The Nullarbor

As is typical for us, we like to cover very long distances in a relatively short time. This time was no exception. The so-called Nullarbor (named after the Latin expression Nullus arbor, which means 'no trees') is the southernmost (and therefore closest to the coast) east-west connection. It spans the sparsely populated central part of Australia and is approximately 1200 km long. We decided to cover it in 2 days. Since we didn't start at the 'starting point' in Norseman, but in Esperance, an additional 200 km were added. On the first day, we had to cover over 900 km, as accommodations along the route are scarce.

The drive on the first day was largely uneventful. Once again, there were many road trains and the landscape changed from time to time, but it didn't particularly excite us... There were no tourist highlights (which was also good because time was scarce), and the wildlife remained hidden, except for a family of emus.

However, there was a very surprising time difference. We knew that we would have to adjust our clocks by 2.5 hours in South Australia (which for us was more of a 'can' because it would finally extend our daylight hours), but we didn't know that we would move forward by 45 minutes in between. An internet search revealed that this is the 'Border Time Zone', where about 200 people live...

We spent the night at a roadhouse right on the border between the states of Western Australia and South Australia. There are import restrictions at the inner-Australian borders, which are also closely monitored. For example, fresh fruit, vegetables, or soil cannot be carried from one state to another. The control took place for us at the end of the second leg in Ceduna and was no problem, as we didn't have any of the prohibited goods with us anyway. But at least we had to open the trunk - something Europeans are no longer used to.

The second day of driving was overall much more enjoyable than the first. For one, we finally had a bright blue sky and it was reasonably warm, and secondly, the driving distance was much shorter and much more beautiful. There were some really great viewpoints that offered magnificent views of the coast. Thanks to the weather, the coast showed itself to us in the most beautiful, vibrant, and bright colors. And there were at least a few eccentric lizards as well...