Welcome to Balladonia Hotel Motel

Balladonia Roadhouse is one of the first couple of stops between Norseman and Eucla on the Eyre Hwy. The little dining section inside is well furnished and one could almost imagine dining in a cafe rather than a petrol station. There is even a nice fenced playground in the parking area for the kids. The dine in menu reflects this, with foccacias and hot meals available, like steak or "today's" roast and soup of the day. The cooks also seem to be a bit more professional, or at least dress in chef garb. Unfortunately both times we ate here, our choices were not the best of what they had to offer. I ordered a chicken kebab the first time which had quite a lot of raw onion and not so much chicken and quite small a serve, my husband had a deluxe burger which seemed ok. On the second visit I was a bit more hungry and decided to try out the hot meals. I decided to get the lasagne, which, for $17, one would hope would be a bit more than just a microwaved stack of tomato sauce, pasta some semblance of meat and grated cheese on top. There wasn't even a decent salad or chips on the side. I know roadhouses charge ridiculous amounts of money for food but this was a bit of a joke. The couple on the table next to us had ordered the roast which looked alot more appetising. My husbands Hawaiian foccacia also looked and tasted a lot more appetising than this lasagne. They do serve Dome coffee, if you are particular about your coffee.

The other attraction of this place is the space museum. It was closed on this occasion due to roadworks in the area, and subsequently had been turned into a mess hall for the workers, however when operating as normal, it house a fair amount of Skylab artefacts and memorabilia, as well other things of interest about the area.

A worthy rest/petrol stop, the toilets are also quite clean. Just be careful what you order and don't park under a tree....the crows seem to have serious bowel issues!