NULLARBOR CLIFF HANGER Big Righthand Turn South Australia
- Traveldriven
- Jul 11, 2017
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 29
DAY 2
'Stopped and checked for carriage into Western Australia by quarantine inspectors. Car boot thoroughly searched'
Nullarbor South Australia
The Eyre Highway is the only east, west road passing through the Nullarbor Plain to Western Australia.
Nullarbor Roadhouse is at the eastern boundary of the Nullarbor Plain and Border Village is at the western boundary of the Nullarbor Plain. These two roadhouses provide services for tourists and travellers such as accommodation and vehicle fuel.
Nullarbor Roadhouse
Somewhere to stay overnight. Motel units or caravan site. Food and fuel. Nullarbor means no trees. Over 100,000 wild camels roam the plain. The longest stretch of straight road in the world. A distance of 146.6 km along the Eyre Highway outside Balladonia Roadhouse. Newspaper stories on a notice board describe the legend of the Nullarbor Nymph, a half-naked feral woman, once thought to have roamed the plain among the kangaroos in the 1970s. Made headlines worldwide. A historic scale model of the old station/garage is next door to the roadhouse on display.
Border Village
The area consists of little more than the roadhouse.
Border Village Roadhouse is right before the Quarantine Checkpoint driving from South Australia. Home of the giant kangaroo. Motel units and caravan sites. A shop, fuel and a restaurant/bar with cold beer on tap. A Quarantine Checkpoint is on the border. Risk items include fresh fruit, vegetables, some nuts, seeds as well as honey. I was stopped and checked for carriage into Western Australia by quarantine inspectors. Car boot thoroughly searched.
Road checkpoints operate 24 hours.
Eucla
One of the most memorable driving experiences I recall is the first solo road trip driving to Western Australia. One odd event occurred during a service station stop on the Eyre Highway. In the small township of Eucla near the border with South Australia and Western Australia. While filling the car with petrol, a Holden sedan pulled off the highway and parked next to a fuel bowser.
The driver filled his car, paid and rejoined the highway. Normal enough. But his sedan was minus all four doors, bonnet and the rear window. The car did have number plates. A funny sight in the middle of nowhere. Outback and desert country.
I assume the driver and car drove from an Outback station homestead to refill with petrol and returned back to the station. All other vehicles along this highway were packed full of long distance travel supplies etc. Mostly towed caravans and trucks. So out of place and questionable if road legal. I think it had seat belts and side mirrors.
Eucla is on the Western Australian side of the SA/WA border. Population of roughly fifty residents. Just the one motel or limited caravan sites available. There is nowhere else to stay overnight. Eucla Telegraph ruins are well worth a look. Opened 1877. Linked Western Australia with the rest of the world sending over 20,000 messages a year until 1927. The ruins are often half buried in drifting sand dunes. Accessible via a short unsealed two-wheel drive road. The current townsite was established about 4 km higher up. The only location on the Eyre Highway off the Eucla Pass with a direct view of the Great Australian Bight cliffs due to its elevated position. Occasionally whales can be seen. One of Traveldriven's top eight Australian lookouts. For another top eight please go to.
CURRENT NULLARBOR FIVE DAY FORECAST
DRIVE NULLARBOR ROADHOUSE -
BORDER VILLAGE - EUCLA
HISTORIC SERVICE STATION DISPLAY
EYRE HIGHWAY
THE ONLY EAST/WEST HIGHWAY
NULLARBOR CLIFFS & SOUTHERN OCEAN
Molly's Nullarbor roadtrip. Drone views of the Great Australian Bight and cliffs. Great footage of the area 6.25 minutes into the video. Personally think the Eucla cliff views are the best from the handful of Nullarbor highway turnoffs. These are accessible to any highway travelling vehicles. Thanks in advance to Molly Dixon Youtube channel for enabling sharing of Youtube video's.
Traveldriven
SIGN ON ROADHOUSE 'NULLARBOR NYMPH'
RUINS ARE 2WD ACCESSIBLE ALONG SHORT UNSEALED ROAD TO THE CLIFFS AREA
EUCLA WHALE
If you fall off the cliff there's no coming back. Vehicles must stop at the checkpoint. 🚗
No fruit allowed 🍅