Middle of Nowhere, Australia: Crossing the Nullarbor

It's hard to read, but the sign points out the beginning of Australia's longest stretch of straight road: 196km without a bend!
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Most Australians live on the eastern side of the country.  Perth and the southwest corner of Western Australia are about the only populated parts in the west (with apologies to those who live in other parts not mentioned).  In between east and west, there's a whole lotta nuttin (lot of nothing).  A large part of that "nuttin" is known as the Nullarbor Plain upon which sits the Eyre Highway, connecting Western Australia to the rest of the country along the southern edge of the continent.  It was through that vast stretch of emptiness that Heather and I drove our 89 Camry and came out smelling like week old roses on the other end.

You always had to be on the lookout for wildlife, particularly kangaroos. There's an old joke about how do the animals know to only go (in this case) 88km?
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It's a long lonely road.  As you leave the town of Norseman in Western Australia, you see signs indicating Adelaide (Perth's closest neighbouring city) is only a quick 1986 km away.  It's also a very straight road.  In fact, there's one section that's officially Australia's longest straight stretch of road.  At 196km without a turn or bend, it's one of the longest straight stretches of highway in the world.  We joked about just putting the car on autopilot and taking a nap until it was done.

We joked about just putting the car on autopilot and taking a nap until it was done.

One of the dramatic coastal cliffs along the southern coast of Australia
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We had been warned about the kangaroos that we'd meet on the highway.  There was one couple that we had met in the Porongurups who have driven their motorcycle across the Nullarbor 3 times before.  One of those times (so they said) there were so many dead roos that they had to swerve their bike like crazy and drive around 30km/h to get around them.  Well, we didn't see any mass roos graves like that, but there were lots of individual carcasses scattered along the highway.  Always just on the shoulder though.  We never saw a dead one right on road.  We knew enough to keep a sharp eye out, particularly at night.  Once the sun goes down the roos are known to come out to the pavement to drink the dew that forms on the road.  You can best spot them by their glowing eyes.  Heather was better at it then I was.  So many times she'd say, "Did you see that one?", and I hadn't.  Good thing at least one of us was good at it.  We were comfortable enough to drive at night so long as we just slowed down.  Another guy we met told us that we'd be alright if we just drive around 70 - 80km/h and avoid honking the horn or flashing the high beams on them.  He said that they would just stand still and you could pat them on their heads as you drove by.  And he was right.  They just stand there on the shoulder of the road and stare at you.  Before we were told not to honk at them (it should have been commonsense thinking back on it), I thought that might be just what they'd want...you know, a gentle reminder that, "beep beep, here I come with my car that might kill you if you bounced out in front of it".  So I honked at one (this was during the daytime).  Well, the movement of the kangaroo was both hilarious and sad at the sametime.  I had scared that poor roo so bad that it fell down on its side and started to pump it's legs so fast, but it couldn't really get any traction.  It was like the way Curly from the Three Stooges was able to spin around in a circle by running as he was laying on his side.  Eventually this roo in particular managed to scoot off the road and hopped away.  I felt so bad.  He probably had a heartattack from my tooting.

Cliffs for as far as the eye could gaze
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The Nullarbor Plain takes it's name from the latin "null arbor", or "no trees".  To some it would appear to be a vast wasteland.  Hardly anybody lives there.  The only "communities" are roadhouses:  gas stations with a motel, campground (our preferred accomodation) and bar.  The biggest population for any of these towns would depend on how many kids the owners of the roadhouse had.  Some of the roadhouses were downright depressing, while, surpisingly, some of them were clean, bright and cheery places.  Still, we both agreed that we'd never want to live there.

Just amazing
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One major "selling" point of taking the Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor is that you get to experience the magnificant cliffs of the Great Australian Bight (the long stretch of coastline forming the southern part of the continent).  Here you won't come across any seaside resorts.  In fact, all there is is cliffs and ocean for as far as the eye can see.  The cliffs are often straight down as well, making you nervous to get too close to the edge.  There's plenty of signs warning you about this, and only the really stupidly daring people would risk going out on any of the ledges.  I'm sure someone at some point in the past has tried their luck and failed, likely after a few too many VB's (Victoria Bitters: a popular Aussie beer "for a hard earned thirst").  Heather and I faired just fine, thank you.

Not all of the coastline was sheer cliffs, but all of it was lonely.
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For all it's distance and lonelyness, we're both glad to have driven it.  It was truly a once in our lifetime experience, and if anyone has the time and patience, we'd highly recommend you try it too!

Michael and Heather