Crossing the Nullabor...

Alone, with 4 kids, a dog & a trailer.

I need the low down. With the trailer on the back of my car, I only get a bit over 500 kms to a tank of petrol. I need to know exactly how far between petrol stations & if there are any cheap places (eg caravan park) I can stay.

I'm on my own with 4 kids & my dog. Don't care how long it takes me to get across. I'm giving myself a week before I plan to move into my house, so heaps of time. Not much money for accomodation though...

If any one can help it'd be great. I'm planning to leave CW NSW around the 3rd Jan.

No idea but want to wish you lots of good luck. I hope it's a smooth trip and the beginning of a wonderful new life.

:) me too. I don't have much confidence, but we'll see.

weve done the trip a few times, and gone kal/esperance/, caiguna, eucla, adelaide/marray bridge/border town, melbourne
we tried to do 8hrs driving a day.
it cost us 1& for fuel and axccomodation

We'll be going Esperance way. I just really need to know if my car will make it between servo's! I know its really isolated out there & I've heard you need to carry fuel, but having never done it I don't know any more than that.

No idea either.

Where you off to hun?

I applaud your bravery!
xxxx

We did it last year towing a caravan and didn't have any issues getting to a petrol station in time. There's a station at every roadhouse/town along the Nullabor. As for accomodation, most (maybe all?) roadhouses have hotels you can stay in or places you can park a caravan. The caravan friendly places were pretty cheap to stay at (around $20 or so dollars per night), some charge you for hot water in the showers (I think at Eucla). Would you be staying in a tent or a camper? A camper would be fine in those places, a tent may not be suitable due to snakes, etc. We never saw anyone use tents. Some places to stay with a caravan are just a stretch of gravel with a few power points and '70's toilet blocks.

Make sure you bring plenty of food and things you will need. Basics like bread and milk cost a fortune across the Nullabor. A box of tissues was $9 in one place :o.

Good luck :D

A little place in the middle of nowhere. My brother is there. About halfway between Esperance & Perth.
I want to do things, see things. So we'll start there & see what happens. Might head up north from there in a year or two. Just take our time & see a bit of Australia :)

Trish - I won't have either, lol. I was hoping for motel/cabin/permanent van or something :lol:

If all the servo's have motels/rooms, we'll be right.

Yeah, from what I recall they all had somewhere you could stay :). I didn't see any permanent sites or cabins, but there were plenty of motel rooms. We LOVED Esperance, we stayed there on the way to Perth and on the way back home we loved it that much lol! We travelled the whole south coast up to Perth and it was sensational, we wanted to live in each town we stayed in :lol:.

Where are you starting from hun? Are you going through far NW NSW?

there are motels at the read houses, but they aren't cheap. 150-200 for basic motel room.

do not drive at night, you run the risk if hitting kangaroo and if you do, you'll be in for a long wait for help.

the roadhouses are it. there are no other shops at all, so definitely bring as much food as possible. they charge a fortune for food and and drinks.

I would drive as much as the kids will allow in one day. stop for short run arounds at the roadhouses. there really isn't anything to see or stop at apart from these unless you want to take 100km round trip detours.


Goodluck hun.

oh i live between esperance and perth :)
the roadhousearent cheap, but most of the ones we've staye at slept 4 easily. most also say 'x km to fuel' so we topped up if in doubt. i thnk the 200km stretch right before nullabor village was the longest without anything

200km is nothing for us :) We usually do the 10 hours to here with only 2 or 3 stops. We're leaving from Dubbo.

Trish, Esperance is gorgeous isn't it. We went down there while we were visiting. Cold & windy, but so pretty :)

I wonder if you can book into the servo's etc online? I'm planning on doing 8 - 10 hours a day. If it gets too much, we might stay an extra night somewhere.

