CAMPSITE # 126 - Pardoo Station Stay, WA

Sometimes I find myself having a little chuckle at the things you do on the road. Where you're so extremely conscience of things that can make or break your trip i.e. storage space, money & mechanical stuff.

Take for instance, our weekly grocery shop. We don't just shove the bags in the boot and drive away, oh no, we stand there and unpack each and every item into their desired containers & storage area. Normally, because we have just had to endure the torture of loitering amongst amazing food we can't afford, we'll then find ourselves pulling our chairs out in the carpark and 'devouring' a vegemite sandwich or a bowl of noodles just to make our stomachs forget about all of the other yummy stuff we'd just seen. That's right, our romantic lunch dates are now sometimes limited to camping chairs in a Woolworths carpark.

Diesel is absolute killer, when you're on the road you do absolutely everything & anything possible to drag that fuel price down even by a cent or two. But, we've caught wind of a few little secrets along the way. Obviously, there's the Coles & Woolworths discount vouchers that will get you 4c off a litre however, if you're filling up 160 litres of fuel, you'll generally find that you'll save $5 by using a 4c off. But, they say if you spend $5 in store, you get an additional 4c off per litre. I calculated that we then spend $5 in order to save $5 which essentially means whatever we buy is 'free'. Yippeeee.


Another little way to combat the rising fuel price is an iPhone app Tom found called "Cheap Fuel" and it tells us all of the fuel outlets in a town in WA and what price they are on that day. It's a god send!


And one last one is a lot of towns that have ports will generally have a single Diesel bowser there for the public to refuel at roughly 5 - 8 cents less per litre than the ones in the town centre! Great  success!!!

Site : Pardoo Station Stay
Rating : 12 / 20
Facilities : We're really loving these station stays! And this one is party central. There would have been at least 300 people staying there while we were there. We had a little laugh at the over 50s who would gather in a social circle around the bonfire, their sign engraved into a piece of timber and nailed to a tree saying "Pardoo Coffin Dodgers" was quite amusing.

The property is on the ocean and you can drive around their station out to the creeks & the beach. We spent the day at the creek and Tom had some great success with his fishing catching us some lovely Flathead & Australian Salmon to enjoy for entrée. But the main meal really was the most exciting part - his first mud crab... (N.B. when you're living off vegemite sandwiches and noodles... a mud crab is a SERIOUS treat!!! And we enjoyed every bite)

QUESTION TIME - Our thoughts on the trip so far.

The last time we did our little questionnaire was just before Christmas when we were in Canberra. I thought it was time for some new questions...


1. Top 3 favourite experiences of the trip so far?
Tom : Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay, WA. Gordon River Cruise, TAS. Great Ocean Road, VIC.
Amy : Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay, WA. Ayers Rock, NT. Working at Mungerannie, SA


2. If you could change one thing about how your setup, what would you do?
Tom : Would have the drawer system made out of aluminium instead of plywood.
Amy : Have a more easy to use built in kitchen setup that somehow doesn't stink out our 'bedroom'.


3. What's your favourite thing to eat while travelling?
Tom : Anything cooked in the camp oven.
Amy : A giant block of Cadburys Dairy Milk accompanied by a big glass of icy cold milk.


4. One new thing you've learnt about your partner since you've been on the trip?
Tom : How tolerant of living on the road she is and how she adapts so well to different conditions.
Amy : The way he can mend / change / create anything so long as he completely understands exactly how it should function & why.


5. What do you think was your absolute lowest point of the trip?
Tom : Returning to Perth Airport after visiting my family in England. Sheeting rain at midnight with nowhere to sleep and no fuel in the Troopie.
Amy : When the 3rd tyre in 500km shredded on the highway at 9pm.


6. What's the one thing you'll miss the most about the trip, once this is all over?
Tom : Freedom.
Amy : Freedom.


7. What are you most looking forward to after the trip?
Tom : Planning the next adventure.
Amy : Throwing out (no, burning) all of my on-the-road clothes and updating my wardrobe to clothes that don't smell, have dirt stains all over them or have holes.


8. What is your most prized possession on the road?
Tom : My GPS.
Amy : My toiletries bag and all of its contents. Sanity in one bag.


