2000 Mile Road Trip From Adelaide to Perth – Crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Finally I am on the train. After a quick stop in Melbourne I decided to start my long journey west on The Overland, a train that has been running between Melbourne and Adelaide for over 130 years. The seat is super comfortable and I can’t wait to get going. I’m excited but I don’t quite know yet what to expect my upcoming road trip from Adelaide to Perth crossing the Nullarbor Plain. 

An hour into the journey, the landscape changes. It’s dry and the only thing that seems to flourish are the trees framing the vast fenced yellow fields. Over the next 9 hours the view doesn’t change much, except for a few Emus now and then.

I’m about to join a tour with the Nullarbor Traveller in Adelaide the next day, a tour operator specialising in camping adventures and road trips across South and Western Australia crossing the Nullarbor Plain both ways. Australia’s South between Adelaide and Perth is unjustifiably often skipped by international travellers most of whom tend to stay around the East Coast with the occasional hop over to Alice Springs, Cairns or Darwin. But what I’m about to see on this 2-week road trip from Adelaide to Perth is definitely up there with the most memorable and transformational travel trips of my life so far.

View from Chapman’s Peak later in the trip

Days 1-2: Flinders Ranges

Really pumped for the start of our road trip from Adelaide to Perth today and to meet my fellow road trippers! Our group of ten is diverse both in ages and nationalities and half of us are travelling solo. A good mix of people altogether I think and our guide Paul seems to be knowledgeable and funny.

After the first stint of a 6-hour drive we arrive at the Flinders Ranges in the outback. The landscape here resembles the surface of Mars, or at least what I imagine Mars to look like! The Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia. One of the main attractions here is Wilpena Pound, a large crater like rock formation. After a short hike, we set up our bush camp in Warren Gorge. Because it’s warm we don’t need any tents. A must-bring for any road trip across Australia is a swag. The way to sleep in Australia’s outback is a sleeping bag covered by a swag – a thick, waterproof “bedroll” with an integrated foam mattress. Sleeping under the stars, the best kind!

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the road trip from Adelaide to Perth

We are surrounded by dozens of kangaroos peacefully hopping about. After our first dinner together by the campfire, I slip into my swag. It’s an incredibly hot night and so I leave my swag completely open. The stars are my only blanket for tonight. I have just drifted off to sleep, when I hear a dull thud right next to me. Startled I look up and I see a kangaroo disappearing into the darkness. 

Day 3: Eyre Peninsula

The Eyre Peninsula is one of Australia’s best kept secrets and not to be missed on a road trip from Adelaide to Perth. The spectacular coastline around Venus Bay is best explored on a hike. The views onto the coastal rock formations are so beautiful and awe-inspiring. What a great start to the day, actually it’s Christmas Eve! Our tonight’s camp is at Coodlie Park, quirky Eco Farm Retreat with elevated huts and outdoor bucket showers. Not necessarily what I’d call flashpacker accommodation in my post on flashpacker hostels but sometimes a lack of comfort is certainly part of the experience, especially outdoors or on a road trip across Australia! There is a good range of caravan parks on the Eyre Peninsula to choose from.

View over Twilight Bay – Amazing day hike on the our road trip from Adelaide to Perth

This is where we celebrate Christmas Eve – probably the most unique Christmas I have had! Still stuffed from the delicious BBQ feast earlier we gather around the campfire. I booked this whole trip quite last minute, after all I would have never thought I’ll spend this year’s Christmas in the Australian bush!

Day 4: Baird Bay and Penong

Sceale Bay is our next stop. With everywhere I have been, I don’t know if anything beats the Southern Australian coastline. Every day the scenery is more breathtaking than the day before. While the bay is a popular surf spot, we’re excited for our little boat trip later!

This afternoon’s cruise is all about swimming with dolphins and sea lions. And indeed after just a few minutes we spot the first group of dolphins from the boat! Due to the high number of large sharks in the area including Great Whites, the boat is apparently equipped with some kind of “anti shark sensor” which sends out a frequency sharks don’t like. This is long before my painful shark encounter in the Galapagos Islands so I’m not worried. And to be honest they probably wouldn’t let us swim with their preferred prey of sea lions if it weren’t safe (I hope!).

Nevertheless, every time someone swims too far from the group’s safe circle, you can hear our guide shout his lungs out. I don’t think I have ever been that close to wild dolphins before and this encounter made today extra special.

View over Baird Bay – Last stop before crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Days 5-6: Crossing the Nullarbor Plain – the great Australian Outdoors

No one gets around the very long drive today with pretty much the same view for about 500 miles. Our road trip from Adelaide to Perth seems to continue into absolute no-man’s-land. But this is what we’re here for! And this morning no one would have a clue about how special our overnight camp would be while crossing the Nullarbor Plain.

Long two days of driving ahead – Crossing the Nullarbor Plain

The Nullarbor Plain is an almost treeless desert stretching from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia far into the outback of Western Australia. It’s vast, dry and empty. With a service station only about every 200 miles, you don’t want to break down here. And so we drive and drive and drive. Occasionally we stop only to be in awe by the never ending Eyre Highway crossing one of the remotest parts on earth. It’s really close to what I expected crossing the Nullarbor Plain would look like.

Eyre Highway – Road Trip from Adelaide to Perth

Paul knows this empty homestead, which we’ll be using as a refuge tonight. Nights in the desert can be incredibly cold and I am kind of glad that after three days outdoors swag camping, we might have a proper roof over our heads tonight. Well that is until Paul tells us the homestead is haunted – of course it is. Having arrived, I don’t really know how to describe it – let the below picture tell the story! 

