Before our trip to Western Australia last year a friend told us that the most boring thing in the world is "your second trip across the Nullarbor", but some CMCA members we met on our trip told us they had been across the Nullarbor 13 times, and each time was fascinating. At first glance, the Nullarbor appears to hold little of interest, but if you look a little more carefully, there is plenty to see and experience.

The first European to cross this region was Edward John Eyre in 1841 in what was an epic journey of hardship and endurance. In 1877 a telegraph line was laid, and it was this path the eager gold miners followed after gold was discovered at Kalgoorlie in 1893. In 1912 the first car was driven across, but in the next 12 years only three more cars managed to complete the route. A rough-and-ready road was built in 1941, and in the 1950s only a few vehicles a day made the crossing. Increasing traffic caused the Western Australian government to bitumenise the road to the South Australian border in 1969 and, in 1976, the last stretch of corrugated dirt highway was surfaced.

The Indian-Pacific railway runs right across the flat treeless Nullarbor Plain with a straight stretch of 478km. The Eyre Highway runs along the southern edge of the Plain and there is only one section of the highway that is not flanked by trees. The Nullarbor Plain is the world’s biggest single lump of limestone covering an area of 250,000 square km. This limestone was once part of the ocean floor and was formed approx. 50 million years ago, about the same time Australia was breaking away from Antarctica.

The Eyre Highway runs from Ceduna in South Australia to Norseman in Western Australia, and once on this highway there is nowhere else to go but to the other end. In places the highway is very close to the spectacular Bunda Cliffs where the flat Nullarbor Plain plunges to the pounding Southern Ocean. This area was a seafarer’s nightmare, for a ship driven onto the coast would quickly be pounded to pieces against the cliffs, and climbing them would be a near impossibility.

Travelling east to west, situated 75 km from Ceduna, is the little town of Penong, known as the "town of 100 windmills". On the coast nearby is Cactus Beach, a world-renowned surfing beach. Penong is an ideal rest stop with reasonably priced fuel and free showers. Further west, there is a good quality gravel road which goes to historic Fowlers Bay then rejoins the highway 41km further west.

The highway runs through the Yalata Aboriginal Lands and travellers are only permitted to leave the highway with an entry permit available at the Yalata Aboriginal Community roadhouse. The items of general interest include the Dingo Fence, 7 km east of the settlement. This fence, built to keep the dingoes off the vast sheep stations of SE Australia, runs 6,000km from the cliffs of the Bight to Jimbour in SE Qld. There are a few interesting signs in this area - one warns travellers to look out for camels, wombats and kangaroos. Another sign advises that the section of highway is an emergency RFDS airstrip with painted stop lines for vehicular traffic and turning/parking areas for the RFDS plane.

One of the highlights of a trip across the Eyre Highway is a visit to the Head of the Bight lookout, 78 km west of the Yalata Roadhouse. This dramatic lookout is the location for one of the world’s great spectacles of nature. Each year between May and October 60 to 100 Southern Right Whales spend their winter "holidays" frolicking in the Great Australian Bight Marine Park. The whales are often very close to the cliffs and it is common to see pods including mothers and calves. Even without the whales a visit to the Head of the Bight is a spectacle. From the lookout, the white cliffs are visible, curving to the left and the right, contrasting with the pure aqua ocean. The Bunda Cliffs stretch in an unbroken natural rampart to the Merdayerrah Sandpatch 200 km to the west. The Head of the Bight lookout is in Yalata Land and a permit is required to visit the lookout. This is obtainable from either the Yalata or Nullarbor Roadhouses or the ticket office on the road from the highway to the lookout and costs $7 per person. When the entrance to the road is closed off (out of whale watching season) some travellers access the road to the lookout by driving around the gate.

Further to the west is the Nullarbor National Park which is the section where the highway is on the treeless plain. The Nullarbor roadhouse has bargain-priced showers at $1 and they also run scenic flights in the whale-watching season. West of the roadhouse there are a couple of good rest areas then quite a few that are treeless and exposed. I have some maps showing descriptions of the rest areas and fuel prices for anyone planning this trip in the near future.

Where the highway through the National Park skirts the spectacular Bunda Cliffs there are numerous lookouts and it is worth visiting all of them. The Park is an area with underground caves, blowholes, birdlife, hairy nosed wombats, grey and red kangaroos, dingoes and a wide variety of reptiles.

