Balladonia to Ceduna road trip: Fuel stops, distance & drive time

The best stops on a Balladonia to Ceduna road trip include Eucla and Head of Bight. The driving distance is 1,010km, which takes 10h22m.

Planning a Balladonia to Ceduna road trip itinerary

A Balladonia to Ceduna road trip takes you most of the way across the Nullarbor Plain. Indeed, Balladonia and Ceduna are both popular stops on the Nullarbor crossing.

To look for the best Ceduna accommodation, book here.

This guide should help you plan your perfect Balladonia to Ceduna road trip itinerary.

Click through on the individual places and attractions for more detailed, specific information.

If you need to hire a car, find the best rental deals. And don’t forget to do all your pre-road trip shopping.

Balladonia to Ceduna distance and driving time

By car along sealed roads, the distance from Balladonia to Ceduna is 1,010km. Without stopping, that makes for a Balladonia to Ceduna driving time of around 10 hours and 22 minutes. It’s all along the Eyre Highway, which stretches all the way to Port Augusta in South Australia.

The Skylab space station crashed near Balladonia in 1979, and a mini-museum here tells the marvellously entertaining tale of the race to find fragments.

Shortly after Balladonia, the longest straight road in Australia stretches for 146.6km towards Caiguna without kink or bend.

Road trip essentials that many travellers forget

Search on the web, and you’ll find ludicrously long lists of equipment to take on a road trip. Australia Travel Questions isn’t going to do that to you. But it is worth buying the following road trip items before setting off. Click through for a good range of options.

Charging cables – yes, you’ll probably need a spare at some point.
Car charger adaptor – in case your rental car has the old-fashioned cigarette lighter rather than a USB.
Multi USB charger – for those hotel rooms that don’t have enough power sockets.
Fold-up chairs – to make anywhere a picnic spot.
A really good water bottle – go for a bigger one than usual to last the longer drives.
Packing cubes – save space but, more importantly, avoid unpacking everything every night.

The next fuel stops are Caiguna, 164km from Balladonia, and Cocklebiddy, 83km further on. Here you can visit the huge Cocklebiddy Cave.

It’s then 91km from Cocklebiddy to Madura, 116km from Madura to Mundrabilla and 66km from

Mundrabilla to Eucla, it’s a relatively merciful 66km.

Balladonia to Ceduna road trip: Eucla vs Border Village

Eucla is the final stop before the South Australian border. It’s also one of the few places on the Nullarbor drive where you can see the ocean.

A walk through the sand dunes takes you to the evocative ruins of the old telegraph station which once connected the continent. A little further on is the Eucla Jetty.

It’s worth considering an overnight stay here. The Eucla Motel has a pool and is one of the best accommodation choices on the Nullarbor. That said, it’s only another 12km to the other contender, Border Village in South Australia.

Both Eucla and Border Village are on the unofficial Australian Central Western Standard Time. This bizarre time zone is set at UTC+8.45 – largely to avoid a three hour leap when crossing the border.

Balladonia to Ceduna drive: South Australia section

Congratulations. You’re now out of Western Australia and into South Australia. The South Australian section of the Nullarbor drive is also much more interesting than the WA section.

The essential stop on the Nullarbor is Head of Bight near the Nullarbor Roadhouse.

Here there are dazzling white dunes to one side and towering cliffs to the other. Come during the winter months, and southern right whales use the Great Australian Bight below as a nursery.

Balladonia to Ceduna road trip: Penong and Ceduna

Penong is also worth a stop. Here, the Penong Windmill Museum has a bizarre collection of windmills. But the short detour to surfer favourite Cactus Beach via the curiously pink Lake MacDonnell is more memorable.

Phone coverage and a vague sense of being back to normality return in Ceduna.

From here, you might want to think about a brief side trip down to the beaches at Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. Swimming with the Australian sea lions at Baird Bay is one of the best experiences in the country

Ceduna accommodation tips

Ceduna is a logical place for an overnight stay whether you’ve just crossed the Nullarbor or are about to. You can search for places to stay in Ceduna here.

However, the following are the best options: