CAMPSITE # 113 - How to budget for a trip around Oz.

The other day, I was flicking through some Troopie paperwork in the glovebox and stumbled across a budget I wrote out before we started the trip. I estimated that we would spend an average of $645 per week which was broken down to ...

$150 - Groceries per week

$70 - Campsites per week

$300 - Diesel per week

$50 - Luxury fund per week

$20 - Personal & Medical per week

$5 - Postcards & postage per week

$50 - Buffer per week

Since we first arrived in Tasmania in February, we've been tracking every dollar spent on the road. While some may say that we're mad and that it's so depressing to watch your money disappear, we both decided it was a very valuable tool to use for budgeting & forecasting.

Our ledger has been broken down by each week from Sundays to Saturdays. Each time we spend money, we record the date, what it was and what category it fell under.

The categories are called -  

--- Camping ---
--- Diesel ---
--- Groceries ---
--- Alcohol ---
--- Troopie ---
--- Camping Supplies ---
--- Tourists ---
--- Luxury ---
--- Medical ---
--- Other ---

  

During the day leading up to our night at Campsite # 113, we spent just $11 in total thanks to a naughty Ice Cream we treated ourselves to at Busselton Jetty. Ice Creams, not surprisingly, fall under the "Luxury" category. A few days prior however, we spent - 


--- LUXURY Category - $22 At the Denmark Chocolate Factory
--- TROOPIE Category - $6 For a Troopie carwash in Denmark 

---TOURIST Category - $20 At the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk 

---CAMPING Category - $20 At the Quinninup Eco Tourist Park 

--- LUXURY Category - $75 At the Quinninup Tavern

As you can imagine, the "Luxury" column is the naughtiest column although the "Diesel" column is the one that really kills the bank account. Last week, on the 2nd week of May, over a course of 7 days, we spent the following total in each category - 

--- CAMPING ---
$139. This is more than usual, thanks to our 3 night stay in Esperance, 5 out of 7 nights were paid for camping (we normally try to average 3 days a week at paid sites and then the rest at either free camps or Rest Areas). The 7 day average spent on camping was $19 per day.

--- DIESEL ---

We spent $299 in one week on diesel at an average of $1.57/L. We paid for 191L of diesel (plus the fuel already in the tank from start of the week).

--- GROCERIES ---
Week's Total - $44. This was quite a cheap grocery week (probably because of all of the free calamari we ate). Grocery totals from the 4 weeks proceeding (excluding our time working at Mungerannie) were $115, $46, $69, and $60.

--- ALCOHOL ---

This category is for booze purchased at a Bottle-o. Any alcohol purchased in a pub goes under the Luxury column. Week's total was - $11 for two bottles of wine. My mother would be so proud but would then continue to ask why the wine was even necessary.

--- TROOPIE ---

This category includes any mechanical repairs, parts, services or maintenance of the Troopie. Weekly total was $6 for the carwash.

--- COMMUNICATIONS ---

Category for postcards, stamps, phone and internet. Weekly total - $6 for 4 x postcards.

--- CAMPING SUPPLIES ---

Any camping related purchases i.e. new utensils, gas bottle refills, fishing tackle, BBQ coals etc. Weekly Total  was $52.

--- TOURISTS ---

Any attractions or sightseeing expenses. This week's had a total of $20 for the Treetop Walk.

--- LUXURY ---

I have a love/hate relationship with this column. Love the experience / hate adding it to the ledger. Total was $122. That's considerably higher than usual (really, it is, I swear!!)

--- MEDICAL ---

We like when this column's empty, which thankfully, it is more often than not.

The total weekly spend was $699. Considering our initial budget was $645 a week, we were slightly over. At the start of the trip, we were hitting an average of $450 per week but that was because we were driving a lot less distance so the dreaded diesel column rarely went into triple figures. The week's daily average was $99. Tom and I have calculated that we need to aim to get that figure down to a daily average of $75 per day, giving us a weekly budget of $525.

Given the distance we need to travel over the next four months (Perth to Darwin to North QLD and back to Brisbane), I'm pretty confident that we can expect our diesel bill to be at least $250 per week. Which doesn't leave us with much flexibility with the remaining $275 once you factor in camping costs, groceries and of course - alcohol.