9. How do you think you have changed since doing the trip?
Tom : Have a greater understanding of budgeting and actually sticking to it.
Amy : Have a much better appreciation for the value of money and I no longer take for guaranteed all of those little things in life.


10. If you travelled around Oz again, how would you want to be setup?
Tom : Troopie with a trailer tent with a boat on the roof of the trailer.
Amy : Landcruiser Dual Cab Ute with a storage unit on the tray and a 4WD camper trailer.


11. What's your next big adventure going to be?
Tom : Hiking the Great Highland Way.
Amy : Around Europe in a Wicked Van or across the US with a girlfriend Thelma & Louise style (now that'd make for an interesting blog!)

CAMPSITE # 125 - Karijini National Park, Pilbara Region

9 months down, 3 to go! That's right, we're 3/4 of the way through the trip, and hasn't it flown! We have to keep reminding ourselves to make sure that we're making the very most of every day we have left because soon it will all be over!

From Exmouth, we travelled directly west into the Pilbara Region and through to Karijini National Park.  The colour of the landscape in Karijini is a remarkable red, iron-rich together with the contrast of the green bushland makes for some seriously spectacular views and even better photos! There are a number of gorges in the National Park with some incredibly refreshing (refreshingly cold at the moment!) freshwater swimming holes. 

This one was taken from the viewing point of Circular Pool, even though the angle points straight into the sun, you can see at the bottom some tiny little swimmers enjoying a dip...

Tom was quick to join them as soon as we got down there. But he was just as quick to get out as he was to get in!!

This is a banded iron formation, found all throughout the gorge which created some very handy stairs to get around on! 

As we were walking past this little disaster waiting to happen, Tom told me to run past it. I don't think people realise how dangerous it could possibly be and practically hanging on by a thread. After closer inspection (from 6 feet away) you can even see a really predominant fault line all of the way up... eeek!

The walk we did was apparently the hardest category of walks. It took about 2 hours in total but involved a lot of misshapen rocks as stairs and negotiating over slippery patches but we got there in the end. This photo is looking straight at Fortescue Falls. We raced up the final leg, the cliffline stairwell all of the way to the top. Hay Caramba! That certainly took the wind out of my sails!


And this is from the top of Fortescue Falls looking back down. Puts it all into perspective...

Site : Karijini National Park, Dales Camping Ground

Rating : 7 / 20

Facilities : $14 per night for unpowered site. Drop dunnies but very well maintained. Can't have fires. Dales is in walking distance to gorge & swimming hole. Great outlook from campsite.

CAMPSITE # 124 - 5 senses, 1 brain

After such a glorious time at Coral Bay, we begun to think that things couldn’t possibly get any better. That’s when we found, Turquoise Bay.

Turquoise Bay is in the Cape Range National Park, just around the point from the booming town of Exmouth. There are 103 beachside campsites at Cape Range National Park but you have to line up at the Rangers office from sunrise in the hope that any other camper will leave and you can take their place – that’s how incredibly packed it gets!

We considered giving it a run but we decided to arrive the day beforehand just to evaluate for ourselves whether or not it was worth the risk & if Cape Range really was all it was cracked up to be. I quickly decided that regardless of how beautiful the place possibly could be, I would have hated to have been the number 13 out of 13 cars waiting that morning. The Ranger explained to us that they were the only ones to miss out as only 12 campers left. After waiting 4 hours in the hopes that someone would leave, unlucky 13 had to turn around and find somewhere else to stay that day. No Thank You!!! No campsite is worth that.

Instead, we decided to pay $11 for the day entry and just stay there for the day having a look around. Word around the campsites and any local you speak to is that Turquoise Bay is THE place to go snorkelling.

And they were 100% correct! WOW! WOW! And WOW!

It was EXTRAORDINARY!!! We were floating just a few feet away from some of the most incredibly colourful and truly amazing underwater creatures. And they weren’t phased by us at all. Some would even have a nibble at your feet as you stood in ankle deep water. Others would just pass us by without a care in the world. This was one of the most memorable and incredible things I think I will ever see in my lifetime – just metres from the shore!

