We are currently at Esperance and will be doing the Nullarbor in in about a weeks time (obviously from the WA end).
We would like the option of paid and free camping, but need drinking water.
Can you please tell us what places will supply us with bulk drinking water (I realise it is at a premium and ok with paying for it). We don't particularly want to fill our tanks with bore water
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Think most the CPs have water'tap for your hose to connect to. I have never found water to be any problem crossing the Eyre Hwy and we free camp mostly.
when we came across in Feb most places had signs up saying requests for water would be refused. As we only took 4 days it was not an issue for us. I suggest you fill up in Esperance and keep this for drinking - and 'buy' showers at roadhouses as needed. Maybe also buy a couple of 10 lt containers of drinking water as 'insurance'.
Most of the water in the caravan parks will probably be bore water.
-- Edited by villatranquilla on Thursday 12th of March 2015 12:07:08 AM
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Jenny and Barry
2009 Roma Elegance / 2013 Colorado. Permanent travellers 2011-2015 now just travel for 4-6 mths
Bruce and Bev. your best, and safest bet would be to fill up in Norseman, they have town water supply there and you can fill up at the local Tourist information centre in town. or at the B.P. on the highway.
Don't rely on any drinking water being available in bulk anywhere on the crossing, buy fresh drinking water at the IGA in town, around 6-7 bucks for 10l.
there is a fairly new water tank with shelter about half way across ( can't recall exactly where though ) there was pretty good water in the tank the last time we crossed about two years back.
Don't rely on picking up drinking water between Norseman and Ceduna. 600ml bottles at $5 is available most of the times at road houses along the way. The road houses cart in their own drinking water and use bore water for showers.
I would not travel the Nullarbor without my own water on board and in 2 separate containers/ tanks
How long are you planning to take and how much water do you think you need? At10 litres a day i guess your tanks hold enough for 6 days. It is only 1100 k from Norseman to Penong. At 400k a day that is only 3 days. surely you can carry enough water for that.
As others have pointed out you should be able to carry enough water in your van tanks to get across. Another factor is that because there are no towns to pass through most people are able to drive much further in a day than normal - particularly in summer with the longer daylight hours.
A tip for those stopping to have a shower at one of the roadhouses - don't wash your hair unless you have special soap. The hard bore water used makes your hair also go 'hard!'
We bought water at Nullarbor roadhouse. If you are going to pump it straight into your tank, they will charge you for a full tank, regardless of how many litres. Instead, we pumped into jerry can 3 times (60 litres), paying 15c per litre. This was more panic buying than anything else. We were on the Eyre highway for 11 days, and ended up at norsman with water to spare.
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Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
Bruce and Bev wrote: We don't particularly want to fill our tanks with bore water
The only non bore water you will get between Norseman and Ceduna is tank water. Tank water is too precious to hand out to caravanners for showers. Suggest you pay for showers at service stations if you are not prepared to just wash yourself most nights.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
We've been across W to E, five times (and back) never had any issues with drinking water, we carry a couple of 10ltr supermarket type containers we use purely for tea/coffee and cold water in the fridge.
We have 300ltr capacity on board but have never had it full as never felt the need, we usually fill half way(150ltrs) to use for showers washing up etc.
If desperate plenty of stopping places to grab a shower for $2-4 along the way. Or to break the journey stay over at Fraser Range station, good water and $2 showers, Balladonia good showers, Nullabor RH etc.
We usually overnight first night somewhere near Coolgardie (Killaree rocks sp.) a freebie drop toilets and huge area, then stop at Fraser Range stn. not cheap but a nice station type stay, or Newman rocks another freebie. Then another freebie somewhere near Border Village on the SA side, heaps of good spots there, then another freebie near Penong, and that's about it you're over.
We usually do it in 3-4 days in a leisurely way no rushing, time to smell the roses so to speak.
My wife and I just came back last weekend and there were signs up then saying water
was at a premium due to drought and they were buying in water for van parks just for showers.
