A road trip in a 40-year-old van across the Nullarbor, what could go wrong? Well, quite a bit. But even more went right.

Have you ever floated a wild idea by a friend and then suddenly found yourself on a 7000km road trip?

Because, same.

I’ve always loved long road trips, and since I was a teenager, I’ve dreamt of buying an old van (a Volkswagen T3 1980s Kombi – preferably yellow) and just exploring.

But dreams like that tend to get overshadowed by regular life, and every time I started considering this dream of mine, I’d find myself at the same roadblock: Do I choose a modern, reliable van? Or do I buy the rust bucket of my dreams and accept a lifetime of endless mechanical bills? It was a classic case of head vs heart, and luckily, my heart won.

This is how, in 2024, I bought a 40-year-old Volkswagen and persuaded a friend to join me on a Nullarbor road trip – the longest straight road in Australia (and the world!).

Read more: Crossing The Nullarbor Plain – A Guide to Driving Australia’s Longest, Straightest Road

 

 

People in my life called it ‘interesting’ which I soon realised was just a polite way of asking ‘Why on earth would you do that?’. And fair enough. Not everyone wants to spend their annual leave driving through the desert in a van without air-con, praying that it doesn’t break down.

But the more we drove, the clearer my ‘Why’ became. I spent the whole trip in awe of the privilege of exploring, the beauty that can be discovered in lonely places, and the extraordinary kindness of strangers, especially when things don’t go to plan.

Read more: An Introduction to Solo Trips & Adventuring Alone

Buying the Van of My Dreams

My journey started with Maggie. Maggie the van. I remember the day that I found myself on the outskirts of suburban Canberra, handing my life savings over to a stranger I’d met on the internet, in exchange for an old white Kombi, with no power steering.

Even though I’d done my research, it still felt like a reckless decision, and as I drove home down the Hume Highway, my mind was running wild with questions.

What have I just done?
Why is everyone overtaking me? 
How am I going to parallel park this thing?

 

 

But despite the very real, and quite frankly terrifying, questions I was pondering, there was also this certainty beneath it all that I’d just made a decision that felt deeply right. And more excitingly, I was driving my dream van home. The Volkswagen T3 Kombi I’d spent my teen years pining after was finally mine.

Hitting the Road

Once the hurdle of sourcing a van was covered, the next step was persuading my friend Beth to join me. We’d talked about the trip before, but now that it was becoming a possibility, I wanted to make sure Beth understood the reality of the situation.

’The fuel economy is worse than you could possibly imagine’, I told Beth.
‘I don’t know if the van will actually make it.’
‘You’ll be stuck with me for a month.’
‘I’m in’, she said.

We started planning and pretty soon were loading up Maggie the van and cruising out of Melbourne, headed west.

 

 

Aside from the daily argument about whether raspberry or liquorice bullets are the superior road trip snack (liquorice, obviously), and the never-ending rattle of a van older than us, the first few days went off without a hitch.

Read more: Van Vs 4WD – Which Vehicle is Best For Exploring Australia?

We made our way across South Australia and towards Ceduna, where the Nullarbor (or ‘Treeless Plain’) begins. Every day I relished in the beauty of the ever-changing landscape. I’d think, ‘It can’t get better than this’, and then it would.

One morning we woke to a seal cub playing in the ocean just metres away and finished our day eating dinner in the Flinders Ranges as the sunlight seeped out of the sky, giving way to more stars than I’d ever seen in my life. Each day held its own unique beauty, and I was in awe in a way I couldn’t fully describe.

Read more: Remember to leave no trace

 

Disaster Strikes 2km From Ceduna

No 7000km adventure would be complete without a little chaos, and ours was no exception. I’m sure you’re thinking, ’The van broke down. 7000km was too much for little old Maggie’. And whilst I’d love to be able to blame our unexpected side-quest on the van, the reality was, we forgot to get petrol.

I know. What a rookie mistake.

We were about an hour past Poonchara (a town that’s about as remote as it sounds) when Maggie hit 300,000km! And that seemed like a pretty big birthday for an old van, so we pulled over, got a few snaps for the ‘gram, and celebrated that we hadn’t broken down yet.

 

 

Once these side-of-road celebrations were over, we cranked her back up and continued towards Ceduna, the last ‘big’ town we’d see for 1200km. Ceduna was where we’d planned to get fuel, load up our esky for the kilometres ahead, and fill up our jerry can (you know, just in case we ever found ourselves stuck on the side of the road, without petrol).

But only a few minutes after setting off, Maggie started to lose power, and we realised it’d been quite some time since we last got petrol. Then 2km away from Ceduna, we sputtered to a halt and realised that we probably should have already filled up the jerry can.

 

 

So with my brother’s parting words, ‘Don’t get murdered in the desert’, ringing in my ears, we grabbed our empty jerry can, jumped in a passing stranger’s car, and got ourselves to Ceduna.

Our hero was ‘Red’, a Canadian moving to the remote town to work as an oyster farmer. We swapped stories as he drove us into town, waited for us to fill up, and even drove us back out to Maggie. He made sure Maggie was chugging along happily, before he waved goodbye, and drove off himself. This experience was one of many reminders over the trip that the world can be quite a beautiful place.

Strangers & Solitude on the Longest Straight Road

A question that came up in the lead-up to our trip was, ‘Won’t you guys get bored? It’s just a long straight road!’.

It was a valid question and something I’d wondered myself.

Whilst I love my solo time, I often think of lonely, isolated places as being a bit lifeless.

 

 

The Nullarbor was anything but – our days were filled with small and fleeting moments shared with strangers. From excited waves shared with fellow Kombi drivers to long conversations held under stars with people we’d likely never see again, these experiences felt full of the best kind of life. We noticed and appreciated them so much more because we weren’t distracted by the exhausting pace of our lives back home.

But dispersed between these interactions with strangers were special moments just for us. Bumping down rutted gravel roads without seeing anyone for hours and being treated to the most exquisite untouched bay at the end.

Dusk walks from our bush campsite to the Eyre Highway, seeing the horizon in every direction and hearing road trains roar past before disappearing into the fading light. These moments especially did not feel boring. I felt like I was experiencing a rich and sacred beauty that only reveals itself in lonely places. This solitude felt like a privilege I wanted to soak up and appreciate.

 

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Belangoloopy – Paddy Pallin Intro Rogain, NSW Rogaining

But, why?

Why do the trip at all? Why do it in a van that’s older than me? Why spend all of my annual leave in the desert? Because as beautiful as the trip was, it definitely had its fair share of discomfort. Two people sharing a questionably small ‘double’ bed, the daily struggle of fighting off insects as we cooked dinner. The long stretches between showers. The stress of driving a van so old. There were definitely times that didn’t go to plan.

 

 

But whenever I thought ‘Why did I do this?’, another question came to mind, asked by American poet, Mary Oliver: ‘What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’. And while I don’t fully know the answer, I do know that I want to make memories my future self will treasure. And for me, that almost always starts when I go outside.

Inspired to Take on an Unforgettable Road Trip?

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