Something tells me we need to have a little chat with that luxury column :(

We stopped in at the Busselton Jetty - at 1.8km long, this jetty has a little train that you can pay $10 per adult to take you to the end and back. We, being fit & frugal, decided to pay the $2.50 per adult entry fee and walk along the jetty. It was quite an overcast and miserable day that felt like it was right on the brink of a massive storm all day. The camera stayed in the car that day but I did manage to find a great photo from http://kirkhille.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/busselton-jetty-iii/  that pretty much sums up its beauty better than we could ever do.... great photo!

When driving through Margaret River, most people would stop at some of the many lovely wineries. We could count on two hands how many wineries we've visited on the trip so this time we thought we'd mix things up a little. Instead, we paid the Colonial Brewery a little visit. We paid $15 and shared a beer tasting rack consisting of five beers. Toms favourite was the dark one - called the Porter and I love the first one The Witbier.

Scuba Cow out the front...

Site : Belvidere Campsite, WA
Rating : 5 / 20
Facilities : I took 2 points off thanks to the emotional swing. The "Mosquitoes in the area carry Ross River Fever" sign was a real turn off. Fires allowed. Drop dunnies. Supposed to be a 'pay the ranger when he turns up site' but he never came. That'll help the budget ;)

CAMPSITE # 112 - Idiots Guide to Camping

This is the Bicentennial Tree. It was traditionally used for fire fighters to climb to the top to monitor bush fires. It's now a tourist attraction, you can climb up the steel pegs all 75 metres to the top. That little platform you see just a third of the way up apparently is "The Easy Part". We chickened out...

Driving into Conto Camping Ground felt like we were driving into a forgotten forest. The whole surface of the ground was overcrowded by a lime green weed that made the whole place look so colourful and alive.

We found our site and set about getting everything ready for a peaceful and calm night amongst the woods under the full moon. After feasting on one of Tom's Beer Bread specials and smoked fish on the cob, we sat around the camp fire together just enjoying our surroundings and each others company.


Just as the fire began to get scolding hot and saved us from the harsh cool night, our neighbours returned to their camp. There would have been about 8 of them, I would guess an even mix of boys and girls. From the honking of their horns, music blaring, loud argumentative chatter and distrubtive clanging of their belongings, it was quite evident that our neighbours were not your everyday campers. 


Tom and I were very entertained as we listened to - 

• Two of the guys having an argument over who could get the fire started and were confused at why their wood was just smoking out and not catching alight. (N.B. the supplied wood was damp & wet and needed to be axed up finely to get things going).
• The girls were busy fighting over which boy was to blame for eating all of their lollies (N.B. That'd be thanks to the crows we saw earlier that day feeding on all of the food they'd left out).
• When they finally gave up on the fire that was still smoking away, they decided to resort to cooking their sausages on the little Gasmate cooker. Except there was only a little bit of butane left in the old can so 'just chuck that one on the fire and we'll get a new one. (N.B. Stupid.)

We sat there together, all snuggled and comfy from our blazing hot fire with full bellies thanks to the glorious meal we'd just eaten. I guess that's what 112 campsites in 7 months will do to you, you quickly learn what's important - warmth, good food and having no 1st degree burns to speak of.

Thankfully, we didn't hear any "Oh My God, somebody call an ambulance" thanks to

Butane + Fire = Boom

But that would no doubt be because of their pathetic excuse for a fire. I just hope the next guy that stays in their site cleans it out before he lights that match.

Site : Conto Camping Ground

Rating : 13 / 20

Facilities :Great camp fire with picnic tables. Lovely & peaceful surroundings (providing you've got good neighbours), close to beach.

10 minutes of fishing, results in... ONE 

Two...

Three...

CAMPSITE # 111 - Chase the Ace

Since the start of the trip, we’ve been to Baghdad, Hahndorf, Swansea, Dudley, Newcastle and we’ll visit Perth twice, on opposite sides of the country. But there was one more town on our path, that  I’m sure a lot of people will visit just purely for the opportunity to return to work on a Monday morning and tell everyone that they had coffee in Denmark on the weekend.

