The Eyre Highway stretches 1671 kilometres from Norseman to Port Augusta in South Australia.

This February 2025 Road Trip covered 1373 kilometres of the Highway from Norseman to Minnipa as part of the journey to Speed Week 2025.

We fully refuelled at Norseman in preparation for the drive across ‘the Nullarbor’ after an uneventful trip on the Hyden-Norseman Road. The words ‘the Nullarbor’ are highlighted because the Eyre Highway is not the Nlularbor. Only about 10 kilometres of the highway crosses the Treeless Plain. The vast majority of the Nullarbor is well to the north of the Eyre Highway. Pity about all the bumper stickers proclaiming a crossing of the Nullarbor Plain. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.

The Eyre Highway was named after Edward John Eyre who, in 1841, made the first land crossing of Australia from Fowlers Bay to Albany.

Newman Rocks Campground

This expansive, popular campground is at the eastern edge of the Fraser Range, about 140 kilometres east of Norseman and 50 kilometers west of Balladonia Roadhouse. It is about a kilometer north of the highway.

There is dam/waterhole only a short walk from the campground.

There are many, many free campgrounds along the length of the Eyre Highway.

90 Mile Straight

Between the old Balladonia Telegraph Line Station (not the Balladonia Roadhouse) and Caiguna, the Eyre Highway stretches for 145.6 kilometers without a bend. Known as the “90 Mile Straight”, this length of bitumen is the longest straight stretch of road in Australia – and one of the longest in the world.

A Royal Flying Doctor Service Emergency Landing Strip is incorporated into the 90 Mile Straight. Traffic management procedures are enacted before any landing on the highway.

Caiguna Blowhole

This easily-accessible blowhole is five kilometres west of the Caiguna Roadhouse.

Blowholes on the Nullarbor are the end result of underground cavities  formed by chemical and physical weathering processes. Some of them are many kilometers long. The Caiguna Blowhole is probably connected to the Baxter Cliffs at the Southern Ocean, 30 kilometers south.

It is possible to stand over the Caiguna Blowhole and experience the force of upswept air.

Madura Pass

When heading east, the Madura Pass takes one down to the  Roe Plains. The Hampton Tableland, part of the Great Southern Scarp, can be viewed immediately to the north. The Roe Plains extend to Eucla. Along with the Eucla Pass, 180 kilometres to the east, the Madura Pass was first section of the Eyre Highway to be sealed.

Remains of Trapped Animal

I have been visiting this site and showing it to fellow travellers since 2001 yet, each time, I have  to re-find it  A quirky and possibly unique point of interest in Australia.

An indeterminate time ago an animal has fallen into a blowhole located just north of the quarantine checkpoint on the SA/WA Border. Its skeleton can be seen on a shelf about 700mm below the opening.

In recent times someone has placed a geocache at the end of the rope down the hole. Obviously it is getting more known.

Edge of Australia

The Bunda Cliffs, part of the Great Southern Scarp form the ‘edge of Australia’ and offer spectacular views.

Though such judgement will always be subjective, the Baxter Cliffs 287 kilometers to the west offer more spectacular views.

Koonalda and Old Eyre Highway

Before the re-alignment of Eyre Highway to its current location, Koonalda was a service center for travellers on the ‘old Eyre Highway’. The railway sleepers from which the homestead and an outbuilding are constructed came from the transcontinental railway 90 kilometres to the north.

 

Not far from the homestead is a doline.

And further towards the highway is a cave .

The homestead is 16 kilometres north of the Eyre Highway and about 100 kilometres east of the WA/SA  border.

Streaky Bay

Although it is off the Eyre Highway, Streaky Bay is a popular, easy-to-access seaside town that is not much of a diversion.

 

 

 

2078-Drive Eyre Highway was in early March 2025.

© Kim Epton 2025
740 words, 24 photographs, one image.

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