Perth to Sydney road trip: Best stops, distance & driving time
Perth to Sydney road trip: Kalgoorlie to Ceduna
The part of the Perth to Sydney drive that’s most notoriously dull is crossing the Nullarbor. The Big Empty spreads across vast tracts of Western Australia and South Australia, and includes the longest straight road in Australia.
The Kalgoorlie to Ceduna drive is 1,386km long, making for a Kalgoorlie to Ceduna driving time of around 14 hours and 23 minutes. Obviously, that’s going to require at least one overnight stop along the way. Norseman and Eucla or Border Village are arguably the best bets.
However, there’s a surprisingly decent selection of quirky attractions along the Nullarbor drive.
First up, you can play the world’s longest golf course, the Nullarbor Links, which stretches all the way from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna. Most of the holes are at roadhouses along the way.
Most of the Nullarbor’s best attractions are in or near those roadhouses. Balladonia has a mini-museum about the Skylab space station, the enormous Cocklebiddy Cave is near Cocklebiddy and Eucla offers an evocative ruined telegraph station amongst the dunes.
The single best stop on the Nullarbor is Head of Bight near the Nullarbor Roadhouse. Here, you see towering cliffs to one side, dazzling white dunes to the other and southern right whales in the Great Australian Bight below.
Then, just before Ceduna, comes Penong, Here, you can admire the strange collection of windmills at the Penong Windmill Museum. But you’re better off taking the small detour to surfer haven Cactus Beach via the curiously pink Lake MacDonnell.
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:
- For central, waterfront location: Ceduna Foreshore Hotel Motel.
- For family-friendly spacious cabins: Big4 Holiday Park.
- For a pool: East West Motel.
Next up: Ceduna to Port Augusta.