Perth to Cairns road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time
Perth and Cairns road trip: Kambalda, Norseman and Balladonia
The next section of the Perth to Cairns drive is from Kalgoorlie to Norseman. On the way, the Old Boulder Cemetery reminds just how many people died during the Western Australian gold rush.
But the best stop is the small town of Kambalda. Here, the Red Hill Lookout blesses you with tremendous views out over the twinkling salt pans of Lake Lefroy.
There are a few more inessential nature reserves and salt pans before you cross Lake Cowan and enter Norseman.
In Norseman, the main attractions are the Beacon Hill and Lake Cowan lookouts. You can also have a picnic amongst old mining equipment in Phoenix Park.
Norseman accommodation options include the Great Western Travel Village motel and the fairly cheap Acclaim Gateway Tourist Park.
The Eyre Highway, stretching all the way to Port Augusta in South Australia, starts in Norseman. It crosses the Nullarbor Plain, one of the most notoriously barren drives on earth.
The first section heads through fairly sparse woodland towards Balladonia. 190km from Norseman, this is your first fuel stop.
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.
Attractions between Perth and Cairns: The Western Australian Nullarbor
Shortly after Balladonia, the longest straight road in Australia stretches for 146.6km towards Caiguna without kink or bend.
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.
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.
Click through to the next section: South Australian Nullarbor.