There are only three ways to cross it, via air, rail or road. The Eyre Highway is a popular way of travelling across the Nullarbor Plain and is one of Australia’s great road trips. The highway is named after the explorer, Edward John Eyre, who was the first to barely survived the East-West crossing of the continent in 1841. Unlike then, today, the journey can be made entirely across the bitumen highway, with the route being well signposted, advising travellers of the distance between towns for petrol and other services.

Your trip can begin from Port Augusta, 330 km north-east of Adelaide at the head of Spencer Gulf. Passing through the townships of Iron Knob, Kimba, Kyancutta, Pygery, Minnipa, Poochera, and Wirrulla, the Eyre Highway meets the sea at Ceduna, a small town on the picturesque Murat Bay. On the outskirts of Ceduna is a warning sign about the last reliable water and this marks the beginning of the desert-like, almost treeless landscape that sweeps towards the Nullarbor Plain. 
 

The name “Nullarbor” is derived from the Latin “nulla arbor” meaning “no tree”. The highway journeys close to the coast, with a little scrub and other vegetation on the “plains” and the sand dunes that lie between the highway and the ocean. The Eyre Highway actually only crosses a small section of true “treeless plain”.

From Ceduna, you keep heading west to Penong, a town of 100 windmills. As you keep going, there is Bookabie and Nundroo. From here is is worth a detour south to the abandoned settlement of Fowlers Bay, once an exploration depot for Edward John Eyre and now a ghost town that offers great fishing.

Heading west once more, you pass through Yalata Aboriginal Land, with a stop-off at Yalata Roadhouse and Nullarbor Roadhouse. The stretch of road between Nullarbor Roadhouse and Border Village offer five of the most spectacular coastal lookouts anywhere on the Australian coastline, where you can see giant ocean swells pounding the towering limestone cliffs that make this part of the Great Australian Bight. If you are travelling from June to October, you may get the chance of spotting the Southern Right Whale on their annual migration along the southern part of our continent.

Border Village is the start of your Western Australian leg along the Eyre Highway. Here is a much photographed signpost pointing the direction to the South Pole, Paris and many other international destinations.

Heading west you pass the townships of Eucla, Mundrabilla, Madura, Cocklebiddy, Caiguna, Balladonia, Noondoonia, and finally ending at Norseman.

When planning such an epic journey you need to ensure you have sufficient water, provision and fuel. There is very little fresh water supplies between Ceduna and Norseman. If you are thinking about a return journey, you may like to consider placing the car on the train for the return, as this is also a great way to travel across this great region.

There are also quarantine checkpoints at Ceduna for east-bound travellers and Norseman for west-bound travellers. There are restrictions on certain items including  fruit, potatoes, onions, walnuts, grain, honey, fodder, livestock, birds, rabbits, animal skins and wool, bird seed, other seed, plants, soil, used fruit containers, used potato sacks, and native fauna.

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