As I lay on the beach under the sunshine on a gorgeous and calm day, I realised that this could possibly be the last time I lie on the beach until we get back to good old Queensland. Unless of course I want to lie on the beach with crocodiles. I soaked in and absorbed every little bit of the fresh salty beach smell and the soft white sand cushioning underneath me. All of my senses agreed with my brain – I was in travellers heaven.

When you can’t get Cape Range National Park where else do you stay? At a Rest Area of course...

Site : Barradale Rest Area

Rating : 6 / 20

Facilities : Very big 24 hour Rest Area. Drop dunnies. Loads of space to find a shady spot under a tree. Fires allowed.

CAMPSITE # 123 - A Bay on a pedastool

We're officially in the Tropics!!

Tom’s brother, Will, has already beaten Tom to it. He did the trip around Oz two years ago. When we asked him where his absolute favourite place in the whole of Australia was... the one that stood out the most, the one he dreams about when he’s busy working away slugging it out in cold & rainy old England...

It was, in Will’s words, “without a doubt... Coral Bay”.

What that meant for us was that we now had Coral Bay perched very high on top of a giant pedastool, we had very high expectations of the place. Coral Bay is a small settlement that lies protected from the Indian Ocean by the Ningaloo Reef. It is Australia's only fringing reef (where the reef grows directly from the shoreline). 

Now, for those of you in the South Easterly side of Australia who are busy battling through the wintery months, I should start by pointing out our weather conditions. We were blessed with day after day of premium beach conditions – 26 degress, not a cloud in the sky, just a glorious blue, calm, bloody perfect sky above us. Optimum condition for our very first Coral Bay experience. 

Apparently the water supply into Coral Bay is extremely limited so the town is literally a tourist destination with a very limited number of permanent residents. It’s a very small town, with just your necessity stores and loads of touristy junk to buy. The majority of the town is taken up by its two Caravan Parks. Wanting to ensure we made the most of our Coral Bay experience, we headed straight towards the Caravan Park closest to the bay. We knew things really were going to work in our favour when the lovely, lonely looking grassy patch closest to bay that we eyed off on our way in was... free and just waiting for a Troopie to perch itself on top!!!

Weather – TICK.
Campsite – TICK, TICK.
But what about the beach?

Rather than paying $15each to hire a pair of snorkels for two hours, we went and bought two pairs for $19 each. We then knew we were sorted for any future snorkling that may come our way.

We were set for our first swim in the ocean since... wait for it... Tasmania! How pathetic is that?!

Forget winter, the water temperature was simply divine. As we waded around the corner with our snorkels in hand, I spotted my very first fish through the crystal clear water. It wasn’t just your run of the mill bait fish, oh no, it was an Emperor Something-or-other the size of my forearm. And it was less than a metre away from my feet just calmly passing by without a care in the world. 

We were told that the best spot to snorkel was just 20 metres off the shore around the point. As we made our way to the spot, we were busy observing other swimmings in the water snorkelling away but also drifting at a speed faster than I could swim. Note to self... do not get carried away. Literally.

I really wish I had more photos of Coral Bay and its beauty. But, knowing that we were going to be out in the ocean enjoying the scenery for a long while, we didn't desperately want to take our camera to the beach. Which, if we had, could have easily resulted in no more camera because when we finally returned to our towels all neatly rolled up and left on the sand, we noticed someone had helped themselves through our stuff and were rummaging around to find nothing at all (thank god!!)

At times like these, I desperately wished we had an underwater camera. Some of the fish were an arms length away and totally ok with us being there. It truly was an incredible experience being able to appreciate the beauties of the underwater world.

Will Bill... I’m not sure that I can say that Coral Bay was the best place we’ve been to but you were right... it was absolutely freakin’ awesome!!! Aside from the locusts...
That's not a cloudy haze about those mountains...

Site : Peoples Park Coral Bay
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Much better position than the other park. Well manicured gardens & lawns. Clean & tidy facilties. Very pricey though - $38 for a beachside unpowered site although we could have paid $4 less and had the cheaper site right at the back of the caravan park.