Further west is the Western Australian border and the township of Border Village. Here the Nullarbor Plain drops a sheer 40 to 90 metres into the pounding Southern Ocean. There is a roadblock for vehicles entering Western Australia and all uncooked fruit, vegetables, honey and plant material must be surrendered. Quarantine officers will thoroughly search all vehicles and they even looked under the bonnet, in the glove box, in our bed, under the pillow and, best of all, IN the Porta potti. As travellers still have a day or so travelling to reach civilisation, you have to plan the meals for the next day. One simple solution is to pre-cook vegetables. The roadblock for vehicles heading east is just outside Ceduna but here it is easy to stock up on fresh supplies only a few kilometres after the roadblock - provided the shops are open.

The historic town of Eucla was once the site of one of the world’s most remote telegraph stations. The first message was sent from the Eastern States to Perth on 8th December 1877 and stated "Eucla line opened. Hurrah." This important event cemented the links between Western Australia and the rest of the country. The ruins of the telegraph station still stand, abandoned and partly covered by the shifting sand dunes. When we were in Eucla there was a hand-written sign which read "Esperance 925km turn left at Norseman".

The highway descends from the Nullarbor to the coastal plain via the Eucla Pass. As the road travels west, the escarpment of the Hampton Tablelands flanks the highway on the inland side. The next roadhouse is Mundrabilla with the reputation of having the cheapest fuel on the Nullarbor. Next comes Madura, approximately half way between Adelaide and Perth, with the Madura pass which takes the road away from the coastal plain. There is a blowhole nearby as well as spectacular views of the Roe Plains and the distant Southern Ocean. Madura Station was settled in 1876 and specialised in breeding horses for the British Imperial Army in India.

The next roadhouse is Cocklebiddy which is near the Cocklebiddy Caves and the Eyre Bird Observatory. Although we haven’t visited it yet, the observatory is supposed to be exceptionally good. There are meals and accommodation available, but advance bookings are essential. The last section of the gravel road is 4WD only, but courtesy 4WD transfers are available by arrangement.

Caiguna roadhouse is next and this fuel stop had the most expensive fuel last February when we travelled through here. Beside the highway 5km west of Caiguna is a blowhole which is a breathing tube for one of the underground cave systems that honeycomb the Nullarbor. Depending on temperature and air pressure, the air is either rushing into or out of the cave systems. The highway now starts the longest straight stretch of highway in the Australia and probably the world, known as the "90 Mile Straight".

We had read a report that Eyre and his party were so desperately short of water when they travelled through here that, in the mornings, he had painstakingly collected water from the leaves of the shrubs with a sponge. This seemed a fantastic account until we awoke at our campsite near Caiguna and found everything outside dripping wet from a sea mist which had rolled in during the night. As the sun rose it looked like a golden orb fighting to be visible through the fog. By the time we were ready to "hit the road" the fog had cleared sufficiently to drive safely.

At the western end of the 90 Mile Straight is the historic Balladonia Sheep Station built in 1882. The roadhouse 35km west has the most expensive showers we found, $3.50 per person and the shower cubicles were padlocked to prevent anyone trying to get a free shower. 40km east on Woorlba Sheep Station is the site where the NASA Skylab crashed to earth in 1979. Newman Rocks, west of Belladonia and only 1km from the highway, were probably the origin of the name of Belladonia which is an Aboriginal word for Big Red Rock.

Even in summer there are travellers who choose to experience this great road journey on bicycles. Luckily for these hardy souls, there are a quite a few water tanks scattered along the Eyre Highway, some for emergency use only. Of course there are also the semi-trailers, most of these travelling on the weekends, particularly on Sundays. It is better for other travellers to avoid being on the Eyre Highway or its approach highways leading to Perth and Adelaide on the weekends.

Finally we come to the old gold mining town of Norseman via the Dundas Hills. The town was named after a prospector’s horse that discovered gold when his owner had tethered him to a tree overnight and he unearthed a section of gold reef. Over 5 million ounces of gold have been taken out of Norseman, making it the second richest goldfield in WA. Norseman is the end of the Eyre Highway and officially the end of the Nullarbor crossing. The choice for the traveller is to either go north to Coolgardie and on to Perth or south to Esperance and its spectacular coastline and stunningly beautiful beaches. But THAT is another story.

I will end my story of the Nullarbor with a quote from Edward John Eyre - "If there is any road not previously travelled, then that is the one I must take." I think that is a philosophy a lot of us can relate to.