We got through driving 1200 km of nothing on the Nullarbor! We are so relieved that nothing happened to our car (due to our history of breakdowns), because breaking down out there would have been crazy awful. Breaking down in William Creek, 150 kms from the nearest mechanic is one thing, but breaking down at the Nullarbor, potentially being 500 kilometres from the nearest mechanic (if you are lucky to be in the middle) is another thing. We did meet a couple, that broke down just 70 kilometres outside Nullarbor Roadhouse, which is really not too far from Ceduna (alright its 300 kms). The problem was just that they were headed to Perth and had to be there a few days later. So they were in serious trouble.

We were lucky and we are happy that our car finally has some stability. It was two days of rough driving for me. Since Paul doesn’t have his drivers license, I was the one driving and we did around 8 hours of driving both days. I wanted to drive the Nullarbor as fast as possible, because we really just wanted to go to WA, which we have been waiting to do since forever. It was definitely some tiring two days and I slept really good during those nights.

The first day we drove from Ceduna to a rest area just 20 kilometres on the far side of Madura (700 km). The rest area we stayed at had no toilets, so HELLO NATURE, but we are fine with that, if you are too go for it. There is a little noice from the trucks driving at night, but it’s really not too bad.

We had one fuel stop on the way at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse, where we had been told fuel would be cheap. It wasn’t. The next day we used our extra jerry cans of fuel to reach Esperance, so we didn’t have to spend that much money on fuel again. There are plenty of petrol stations along the way, so you shouldn’t worry about running out of fuel. If you’re car is driving on gas, its not a problem either. There are around 4-5 roadhouses with gas. The gas price is around $1.31-1.35, so its definitely a lot cheaper driving on that compared to unleaded 91 which is priced around $1.89 and over $2 if you want 98.

Another way to save money is stocking up on food before going. We didn’t buy any food at the roadhouses, eventhough it seems a bit more tempting than getting our bread and hummus from the back of the car. Food is a little more expensive on the Nullarbor, so that takes away the excitement of buying some. We bought waaay to much food beforehand, almost like if we thought we were gonna be stuck for two weeks. At least, now we don’t have to do grocery shopping for a while, so thats good.

Beware that they are super thorough and strict in Border Village, when they are inspecting your car for fruit and vegetables, if you are travelling SA-WA. If you’re travelling WA-SA, they won’t check you until you’re in Ceduna. They checked all of our boxes and asked us to take them out and ofcourse also our fridge. So don’t try to hide anything – that’ll just be embarrasing when they find it.

The thought of not having fresh vegetables to cook with sucked a little, especially since we use garlic and onion in almost everything we cook, haha. But we were actually lucky to meet some nice people at the rest area in Madura (WA), who happily gave us their vegetables, since they were going the opposite direction. Maybe you’ll be lucky to get some WA vegetables that way yourself 😉

Driving the Nullarbor was definitely not as scary as expected. It was actually not as beautiful as expected either. We met quite a lot of elderly campers in SA, who said the Nullarbor was BEAUTIFUL to drive. I think they forgot to mention how boring it also is. Yes, Nullarbor had its beautiful moments. Pretty much only when you were able to see the ocean from the highway. I suppose, its also beautiful in the way, that there is no place like it. Its quite incredible, that you drive (almost) straight for soooo long and that there is nothing but small roadhouses during the long way. Its interesting for sure, but I wouldn’t drive it again. I would only drive it if I really had to. 😅

When we finally reached WA we cheered in pure excitement of finally being here. And eventhough we got pulled over by civil police, it still didn’t take the excitement away from us. Apparently I was unknowingly speeding, but the nice officers let me go without a ticket. We did find it kind of funny, that we got pulled over after being in WA for five minutes. I have never been pulled over before, so it was definitely quite a welcome. We probably wouldn’t have found it that funny, if they had given me a fine. So remember that; eventhough it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, the police are still there.