The Nullarbor Plain is a latin word for ‘no trees’, and fuck me its boring.
We were advised by many of Australians crossing the Nullarbor to take lots of water, fuel and snacks. And we did! However we hadn’t thought about the ways to entertain ourselves on the weeks journey from Adelaide to Perth.
Charles and I love each other, a lot, (thank god) and we do spend all of our time with each other, whether its a work or at the weekend but crossing the Nullarbor was a different ball game. We hadn’t prepared, we spent a lot of the time in silence because we hadn’t realised that the Nullarbor wouldn’t have any radio signal and we hadn’t downloaded any music.. or anything.
This was an experience, we won’t forget.
We learnt that it was ok to wave hello at the cars passing on the Nullarbor, (every 30 cars in total).
Charles knows now how to fill the empty fuel tank from jerry cans, without covering himself, the van and me in petrol.
‘Its in my eyes! Quick- quick get water’
Charles Cumberlidge, April 2019
And we learnt how great the Road Houses are for food, well the burgers and chips anyway.
We stayed in some amazing parks and interesting spots. We planned our route (roughly) and used an app, WikiCamps, to find the best spots to stay overnight.
As our budget is low, we were keen to find free camps with toilets and showers, and somewhere where we would feel safe. This was the first time we had camped in Australia (and in the van) and we were literally the only ones around for the majority of overnight stays.
Traveling across the Nullarbor Plain isn’t the cheapest of places to get fuel, but you generally have no choice. It cost about $2.00 a litre of unleaded fuel and $1 a litre of LPG (and that’s if we could find LPG).
Obviously we aware that’s still cheaper than the cost of fuel in England- so we can’t moan too much.
We saw some beautiful sites on the way though, The Great Australian Bite, Wave Rock and Pink Lake, Esperance.
Although The Pink Lake, isn’t pink anymore. We were sold a lie, we even stayed in Pink Lake Tourist Park.
Top tip: Do your research (Kate)
We also saw lots of dead kangaroos (more than live ones), Eagles and a wild cat. Sadly no camels or emus though.
If you want to travel the Nullarbor Plain, don’t.
-See our blog about Apps that helps us travel-
