Not the Nullarbor!

At ARJ we are always looking for new travel ideas to present to our clients. Now the Nullarbor is certainly NOT new but it really is one of the world’s great road journeys – and one of the longest. In fact, it’s home to the longest straight road on the planet!

We did it from Adelaide, travelling via Port Augusta and Kimba to Ceduna.  Take a look at the silo art at Kimba and the Big Galah that guards the town! Then through Penong and out onto the Nullarbor Plain. It’s flat, almost treeless and divides the Great Australian Bight from the Great Victoria Desert.

Just east of the Nullarbor Road House is the Head of the Bight Whale Watching Reserve – what a view!! Access is good with a flat boardwalk that extends from the Visitors Centre.  Plan a visit in the spring and you are sure to see plenty of Southern Right Whales in the bay below.  At Border Village there is a fascinating Travellers Chapel that’s worth a look - and at nearby Eucla the remains of the Old Telegraph Station can still be seen – although it’s slowly being buried by drifting sand.

The road is long but the scenery is fantastic. We stopped at Madura, Cocklebiddy and Balladonia where – at the Roadhouse there is an interesting museum with displays on Aboriginal Heritage, European exploration and settlement, the history of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the construction of the Eyre Highway. The main focus though is on the fiery re-entry of NASA's Skylab space station in 1979 (which incidentally coincided with Balladonia's centenary of settlement). Norseman is at the western end of the Nullarbor. From here we went onto Kalgoorlie and then north to Geraldton - but that’s another story!