I have an esky, cooler bag etc for food & drinks :)

I'm not sure if you can book online, maybe do a Google? People only stay one night so they shouldn't be completely booked out. You could check the towns on your map and Google their phone numbers to take with you? That way you can call ahead and work out if they have room for you before you arrive. I wouldn't book too far in advance because you might get a good run with the kids and go further than you expected. The quicker you get off the Nullarbor the better! On the way home (after leaving Esperance) we managed to do a big drive and only needed to stay one night on the Nullarbor.

I blogged our trip in September/October of last year, there are photos of some of the Nullarbor towns on it if you want to have a look over it HERE. It's in reverse order obviously because the lastest blog post was of our last days there ITMS!

Trishalicious - We LOVED your town, that was another we wanted to live in lol! DH loved all the huge windmills :)

Cheers for your help guys :)
Will definetely get phone numbers & take them with us.

What is phone service like? In the towns?

i had reception all the way to the nullabor, nothing at caiguna, though norseman and eucla had reception.
albanys too cold haha, we are in perth for a month or so, but its too hot!

:lol: Can't wait to see Albany. Its gotta be warmer than Esperance! Didn't get a chance when we were over there.
We'll be near Wave Rock, so if anyone is out that way ;)

no reception over nullabor but you'll pick it up as soon as you hit the first town after.

remember you can alwayss ring 112 in an emergency regardless.

Thought that might be the case :)
Think I'll join the NRMA... Just in case...

Oh Albany is beautiful :)

just wanted to say travel safe and what a cool adventure :D

thankyou :)

lets hope i survive it with all my hair ;)

I did it twice as a kid and survive. I have great memories of the trip. I was 4.5yrs old then 7.5yrs old :)

I just did it recently (early Nov) and we took 4 days and it was perfect. I would very confidently do it on my own. From Vic we stopped at Balladonia (no reception from here till we got over the nullabor), then Ceduna and then Murray Bridge. We booked everything online through wotif except for Balladonia and the accom cost the most there @ $130/night. We got to all towns before sunset.

Things to remember, check tires, oil & water at least once a day if not more. Don't stop for anyone. And try not to advertise you are traveling on your own. Try and leave at day break no matter where you are, check sunrise/sunset before you leave (or on your phone when you have reception). Keep a very close eye on your speed in SA as they make their money from Ceduna to Adelaide and their tickets are some of the most exxy in Aus.

I did it in a little corolla with another girlfriend and everyone told us we couldn't do it, or that it was too risky and TBH it was easy. I have done it a few times before though. And I would happily do it on my own with kids, provided it was 3 days.

Thanks Rouge. Thats what I needed :)

Derp I meant from WA. But travelling from VIC it's even easier because of the time difference ;)

Other tips are we generally stopped for a quick break/drink/petrol/toilet every 2-3 hours. Check the petrol watch before you leave, I think the most was 1.66/Ltr. Water is probably the most exxy so if you are going across stop at local stores and fill up on water/snacks for the kids etc. Most of the roadhouses have a play area so the kids can have a run around.

Also the Accom @ Balledonia was for a double and two singles. Most of the accommodation was for 3-4 people @ around $80-$100/night. But wotif is pretty good at telling you how many beds. Ceduna was a great place to stop because they had everything. Murray Bridge was like that too. Balladonia is literally a Roadhouse/Pub/Hotel all in one and nothing else as well as the skylab museum.

Ooooh how exciting! good luck with your travels and if your ever near bunbury we would love to meet you :)

My father in law just did the trip before christmas and now some friends of his are doing it too so if you have any more questions let me know and ill ask him :D

I have never done it, but can I suggest letting someone know your route. Then, if it changes for any reason, let them know ASAP. Check in with someone regularly along the way.

Also good music and lots of in-car entertainment for the kidlets!

Good luck!!

I did this pre-DD (from Perth to Brisbane) and even took a photo every 5 minutes along the way! It is an interesting trip but you shouldn't run into many troubles, there are definitely sufficient places to stop etc. Can't remember exactly prices and such but it can't have been toooooo expensive because I barely had money to my name at that point (was only 19) and survived on motels etc for over a month. I hope you have a safe and fun trip :hug:

Thankyou all very much :)