We towed our caravan (22' & 2.6t) from east to west. Overnighter at Eucla then on to Fraser Range Station. Fuel (diesel) at Eucla was 10 cents/L cheaper than at Bordertown! Easy drive, plenty to see. Worst food/coffee at Nullabor roadhouse. Good food at ****lebiddy. Weird museum at Baledonia, but good food/coffee. Just enjoy the drive.
-- Edited by leevin on Sunday 24th of February 2013 11:39:31 PM
We want to cross the nullabour in a sedan, Melbourne to Perth. Can anyone help with the following...Don't want to go off road, How long will it take stopping whereever there is something interesting to see. Where would we sleep overnight, what stops, (we wont have a van) so needs to be established accommodation. Wouldn't want to drive more than 8 hours a day if possible. Hope you can help a couple of 60+ year olds.
Most roadhouses have basic motel units. As to how long will it take, well that's like the proverbial length of a piece of string. Google map the journey, decide roughly how far to travel each day and work out a bit of a plan that suits you.
it all depends on what you want to do coming across, thats a good web site below and the basic motels are not cheap.
if you see the Nullarbor Nymph you need about 2-3 hours to take pictures of her, in the end Mrs W said she was going without me so I had to get in the tug and leave the Nymph behind.
You do not say what time of the year, you maybe lucky to see the whales at the head of the bight, well worth a stop for a couple of hours and there are a lot of other places to see.
Take plenty of water Chris, in case you break down between overnight stops/roadhouses etc and have to wait for help to arrive (eg; tow trucks or whatever)......take a rest every two/three hours, walk around the vehicle to stretch the legs, have a short power nap where you pull up if you feel tired, carry a small camping shovel or garden trowel and toilet paper/wet one baby wipes in case you need to go for the big one (No 2) somewhere nearby. Bury the dump.
If no cover for No 1's, pull off the road as far as possible without getting bogged and open both front and back doors on bush side and stand inbetween doors pointing away from the vehicle if male, or squat behind the doors if female. You can buy stand up female urinals if you google them if your partner has trouble squatting etc.....
Don't mean to be explicit but you do need to consider these things....
As a veteran of many crossings, what is your advice for car drivers ?
Just wanted to add for Chris, most of the roadhouses have showers for a small fee if you decide to sleep in the car seats for a night, just pull up where you see others in the free camps for security.....you can time your stops so it is a short drive to the next roadhouse for ablutions or food etc.....
Hey Guru ( the wombat man ) yes it is a road house , but did you know at the Road house at Nundroo they sell a mean Merlot called Wambat's P.. ,
Regards Herbie,
Yep that deep freezer on the back wall was full of road kill last time we passed through.The tavern/ pub tacked on the end was all boarded over also. Wondering if has reopened or closed for good.
-- Edited by herbie on Monday 25th of February 2013 04:35:43 PM
Wombat did send me a pic of the Nullabor Nymph awhile ago, but told me not to tell Mrs Wombat as he was missing there for some time, I believe his camera battery ran flat he took that many pictures......
-- Edited by Duh on Monday 25th of February 2013 07:33:48 PM
As a veteran of many crossings, what is your advice for car drivers ?
Just wanted to add for Chris, most of the roadhouses have showers for a small fee if you decide to sleep in the car seats for a night, just pull up where you see others in the free camps for security.....you can time your stops so it is a short drive to the next roadhouse for ablutions or food etc.....
I forgot to put a smiley on my comment but you DO know I was tongue in cheek Vic.
As many crossings as I have done I could count on one hand the ones when travelling by car only. The times we did this it was always with my eyes & mind focussed on the destination and would do the trip as quickly as possible. The first one I drove from Perth to the border, stopped for an hour & tried to sleep but my eyes wouldn't close so got going again and drove to Adelaide. I think it took 30 hours all up. I certainly don't recommend this.
As said above, all the roadhouses have basic accommodation to put your head down and they are prolific enough to not have to drive after sunset if you don't want to.
If, as you said you are happy with 800km per day (you can easily do this on the Nullarbor) then you would only NEED one overnighter at perhaps Madura (approx 670km from Ceduna) leaving only 520 odd to Norseman or 1200km all up. Remember, you are chasing the sun when travelling west so you will noticeably have more daylight in a day to look around. Mundrabilla is nearer the half way mark but Madura has nicer accommodation IMHO.
There are too many varying ways to get to & from the Nullarbor so I won't comment here except to say, if you are going via Adelaide then I much prefer to go north from there via Main North Rd through Clare & Wilmington rather than Pt Wakefield road. It is a much more scenic and thus slower road passing through many townships with old architecture.
Cheers Neil
__________________
Neil & Lynne
Pinjarra
Western Australia
MY23.5 Ford Wildtrak V6 Dual Cab / 21' Silverline 21-65.3
Yeh, understood the pun Neil, and knowing a devil lurks within could spot the stir, LOL
Knew you had some good info there.
In the days when the Nullabor was an unmade road, I knew an Army bloke that drove across it in his old Morris Minor van, he would use his Army hootchie and sleeping bag to sleep off the side of the road, and saved his Army field rations for his food over......