Is Adelaide to Perth road trip realistic in 5-6 days?
 

One of us has driven in Australia before but none of us have been to that side. I read in a Fodor's book that it's approx. 60hours drive time? Is that pretty accurate? We do want to have time to get out the car a lot and enjoy what's along the way.

Read about the desert on the way...how can we best be prepared for that?

Oh, did I mention we're roughing it out in a campervan in March! :) Are there many camp sites along the way?

Hmmm...if you have any must see's while we're trekking the coastline I'd love to know! Thank you! :)

Sweetpea4,

That is a long trip, and people take anywhere upwards from 24 hours to do it (Some friends back in my uni days did it by motor bike in 24 hours!!).

5-6 days will give you plenty of time in the car, but will also give you time to stretch your legs. There are places to camp for free if you are discreet.

The highway has lots of traffic so dont be worried about the desert. There is only about 100km of true treeless plain that you see on the highway. You can drive north towards Cook from Nullabor Roadhouse to see more.

West from Esperance check out the Fitzgerald River National Park and the Stirling Ranges. There are a number of reserves that form the GondwanaLink project (do a google on Aust. Bush Heritage). Those reserves can give you a good insight into why that corner of WA is an internationally significant bio diversity hot spot.

We did the Nullabor ten years ago travelling Perth to Ceduna, in a motorhome. We did not pay for accommodation along the way and had no trouble finding 'bush' camps.

I can't remember exactly but looking at the distance we would have taken 4 or 5 days for this leg. We did quite a few stops along the way.

It was a great drive and as I recall quite easygoing. I'm sure you will love it.

Thanks for the tip about the reserves, Johbot! Stormbird, thanks for the info about it being quite easy to find a 'bush' area...that makes me feel better!

What kinds of food did you all take while on the road trip?

How is the weather in SA by Adelaide and then when we make our way to WA gonna be? Guess what, we have no A/C! I'm fine with that but only because it's not summer. Think it'll be okay for the drive then?

Can I ask a not so regular question?

I know at some of those sites along the way there are shower holes but what about using the bathroom?

Thank you so much for your tips so far, I'm so glad lots of people do this daily :)!

March is a good time of year. It will still be warm, but not boiling hot.

Food? Take whatever you might need. But don't take too much. There are very few places to get fresh fruit and vegies. But at Norseman, and at Ceduna, there are quarantine roadblocks for fruit and vegies. They ar STRICT and will make you surender what you have (or you can eat it in front of them!!)

Bathroom? Take a small garden type shovel. Dig the hole and tidy up leaving nothing showing afterwards. Bush camping is just that! Unless you can hang on for the big trips til you get to a roadhouse.

Watch out for prices at Balladonia. Notoriuosly the most expensive place in Australia and they can't even be civil to you while they fleece you!

As regards this issue of food to be taken on the way from Adelaide to Perth I remember now our flight Sydney to Perth in 2001.
Upon arrival in Perth local airport authorities warned us that our two apples from NSW could not enter WA and we had to through them away.
Now I am wondering how these food controls can take place when trips are not by air but by train or road, like our sweetpea4 and many others.
I cannot believe that there are some officiers in the middle of the desert or at any other point of the border between SA and WA that check all kind of food in the car !!
So rules only depends on the mean of transportation ??!!

Fabio,

The Inspection Points are a few kilometres out of Norseman if you are heading west and a few kilometres out of Ceduna heading east. So at least the officers can live somewhere 'civilised'. These inspection points are also located just outside of Renmark (coming into SA from NSW) and there's also one on the Barrier Highway after Broken Hill.

The vast distances in Australia mean that fruit growing areas of each state are geograhpically quarantined. They want to keep themselves disease free - and that's understandable if that's the way they make their living.

But its not just fruit and vegies. There are also restrictions on where you can take honey - Tasmania is also particular with this.

Hi sweetpea,
yes, the distance is doable in 6 days, but you would be missing out on many places along the way.
You don't need to worry about the desert, unless you venture off the Highway.
There will be lot's of traffic on the Eyre Hwy..
The Highway runns quite a few km north of the coast line, however there are many tracks, mainly dirt and gravel that take you to the coast. It's along those tracks where you can feel very isolated with no other vehicle coming along for many days.

If you are selfsufficient then you can drive along such tracks a few hundred meters ( far enough to be out of sight and hearing distance from the Hwy. ), find a clear spot and have a camping area all to yourself. Just be very, VERY, careful in case you wish to light a camp fire!

Regards Quarantine Stations and Fruit Exclusion Zones. They can be a real problem but very necessary!
Bringing a disease or Fruitfly from one area to the next can completely whipe out the livelihood of many people!

Cheers,
Mike