CAMPSITE # 122 - Second time lucky

After our dolphin viewing at Monkey Mia in the morning, we hadn't left ourselves with much time to cram in some driving plus - we still had to see the Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, just down the road from our previous campsite at The Station Stay. Because the road to Monkey Mia is a dead end, we literally had to turn around and trace our last 150kms driven back to the main highway. Rather than tracking on, we decided to setup camp at the Station Stay for another night.

The Stromatolites were quite interesting. To look at them, they just look like fluffy pieces of blob on rocks in the sand (clearly that's not geological terminology) but their importance is in understanding their significance. Up until 60 years ago, it was believed that Stromatolites were extinct. In the 1950's, a colony of them were found right in Shark Bay alive and well, bubbling away just as they had been doing for over 300 million years.

Stromatolites are an unassuming colony of cyano-bacteria which photosynthesis' the suns light into energy, giving off oxygen as waste. It is thought that Stromatolites are responsible for raising the Earth's atmospheric oxygen levels to above a crucial 20% therefore allowing multicellular life to evolve (us).

This is quarry used in the 1800s just up the road from Shell Beach. They sliced up the compacted shells to use them as bricks for building.

CAMPSITE # 121 - Monkey Mia

The 'quick 150km drive' to Monkey Mia was anything but quick. It didn't help that we had a lazy start and only set off at 10am followed by a lovely stroll along Shell Beach. Shell Beach is made up of billions of tiny white 'coquina bivalve' sea shells that are compacted so many metres deep that some buildings in the area are actually constructed by blocks of the compacted shells.

Once we arrived to Monkey Mia and paid the $11 entry fee per vehicle, we set about taking a little stroll around the resort and debated whether or not to stay the night. As we arrived after lunch, we missed the dolphin viewing for the day. Monkey Mia is a destination known predominately for its wild dolphin feeding attraction. Between 8am and 12pm each day, they hand feed up to 5 wild dolphins from the shores of the Monkey Mia Resort in shin deep water.

When we were walking through the camping ground, to have a little look, we recognised a fellow Troopie. Geographically speaking, I don't think we, at Monkey Mia (one of the most westerly points in the country), could have been much further away from the Eastern coast of Tasmania. Remember Campsite # 56 at Swimcart Beach where we made friends with two other Troopies? Jess and Dave were in the 'QueensLandCruiser' and Maria was in 'Norbit likes it rough'. Well, right infront of our very own eyes was good old Norbit. At that point, our decision was made - we were definitely staying.


We spent our afternoon / evening catching up with Maria and shared many tales of our journeys since we last saw each other over four months ago. A lot of kilometres travelled, many campsites covered and some rather interesting encounters to speak of. 

So, we lined up with all of the other dozens of tourists and "ooooh" and "aaaahh'd" at the dolphins at 8 O'Clock the next morning. People travel for thousands of kms to see these beauties up close and personal. A selected few may even be lucky enough to be chosen to hand feed a fish to the dolphins. Back in the day when the program first began, they used to let people sneak a pat in as they were feeding the fish to the mammals but for some reason the dolphins didn't appreciate being poked & prodded by humans and started biting the tourists. Which I think is quite amusing - kudos to Team Dolphin!! You have to wonder about some people. One young girl was chosen to feed the dolphin and was sporting a gigantic smile on her face, all full of excitement and amazement until a middle aged German women pushed the little girl out of her way and announced "Now, I go!!" As you can imagine, that went down REALLY well with the Ranger... and for some reason she wasn't chosen to feed the dolphins. 

Site : Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort
Rating : 6 /20
Facilities : 1min stroll to the bay. Pool & spa, tennis court, bar, good camp kitchen. Bathrooms were very revolting... if they actually are paying someone to clean them they're not getting paid enough. 

CAMPSITE # 120 - Hamelin Station Stay - One of the best yet!

The drive to Monkey Mia is via one road and one road only. So, as you can imagine, the places to stay are fairly limited and they can therefore charge as much as they really feel like.

We originally planned to scoot straight to Monkey Mia and had hoped to arrive there before their office closed at 8pm. But, setting up camp in the dark is one of our most dreaded tasks so, once again we gave into temptation and took the turn off 150kms before Monkey Mia at a sign marked "Hamelin Station Stay".

