After arriving late to the Nullarbor Roadhouse, many travellers spend the night with us, before setting of the next morning to explore the surrounding tourist attractions. Having spent the morning exploring, some choose to make it a limited driving day by spending the night at the Koonalda Homestead, just 100km west of us.
Whether you’re a serious, no-frills type of camper looking for a great spot to set up camp under the stars, or a group in a trailer looking for a place to rest for the night, the Koonalda Homestead could be a great stopover.
History
The campsite is deceptively simple in everything. While it’s true that the homestead does not allow pets, it’s still a great place to stop over for the night and take a breather. This simplicity that permeates the homestead comes from when it was used to service traffic crossing the Nullarbor, mainly the sleepers from the Indian Pacific Railway. The homestead and outbuildings themselves are unique and offer plenty of photo opportunites.
The Homestead used to be a train station, functional during the mid-1900s. It was a stopover for food and fuel to people who had been making the journey across the Nullarbor via the Eyre Highway, back before the highway itself had been rerouted closer to the coast.
Features
The homestead is located off the Eyre Highway and in the Nullarbor National Park, and while the park is featureless (as the plain essentially is), it’s the very vast openness of it that draws people to camp here.
Not 15 kilometres past the homestead and into the park are a range of caverns and sinkholes that have been the subject of interest for many cavers and explorers looking for sights that cannot be found above ground. These cave systems are known around the world for being some of the most extensive systems discovered. It is therefore advisable not to go exploring alone, and to make sure to have an experienced guide with you if you do not have significant experiences in cave exploring.
If you’re not up to exploring much below ground, there are also some areas of interest around the homestead worth taking a look at. Previous travellers who have been to the homestead say that the “car graveyard” was worth having a look into—a motley assortment of old cars that have been left behind in the plains. And as the homestead used to have been a station for running sheep, there is an abandoned shearing shed that still has old tools and other implements, and the building itself is still in good condition.
Going to the Homestead
The homestead itself is 16 km off the Eyre Highway, and about 100 km before the WA border. Unfortunately, there will be no signs to guide you towards the homestead. The simple constructs in this piece of Australian history do not include major communications methods or road signs. It’s wise to contact the National Park for more details about how to be guided towards the homestead. Make sure to have radios on hand for communication, and a vehicle that can handle the dirt road that will take you there.
If you have any questions or tips on travelling to the Koonalda Homestead please do not hesitate to contact the Nullarbor Roadhouse for more information.
Tourist Attraction: Koonalda Homestead