This place, in the middle of now where, hours from the next small town or gas station, is a car graveyard. And I mean not your common car graveyard; there are hundreds of trucks and cars from literally every period of the 20^th century rusting away in the desert. There are rusty vehicles from the thirties, forties, fifties, which must have been here for more than half a century.  This is truly one of the weirdest places I have ever seen. The atmosphere is eerie. When the sun sets I walk back to the homestead wondering how we ended up here.

Eerie car graveyard while crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Day 7: The World’s Longest Road and Cape Le Grand National Park

After a cold night in the desert, our long drive continues on “90 Mile Straight”, the world’s longest straight road and no surprise – still crossing the Nullarbor Plain. We are driving towards Esperance and Cape Le Grand National Park, one of Western Australia’s most spectacular National Parks. Now driving much closer to the coast, the views are once again spectacular. It’s so hot that the van’s AC has a hard time keeping up. Today is one of the longest drive of the trip, but we hope what’s about to come the next few days will blow us all away. 

The world’s longest road crossing the Nullarbor Plain

The sun has already set but we are still driving. The landscape slowly changes from barren treeless plains to a more forest like steppe covered in small trees and bushes. The only thing breaking up the darkness is the lid up eyes of hundreds of kangaroos left and right off the road. A second and a big bang later what we feared throughout the journey becomes a sad fact – we have run over a kangaroo. Everyone’s in shock, this is a terrible ending of an otherwise amazing day. Sadly accidents involving kangaroos and wallabies are very common in Australia, especially in areas were the animals are very densely populated. Luckily, the impact killed the animal instantly. After reporting it to the local ranger’s station, we are once again heading towards Cape Le Grand.

Arriving at our destination in the evening, no one really feels like having a late one after the accident, so we set up camp and go to sleep.

Day 8: Cape Le Grand National Park: Lucky Bay and Frenchman’s Peak

Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park – Road trip from Adelaide to Perth

Luckily the next morning the drama of the previous night has faded a bit. We’ve got to look forward to a big day, visiting Cape Le Grand’s best beaches and climbing Frenchman’s Peak. If paradise had a name this would be it. Lucky Bay, named Australia’s whitest beach numerous times is famous for its kangaroo inhabitants. Be prepared to share your sunbathing space with these curious and friendly fellas!  

Climbing Frenchman’s Peak – Highlight on a road trip from Adelaide to Perth

Sunset on Frenchman’s Peak

Day 9: Esperance

The beaches around Esperance are the whitest I have ever seen. Merging into water so turquoise it would put many Caribbean beaches to shame. Twilight Bay is heaven on earth and we’ll spend a couple of hours here.

Beach in Esperance – A deserved break after crossing the Nullarbor Plain

In the afternoon we’ll hike the Great Ocean Way, one of the most spectacular coastal hikes in the south of Western Australia. Another day of spectacular beaches, hikes and views comes to end. I’m exhausted and can’t wait to cuddle up into my swag!

Day 10: Stirling Ranges and Albany

Waking up because you are cold is the worst. It’s supposed to be summer, how can be it be so bloody cold? Tonight we are wild camping in the middle of a forest around the Sterling Ranges. I am moving my swag right next to the last bits of glowing coals and what remains from yesterday night’s campfire. Even with five layers on, my sleeping bag and swag, the cold finds its way through. I doze back to sleep before a few hours later, I can feel the first rays of light on my face glimpsing through the trees and slowly waking me up.

The coast around Albany – Last beach before the end of our road trip from Adelaide to Perth

Tough night but today should be a wonderful day! The Stirling Ranges are some of the oldest mountain ranges in the world dating back to around 2500 million years ago. This morning we go on a short hike before we continue our road trip further southwest towards Albany. Along the way we stop at The Gap and Natural Bridge before visiting the magical Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool in William Bay National Park. The scenery of these massive rock formations is once again pretty spectacular and a dip in the bay’s crystal clear water is much needed. After a stop in Walpole’s pristine forest region featuring some of the largest tingle trees in the world, we arrive at our campsite in the early evening.

Day 11: Walpole and Margaret River

Margaret River is the most famous wine region in Australia. No visit to this region is complete without visiting at least one of the many spectacular vineyards. And so we spent our last full day on our road trip from Adelaide to Perth winery hopping.

Vineyard in Margaret River – Last stop before the end of our road trip from Adelaide to Perth

In the late afternoon we arrive at the last campsite of our trip, just outside of Perth. After a very boozy farewell BBQ, I slip into my swag for a last time. Just like the night before, I am freezing cold. It’s been a fantastic trip. A road trip from Adelaide to Perth should be on anyone’s wish list!

Day 12: Perth 

We made it – An incredible road trip from Adelaide to Perth comes to an end

After rolling up my swag one more time, we start the last leg of our road trip driving towards Perth. Along the way we stop to learn about the Wardandi, indigenous Noongar people of Western Australia. Led deep into the Ngilgi Cave, we enjoy a very memorable didgeridoo performance and learn about traditional fire lighting techniques of the Wardandi people.

We eventually reach Perth in the evening. This is where our road trip from Adelaide to Perth finishes. Although I loved travelling with the group, I am very excited to start the second part of the trip solo. The last two weeks have been truly fantastic. I have visited some of the remotest places I have ever been to, crossing the Nullarbor Plain was an out of this world experience. I admired some of the most stunning coastline I could have ever imagined, dug my feet into the whitest sand I have ever seen and ran my fingers through the bluest and clearest coastal waters in existence.

After spending a few days in Perth and Fremantle, I’ll be travelling all the way up to Exmouth, Cape Range National Park and the Ningaloo Reef. If you’re looking to go even further north, check out this guide for a road trip from Perth to Broome.