I've noticed in our Camps 5 book that homestead stays seems to be all the rage in WA. For the owners of the property, they're providing themselves with a second income and therefore not relying so heavily on the land - particularly during drought. Really, it's a win/win situation for all - we were paying close to half the price of Monkey Mia (Hamelin rates were $10p/p) and had much better facilities in a much nicer setting.

We were parked right amongst their 5000 acre property. During sunset, the entire sky was lit up by all of the vibrant yellow, orange, purple, blue colours appearing before us. At times like these you really can appreciate wide open spaces and the advantages of living on the land. 

Tom (the bird man) spotted a song from a native bird that was new to us both. It had a real electronic sound to it. After further investigation, we later learnt that it was the "Chiming Wedgebill" commonly nicknamed The Windmill Bird. When I was trying to find out its technical name and googled "Windmill Bird" all that came up are hundreds of articles about how wind turbines apparently kill birds. After consulting Tom's Field Guide to Australia Birds book, they write out the sounds that the bird makes. We always have a little laugh at how descriptive the book is. According to the book, the Windmill bird has a far-carrying, musical, wistful and rather lonely song. The first 3 notes high ringing, metallic, the last much deeper, metallic, 'tchip-chipity-chiep-tchonk', repeatedly, vigorously. Also, high-low, ringing, metallic 'WHI-whiet-WHI-wheit'. You can almost hear yourself singing it as you read it ;)

Site : Hamelin Pool Station Stay
Rating : 16 / 20
Facilities : Received two additional points from both of us for the 'emotional swing'. We loved it! It has a true rustic / outback charm. The facilities are top notch - an incredible 'camp kitchen' (more like one you would find in a restaurant), under cover BBQ facilities with eating area, indoor fireplace and outdoor bonfire area. Very clean and well maintained bathrooms with great showers. This place is an absolute must! Save your $$$ and stay here above any others in the area!


Photo courtesy of : Stephen Murray.

CAMPSITE # 119 - The Passenger

Other campers at the Rest Area must have thought we were young foreign backpackers having woken them all up during our 3am arrival and then slept until early afternoon. But little did they know, we weren't suffering from a massive goon hangover, we had endured a very long flight and were just desperate for sleep.


But, once we had caught up on our sleep, we were right as rain... at 2 O'Clock in the afternoon. 


Having studied the map of W.A. and loosely scheduled in what we wanted to see & where, Tom and I realised that it was time to put the skates on. No more sleeping in until 2pm, we had some serious km's to make. We were to drive up the westcoast towards Monkey Mia and be there within 2.5 days and then continue to follow along the coastline until the Pilbara region ready to give that a fair crack. 


However, we didn't get off to such a great start. We were supposed to leg it all of the way to Geraldton that day but gave up after 3 hours. What can I say? We were out of practise...

Site : Jurien Bay Tourist Park
Rating : 7 / 20
Facilities : Very close to the beach with a great jetty and a brand new kids playground. Our site was a bit pathetic, felt more like we were the bad kids of the class and were thrown all of the way at the back of an empty park next to the fence and the road. Has a camp kitchen with free BBQ facilities. Pricey for what you're getting at $25 for an unpowered site. And don't go in the bathrooms if you get ill easily, seriously it's like walking into a giant orange light bulb but hey - on the brighter side at least we didn't have to worry about bugs in the loos.


As you can imagine, there was no question as to whether we were stopping at the Pinnacles. The geologist had spoken. The Pinnacles are ancient rock formations that are limestone speirs rising from the sand. They say that they can't pinpoint their actual age but it's guessed that they were created millions of years ago as seashells were broken into sand and they were eroded away by water and wind. Some of them stand to be several metres tall... 


Where's Wally and his girlfriend? N.B. Wally is not wearing red & white stripes with a matching hat.

