Balladonia WA

Today we continued our crossing of the Nullarbor, including the iconic 90 Mile Straight – Australia’s longest straight road (146.6 km). Anyone who thinks this is a boring drive with nothing to see or do must be travelling with their eyes closed. We’ve loved every bit of it and could have even spent an extra day just hanging out at the cliffs! There’s just so much to appreciate about this beautiful country.

The scenery has changed several times as the highway moved from within a few hundred metres of the coastline to alongside a small mountain range (something we didn’t expect), through pockets of green shrubbery (and dare I say trees) to the iconic treeless plains by which the Nullarbor gets its name. And it’s not entirely flat either, there’s some beautiful lookouts and views. Who knew?

There’s also other interesting finds, like the emergency landing strips for the Royal Flying Doctor Service down the middle of the highway, random electric vehicle charging points, and all sorts of crazy travellers!

It’s apparently been quite wet out here recently and puddles are aplenty. Consequently Lachlan is obsessed with driving through mud. He even draw a picture of his dream at dinner last night.

Tonight we headed for Balladonia, made ‘famous’ as the crash site of NASA’s Skylab space station in 1979. We set up in the Caravan Park beside the roadhouse before exploring the museum and braving the ‘Skylab’ hole of the Nullarbor Links Golf Course. As we found out this is a genuinely challenging Par 3 where accuracy is everything! We were not accurate and spent the next 10 minutes looking for our ball while donating blood one giant mosquito at a time.

Fun Fact: There was much hilarity when the local Shire Council sent a littering fine to NASA to clean up the fiery chunks of debris that had landed around Balladonia as Skylab re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It is also claimed that President Jimmy Carter subsequently rang the roadhouse to apologise for littering the local area.Read more