Nullarbor - and the path less travelled

The Eyre Highway and its crossing of the Nullarbor Plain would have to be one of Australia’s most famous roads.  And with good reason.  It is such an iconic road, that these days can be covered in about two days in the comfort of your air conditioned car.

It wasn't that long ago that things were very different – and we caught a glimpse back in time as we took a slightly offbeat crossing of the continent.

Whilst the Yalata Roadhouse might have closed down, it is still the first place you will find the mighty three hazards of this drive– Camels, Kangaroos and Wombats.  When you cross the border Wombats are replaced by Emu – but you get the idea.  This is a road best driven in daylight hours only.

Next 96km... The first of the big three hazards!

Not long out of Yalata, the vegetation shrinks in size, and you enter the true Nullarbor Plain.  Nullarbor is not an Aboriginal name, but rather comes from the Latin – Null (nil) Arbor (trees).  Due to a limestone layer just beneath the surface, trees are unable to grow in this area – and it was worth a stop here too – and this is one part of the world that the camera will never capture the enormity of the sky as you stand surrounded by a whole heap of, well, nothing.

Don’t let that fool you.  This place is fascinating.  We drove to Head of the Bight, and looked over the magnificent Bunda Clifs, that stretch for hundreds of kiliometres.  It is believed that these are the longest line of cliffs anywhere in the world.  It is also a nursery for Southern Wright Whales – during the winter months.

Head of the Bight

We refuelled at Nullarbor Roadhouse – because our next diversion was off the main road not much further west.  As I was paying, I explained that we were thinking of heading up to Cook, for a look.  I was glad I asked, because not only was the attendant (owner) happy to give me advice on the roads, but he also suggested we stop at Koonalda Homestead for a look.  And what a great afternoon we had.

Out of Nullarbor we followed the original Eyre Highway for about 30 kilometres.  This was the original track carved during the Second World War (there was no road other than station tracks before then). When the highway was sealed, it was also remade further south – and the old highway hasn’t been graded since!

Highway One - on the Nullarbor

We paused for lunch at the junction with the road to Cook, and then turned right and headed north, due north for the next hundred kilometres or so to the township of Cook, population 6.  Now this may seem like a crazy idea, but hear me out.  When I first drove across the Nullarbor, I was surprised how much vegetation there was, and how little of the Eyre Highway was actually in the Nullarbor itself.  The coastal fringe receives higher rainfall, and thus supports generally much more vegetation than I expected.

Now journey inland a hundred kilometres or so, and you find yourself in the true Nullarbor.  And whilst you may see it from the comfort of the Indian Pacific Train – this journey is a few years away for us, and so we decided that a little diversion was in order.  I wanted to get a feel for the true Nullarbor, and half way to Cook, it certainly felt like I had achieved our objective.

And the road to Cook - in the true Nullarbor

Cook is a former railway town, and at its peak had over 300 residents, a school and hospital.  After the railways were privatised, the population shrank to just two.  The Indian Pacific train is still refuelled here and enjoys a two hour layover in town.  As it was coming in the next morning, (after meeting one sixth of the town’s populace), we decided it wasn’t worth waiting for. 

The town is little more than a ghost town – with a couple of cottages and accommodation for train drivers.  The old school yard and pool were interesting to look at and just think what an amazing group of people established and lived in this city – marking the point where the train lines met in October 1917.  Yes, in the middle of the longest straight bit of railway in the world (some 478km), two teams working from opposite sides met at Cook, exactly without even a wobble in the lines.

The straightest railway line in the world - At Cook - Population 6

The former Cook School

We made it out of Cook and back to the Eyre Highway with no dramas

Objective in subjecting the family to Dad’s crazy ideas completed, we headed south again – this time back to the blacktop and the Eyre Highway.  The Bunda Cliffs are stunning, and we just had to pause again at some of the lookouts to soak in the view.  Things have changed here too, with paths and safety barriers and fences – but with a 90 metre drop to the sea, and fragile limestone cliffs, that probably isn’t a bad thing.

Bunda Cliffs - simply stunning

We then snuck off the highway at an unmarked intersection and made our way north on an old farm track.  Our destination was Koonalda, an old homestead on the old highway.  Leased by the Gurney family for 50 years from 1938, this was the western extremity of South Australian pastoralism until 1989 when it became part of Nullarbor National Park.

The homestead is open for camping, with a new roof stabilising the homestead and old shearers quarters.  The buildings are made of old railway sleepers and basically are as they were, providing a fascinating glimpse into life on the fringe.  But it is behind the homestead that things got really interesting.

Koonalda Homestead

Being on the old highway, Koonalda had a couple of fuel pumps and was an important stop for travellers on the original Eyre Highway.  It also was a place where cars were taken to be repaired from miles around – and if they couldn't be repaired, well, this became their final resting place.  The cars represent an amazing collection of our automotive heritage, all slowly being devoured by rust in the saline plains of the Nullarbor.  We spent a good few hours wandering around the old car yard before camping underneath a magnificent tapestry of stars.

Yeah - just squirt a bit of WD40 down the carby

The next morning we hit the highway and passed through the quarantine checkpoint into Western Australia.  We checked out the old telegraph station at Eucla – and were a little disappointed to tell the truth.  The walls were covered with graffiti etched in by thousands of travellers, and there was no interpretive signs anywhere explaining the history or significance of Eucla Telegraph Station.  We found it in marked contrast to the Strangeway Springs Telegraph Station on the Oodnadatta track, that was extremely well signposted, free from graffiti and in the middle of nowhere.  Perhaps that is the key – keep the average punter away and make it something you really have to want to see to get there.

Checking out the Eucla Telegraph Station

We hit strong headwinds from Eucla – but decided to keep the foot pressed down and keep the speed up, trading fuel economy for distance gained.  It allowed us time to check out the Roe Plains from the top of Caiguna Pass, and then it was time for the last real highlight of the drive – 90 Mile Straight – the 145.6km stretch of the straightest road in Australia.  

90 Mile Straight - 

We were still working out where we would camp that night, but a bit of phone reception at a timely point allowed a check of the weather forecast.  It assisted us in making our mind up that we would turn right instead of left at Norseman.  We paused for dinner at Norseman – named for a horse that went lame after a gold nugget got caught in its hoof perhaps the only town in Australia named after a horse.  Our dinner was a delicious curry prepared at breakfast time and kept warm in our thermal cooker – a fantastic tool on days of long travelling.

We headed north and eventually pulled into a free camp with toilets not more than 2 kilometres from the centre of Kalgoorlie.  Yes, we had ended up driving a massive 1026km in the one day – and ended up in the middle of the West Australian Goldfields.  Gold fever was about to hit our family again – on a slightly different scale to Ballarat and our visit to Sovereign Hill, but just as much fun.  In fact Kalgoorlie had some wonderful surprises of a massive scale, and one in particular was to give the Little Helper a new career goal!