Perth to Adelaide via the Nullarbor Plain - Apollo

Nineteen nights from Perth to Adelaide in a campervan, round the south-western corner and then across the Nullarbor in short daily legs.

Margaret River comes first with a day there, where the vineyards sit between tall karri forest and a surf coast, then Denmark and Albany on the south coast, where the whaling station is now a museum and the Gap and Natural Bridge take the full weight of the Southern Ocean.

Bremer Bay, Hopetoun and Esperance follow, where the beaches are white, the water is turquoise and kangaroos use the sand. Norseman turns the route east onto the Eyre Highway, then Balladonia, Caiguna, Cocklebiddy and Madura carry it across the plain, in legs that are sometimes barely sixty-five kilometres between roadhouses, which is what makes this the slow way across. The published day table ends at Madura, with the remaining days running east to Adelaide.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Apollo, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Twenty days for a crossing most people do in a week is the point of this itinerary: the Nullarbor is usually endured rather than looked at, and short legs allow the Bunda Cliffs, the whale lookout at the Head of Bight and the caves along the way to be stopped at. Fuel is available at every roadhouse and water should still be carried. Driving at dawn, dusk and after dark is where the risk lies, since kangaroos, emus and camels all use the road.