You don’t expect a lot when you stay at a roadhouse on the Nullabor, but last night certainly left us shaking our heads.

After about 5 hours of driving we decided to stop at Eucla. There was no particular reason except that I had phoned ahead and discovered a powered sit was just $20.00, a pretty good price. What they didn’t mention was that there was no water to hook into and showers were $1.00 a pop. I didn’t mind too much as water is pretty scarce in the desert so we were happy to cart a bit of water for the night.

However it wasn’t a fun night at all. Eucla is another one of those places where the absence of competition and the struggle to get staff has resulted in a place where no one seems to care.

I went up to buy a carton of milk and there was a choice of 600ml full cream it 1 l of skim. I plonked the full cream on the bench and got nailed $3.50 by the grumpy waitress. It’s one thing to get fleeced – and you expect it some degree out here – but surely you can smile and fleece me at the same time?… It was a sign of things to come…

I went back at dinner time to buy sone chips. The dinner menu was priced like the milk so we decided to keep it simple. After asking about the meal sizes I was told I was asking too many questions… But hey if 600ml of milk is that much then maybe $4.50 gets you 10 chips?…

We crashed early and were fast asleep when the music started. The staff fron the roadhouse had come home from work at about 10.30 to their onsite van (which we happened to park next to) and were in full party mode. It was Acca Dacca in the background as they yelled and screamed at each other describing their sex lives on more detail than you would want to know. 

This went on until well after midnight, but somehow I fell asleep. They didn’t sound like folks who would appreciate a polite request to quieten down and I didn’t want to go in all guns blazing as they were pretty well oiled. Danelle endured it (and my snoring) a lot longer.

So the yobbo staff made one part of the night ugly and then we were woken at about 4.00am by the roosters – who also happen to live onsite… The two of them did their thing for about 2 hours until eventually we just had to get up. You have to wonder though… Who keeps roosters on a caravan park? Have they given it any thought at all?!

So amidst the WA drizzle (welcome home) we packed up and hit the road nice and early happy to be anywhere but at Eucla! Before we left Danelle stopped in at the Roadhouse to let them know about the trouble last night – and it was only here that we realised it was the staff who were the cause as they weren’t the least bit interested and the bloke manning the servo was the same bloke who had been living next to us.

The competition is hotting up for Australias worst caravan park and I reckon Eucla would go close.

Avoid it at all costs