Ceduna to Perth road trip: Distance, driving time & best stops

Ceduna to Perth road trip: Penong to Border Village

The next worthwhile turn-off from the Eyre Highway is 46km west of Penong, towards Fowlers Bay. Probably the most attractive village on the Nullarbor, Fowlers Bay offers displays on whaling and telegraph history. There are also massive sand dunes to explore, and EP Cruises offers whale-watching cruises in the winter months.

They’re best in the winter months, when the southern right whales use the bay as a nursery.

The best single stop along the Ceduna to Border Village drive, however, is Head of Bight. The most northerly point on the Great Australian Bight is a fantastic place for land-based whale-watching. Even if it’s not whale season, the Head of Bight Lookout gives excellent views out over the seemingly endless Bunda Cliffs.

The turn-off for Head of Bight is just before the Nullarbor Roadhouse. From there, you hit the Nullarbor proper, with long straight roads through sparsely-vegetated landscapes. For a photo stop, a sign marking the western end of the Nullarbor Plain is just outside the Nullarbor Roadhouse.

There are a couple of clifftop lookouts on the drive from the Nullarbor Roadhouse to Border Village, but your time is better allocated to the first half of the Ceduna to Eucla Drive. The drive from Nullarbor Roadhouse to Border Village takes just under two hours.

Once at Border Village, you switch to Australian Central Western Standard Time. The roadhouse offers cabin accommodation, a restaurant and a bar.

Attractions between Ceduna and Perth: Eucla to Norseman

The Western Australian side of the Nullarbor is duller. But it’s still worth walking through the sand dunes to see the old telegraph station ruins at Eucla. Then, after driving the longest straight road in Australia, there’s the mini museum about the Skylab space station at Balladonia.

Your mobile phone signal should return in Norseman, where you leave the Eyre Highway. It’s hard to avoid spending a night here. Norseman accommodation options include the motel-ish Great Western Travel Village and the fairly cheap Acclaim Gateway Tourist Park.

Click through to the next section: Norseman to Perth.