Constructed in the 1930’s Koonalda Station started life as a grazing station, before it began servicing travellers as they tripped across the Nullarbor.  Constructed of old railway sleepers the homestead is truely a piece of Australian History.

It’s quite eerie to walk into the homestead and still see the belongings that were left when it was abandoned in the late 80’s…but the true magic of the place is outside.

From the old fuel bowsers that filled so many vehicles, to the wrecks of the cars that didn’t make it to their final destination. Everywhere you turn you’re reminded of what must have truely been an epic journey to cross the Nullarbor.

The further you wonder, the more history there is to discover. As you past the homestead itself you will come across the old farm sheds. Take the time to wonder through and catch a glimpse of how hard this country would have been to work.

Continue further on past the stables into the national park and you’ll find come across the some more of the caves and sink holes that litter the Nullarbor. Like most however, access to these are restricted, and you’ll need to contact National parks should you wish to explore further.

“Everywhere you turn you’re reminded of what must have truely been an epic journey to cross the Nullarbor.”

Camping.

There is plenty of space around the homestead, outbuildings and even at the caves to setup for a night or two.

If you aren’t self contained, don’t stress, there is one toilet out there near the homestead, which was very well maintained when we went through.

There are no other facilities out here, so you will need everything else.

Just remember, there is no garbage service out here, so clean up after yourself and take your rubbish out again.

Getting there

There are no signs to the homestead so you’ll need to be prepared and have done a bit of research so you know when to turn off the highway, but after that it’s pretty straight forward.

Coming from the East it is about 97km west of the Nullarbor Roadhouse and from the west, it is about 88km east of Border Village. The track to the homestead is about 14km long. You actually cross the Old Eyre Highway before you get to the homestead.

The Koonalda Caves are about 7km’s further on. Again, there are tracks everywhere and there is even quite a deep hole just past the old sheds so I wouldn’t recommend tracking out to the caves after dark.

From the caves, you can keep heading North to the Trans Access Road (track along side the Trans Australian Railway) and you will end up about half way towards Cook. We didn’t travel these tracks so I cannot comment on the condition.

Road Conditions

The first few kilometres of the access track are bumpy and rocky but easily drivable by even a 2WD in dry conditions. As always, a bit of air out of the tyres will do wonders.

Just past the halfway mark, it seems to smooth out a bit, but it does become very dusty. This is the area in which after rain the 2WD would start to struggle.

It continues like this the rest of the way.

There are little tracks darting off everywhere, but the main track is well worn so its easy to follow, but I would suggest travelling with a GPS.

With no washouts or big ruts on the track those towing can still head out with no real worries. There is plenty of room to turn around, and you could even unhitch and leave the trailer is you were so inclined.