict! You have 500kms between Ceduna and the border to do it in. You have mobile phone coverage in Ceduna and Penong which is 70kms from Ceduna, then nowt until Norseman.

Have a good trip and I reitarate - dont drive dusk till dawn, too many jumpity hoppity things out there, and finally when you drive across from Ceduna is you see a Harris Refrigerated Road Train coming towards you dont forget to wave it'll be my other half!
Regards
Sal

Siren & Brian

Water, jerry cans, fan belts, some basic tools.

Done the trip a few times and Melb to Perth in 42 hours with just me driving, doing 100km/h in a full 4wd.

tonyk38

The only thing I would add to this is that the Nullarbor is a tableland and as flat as a pancake. It's also treeless (null arbor), and not a journey I would bother taking for the scenery. For the simple immense featureless nothingness of the journey. Well, maybe that's an experience in itself...

Oh and it's supposed to be good for Red-chested Parrots..

Siren & Brian

Oh lots of money to pay for the fuel prices in the middle of OZ :scared:

janeyray

Hi,

We were going to drive but had to much luggage and a young daughter so thought better not!
We did however catch the Indian Pacific train from Perth to Adelaide. It was a great experience although very boring at times! The Nullabor is a strange place.
Have fun and be careful.

Our train trip took us over 48 hours!!!

claire edwards

Me and Rob drove the Nullabor (Called it the Nullaboring by the end of the trip - in jest of course) in a VW white camper van called 'Pearl'. The camper didn't want to go very fast so it took a while to get from Perth to the East Coast (Melbourne eventually). As we were in a camper, we slept in it, not needing to rely on accommodation. From recollection the accommodation looked pretty basic in the service stations etc. There won't be a great choice.

We drove through swarms of locusts, which was pretty mad, the skies at night were the best I've ever seen (You could watch satellites moving across the sky). I will definitely give you an idea of the vastness of the country and slight changes in the landscape.

Our camper eventually died on us, on the East coast and ended up getting the train back to Perth from Sydney - another great journey and very different again - met some great people!

claire edwards

ps, stop driving before dusk to avoid road kill.

Vash the Stampede

Excellent post; don't think there's much I can add to this, except to say that the road trains are generally courteous and will let you know when it's safe to overtake them by indicating right and remaining in their lane. When you do overtake them, be sure to send a "thankyou" by tapping your brakes once or twice to flash your brake lights.

I've driven Perth -> Adelaide and back again twice; at 2600km each way, it's a hard slog - and much easier if you have one person to share the driving.

Great advice about the roos; I had a couple of near misses. Watch out for large flocks of cockatoos; they don't always get out of the way in time, and they can leave a bit of superficial damage if you hit a large number of them at high speed.

My tactic was to drive until I was tired, pull over to the side of the road and sleep inthe car, wake up the next morning and keep driving. Brought food, drink and extra petrol with me; tried not to rely on the local shops, as everything costs the earth in those tiny little country towns. :scared:

I think my best time for Adelaide -> Perth was about 38 hours, driving solo.

Driving between Adelaide and Melbourne is an absolute doddle; no effort at all.

sherie_in_oz

Thanks for all you lovely people who have done the journey and bothered to reply, really appreciate your thought s and tips, I'm sure it will be a trip of a lifetime, especially for our 3 kids whose education is getting broader with every trip we've done like this around Oz.

Rachel1978

Good luck and have a safe trip, sure it will be fantastic