Boy did it feel good to be cruising in the Troopie. The sun was shining with a maximum of 23degrees, the windows were down and the tunes were cranking. When the conditions are so perfect, the optimum road tripping music is an absolute must. But then, it got Tom and I into a rather lengthy discussion... "What are THE BEST songs to listen to in the car?" What is the kind of music that just makes you want to keep on driving until the lack of fuel won't take you any further? The type of tunes that make you crank the stereo so loud that you feel sorry for the under priviledged speakers. The songs that make you scream at the top of your lungs and just hope to god that nobody is recording you. Our list?.. and yes, this is in a counting down order of preferences...


Number 9 : The Eagles - Hotel California
Such a great singalong number that never grows old.


Number 8 : Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano
Even those who think this is the best song in the world will also agree that it is the most annoying song in the world but damn it's catchy... you'll find yourself nodding within the first 10seconds...


Number 7 : Iggy Pop - The Passenger
I never would have nominated this song. But Tom convinced me to just put it on and listen to it. I quickly agreed, it had to go on the list.


Number 6 : Counting Crows - Mr Jones
What a cracker of a song!!! Sha la la la la la. la.                      aha.


Number 5 : Jimmy Barnes - Khe Sanh.
Or should I say Tommy Barnes? I have evidence that this song is definitely a favourite for Tommy.


Number 4 : Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Great. Great. Great.


Number 3 : Xavier Rudd - Better People
Such a feel good song.


Number 2 : Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
Woooooo ho ho. 


Number 1 : Stereophonics - Dakota.
Now these songs were very carefully selected and this one truly was the one that made you want to leave your window down and make the moment last for as long as possible.


You may have noticed that we had no number 10?! Well, that's on purpose because we debated over number ten for far too long and in the end - I just gave up. Tom wanted to put Meatloaf, Bat out of hell as number ten but I was absolutely certain that surely there's a better one. I would do anyone else but him. Oh no, I won't do Meatloaf.


So, I need your help. Can anyone comment and suggest a better song? Even if you think it belongs higher than number ten, we're certainly open to all options as no doubt there is a sensational song out there that we have forgotten?

CAMPSITE # 118 - Hakuna Matata

The flight home from England went considerable faster than the way there. We had a change over flight in Singapore where we literally got off one plane, straight onto the next and were taking off within minutes later. Some would say we cut it a little fine but either way - we made it all of the way from Heathrow to Perth in 19hours which I thought was a very impressive effort.

The only thing I didn't factor in however, when booking the flights, was our arrival time into Perth. I was so concerned the entire time about just getting to England that I never really took much notice of our return trip. Flying back into the International airport at midnight isn't normally so bad when you have a home to go to and you just jump in a taxi, have no traffic all of the way there and then you climb into bed pretty much straight away. The catch for us was, well we don't have a home. And the bed we do have needs to be parked in a designated camping area before we can sleep in it (particularly in WA, we've heard stories of people getting $350 fines for sleeping in their cars in an illegal area). 

After we had been approved by customs to import Tom's brother's fishing rods into the country, we walked out of the airport to a cold, dark & rainy Perth. We may as well have stayed in bloody England. I had severe lack of sleep, was wearing insufficient clothing for the cold snap that was engulfing us and I just felt flat. The excitement of visiting our families was over and now we were to climb our way back into the Troopie on a miserable night for a few hours until we got to a Rest Area.

I was dragging my feet and my rather sad looking luggage all of the way over to the airport parking until I came around the bend and caught my first glimpse of Charlie. He just sat there proudly and patiently waiting for us. I know cars can't smile but Charlie's a special car and on this night, he was definitely smiling. I could feel the goosebumps pricking up through my skin as a tingling sensation ran through even inch of my body.

We opened the back doors and both stuck our heads in, just to get a good whiff of his stench. Tom climbed into the drivers seat and as he went to turn the key - both of us looked at each other in suspense as to whether or not he would be willing to be awoken from his sleep. Tom flicked that ignition and floored the accelerator and I grunted in approval as old Charlie Troopcarrier roared like he was the Mufasa of the security parking and he was letting everyone know that he was the king of this jungle.  

We were back. 

Much to our surprise, the three hour drive to our campsite went by quicker than expected. We were so busy reacquainting ourselves with the ins and outs of our beloved beast. After a good sleep in the morning, we would be ready to face this world once again and hit the road jack... ready for the exciting adventure that lay ahead.