I would be taking enough water to cover my needs
Caiguna has showers included in their caravan park fee but apart from that the only water on the Nullabor is what you carry yourself. Water is far too precious a commodity to give or even sell to tourists as they need it fr the people who live there, cooking, cleaning etc. Just fill your tanks and you should be OK. Last year was our 7th Nullabor crossing.
Geoff and Bev
Not too sure about water at this time, but water is usually Ok from Caravan Parks in Norseman and Ceduna. We travelled across twice last year. I can strongly recommend Fraser Range as a place to stay, best caravan park stop across the Nullarbor and has nice clean showers $1 in the slot and good atmosphere. The showers at Eucla are OK and $ in the slot, but camping is off the highway is in a dirt car park (with nice view) power but no water to sites.
We carry at least 60 litres of drinking water in plastic Jerry cans in the car as well as the water tank in caravan (65 litre tank but no shower or toilet) and usually have no problems. We restock when we stay in caravan parks and check the water quality (by taste) before restocking. If not sure about the water quality we ask the manager of the park if there are any local issues. Most town water supplies meet Australian Water quality standards for bacteria and toxins, but can still taste bad so if not sure it is worth asking before replenishing your supplies.
-- Edited by Yabbietol on Thursday 12th of March 2015 03:36:01 PM
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Former owner of Avan Cruiseliner and now have 16' XC3 Compact Kedron
Tow was NW 2013 Diesel Auto Pajero and is now a Landcrusier LC200 GX.
No probs along Nullabor, I was able to fill up at the carpark of the whale watching place at the Great Bight, its free., they have 2 Huge tanks, also bowls out for dogs to drink..
-- Edited by frangipani on Thursday 12th of March 2015 06:24:40 PM
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"I'll know what I've been searching for, when I find it"
The only non bore water you will get between Norseman and Ceduna is tank water. Tank water is too precious to hand out to caravanners for showers. Suggest you pay for showers at service stations if you are not prepared to just wash yourself most nights.
Gday...
It might not still be so .. but C o c k elbiddy Roadhouse had desalinated water for drinking and they allowed the filling of 20ltr containers at no charge to those who stayed at the van park when I went through there in 2013.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
When we came through late last year all of the roadhouses had signs saying no water was available, except for buying bottled drinking water.
I didn't see the tanks at the whale watching carpark, but it wouldn't take too many people filling their tanks to run them dry. I would think the water in these tanks should be used sparingly, fill a drinking water container, but not tanks. With using roadhouse bore water showers you should be able to get across even on a fairly slow trip with lots of stops with one load in your tanks at the start.
Thanks guys for all that info (even if a bit contradictory from some of you lol). But got the general idea, to be water self contained from Norseman to we get into SA.
We've booked into the CP at Norseman and will top up all our water and use the coin showers in the roadhouses (hope theyre cleaner than many on the road north in WA which even my dog wouldn't go into).
If the bore water makes my hair go hard as suggested by Murray, hopefully it will also work on other bits and pieces haha
But seriously - thanks folks for all your contributions!!
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
No probs along Nullabor, I was able to fill up at the carpark of the whale watching place at the Great Bight, its free., they have 2 Huge tanks, also bowls out for dogs to drink..
-- Edited by frangipani on Thursday 12th of March 2015 06:24:40 PM
Don't be too reliant on this as a reliable source, it is only as good as the last rainfall. There are many of this type of facility in the Top End, but we found the water not suitable for drinking, so only topped up the "dog bowl" for the local finches.
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Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
In my younger days I worked at Balladonia Roadhouse for a short stint and I discovered a great tip.... Most of the water across the Nullabor is from a bore especially during summer months and as such has a high mineral content. So, rather than buying the very expensive bottled water for drinking, just buy a few of bags of ice, put em into some containers and let it thaw. They can't use bore water in the ice machines because the mineral content stuffs them up. So the ice is made from filtered rain water when available OR water and or ice is trucked in as required.
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Steve, Di & Ziggy We named our Motorhome "Roadworx" because on the road works "On The Road Again" Ford Transit with 302 Windsor V8 conversion, C4 Auto, 9 Inch Ford Diff All Lighting L.E.D., 260 Amp/h AGM, 530 Watt Solar + Kipor Backup Gen.