The attraction to this town isn’t so much in the town centre itself, it’s the lovely little liqueur and sweet factories on the outskirts of Denmark that really make this place a real treat to visit. But, we knew we had to be wise in our selection, even though both of us could very easily visit each and every one... it was the dozens of samples that we’d be desperate to purchase that would really hurt the back pocket. For me, the choice was very simple – The Denmark Chocolate Company.

The Denmark Chocolate Company was a little piece of heaven tucked away in a gorgeous homestead surrounded by freshly mowed bright green lawn and nestled right in the heart of natural greenery. Standing on the outside looking in, you’d think you were about to enter somebody’s very tastefully decorated quaint little country cottage. With a generously sized veranda sweeping around the full length of the home, you could almost visualise waking up on a Sunday morning with a cup of tea in hand and a piece of chicken in the other to take outside and feed the Kookaburras. As I stood outside in the sunshine, I took a moment to soak it all in, all that was running through my mind was ‘how on earth could there possibly be a chocolate factory through those doors?’

To my relief, there was a whole room full of delicately crafted, handmade chocolates. I was no longer in a homestead, I was definitely in a chocolate shop. We treated ourselves to $8.50 Hot Chocolates where they serve warm milk with your choice of chocolate drops which you yourself whisk together in a mug and enjoy the flavours of one of the best Hot Choccies of our lives. $22 later, we had a hot chocolate and one piece of chocolate each. While it may not be a visit your bank account would want to pay every day, it was certainly one that must be paid at least once in each lifetime.

We stopped in at The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. The highest point above ground level is 44metres high!! Not suitable for those with a fear of heights, bad heart or in stilettos. 

We were about to reach the end of the Southern Beaches of WA, at least the ones you could easily access. We decided we should set our sights on the Western Beaches to then make our way up to Perth along the coastline. As there isn’t one coastal road that you can follow to get from the South to the West of WA, we had to improvise a little.

As we were entering the Quinninup Eco Tourist Park, we drove down the long driveway towards the park. Tom and I didn’t even need to say a word to each other, as we both gazed over towards our neighbouring driveway, we both knew where we would be spending most of our night. At the Quinninup Tavern. The caretaker of the park confirmed our desire to visit the tavern when he told us that they have a “Chase The Ace” on that night and the jackpot had reached $1100. Free money!! We then realised we didn’t have any cash to pay the caretaker for our nights' stay, to which we were then told we could get cash out at the pub. All the signs where pointing in the same direction... we were off to the pub.

To win the $1100, you just had to drink more alcohol to give yourself better odds. For each drink you purchase, you get a raffle ticket. At the end of the night, the raffle is drawn and whoever has the ticket, gets to pick a number between 1 – 52 (that hasn’t already been chosen previously). The number then corresponds to a card, which is then flipped over and if it’s the Ace of Spades you win the jackpot. I knew which number it was, it was number one of course. I was determined to win, it was our god given right, we work very hard at being unemployed. We bloody well deserved that money ;)

Second round of drinks for Tommy and I, and it was my turn to leave the pool table to go to the bar. I waited patiently for the barman to finish his chat with another patron. As he approached me, the man standing next to me had also been patiently waiting to be served. The bar man walked over and did that uncomfortable ‘who’s first?’ shuffle, I, full of manners, ushered the gentleman next to me to be served first. Once he had finished ordering his two drinks and claimed his tickets, I ordered mine and was given ticket numbers D32 and D33.

Kids, whoever told you that manners will get you everywhere in life was wrong with a capital R. Don’t listen to them. Of course, the number drawn at the end of the night was D30... the number I would have got if I wasn’t so damn nice. And he chose card number 20, which like I said was the wrong number because the Ace of Spades is still face down on that wall with the number 1 written on its back.

No free money for us. Instead, we were in the negatives financially for a night on the turps at our new local. But, it was worth it cause we had a great time and we did win a few beers from our efforts on the pool table.

As we walked home that night, very ill-equipped in 3 degrees, I asked Tom if he got that $20 out to pay the caretaker in the morning. He told me he got the money out and gave it to the caretaker while we were at the pub. To which I replied... bet I know which cash register that $20 note is sitting in right now, I just hope he remembers in the morning.

Site : Quinninup Eco Tourist Park

Rating : 6 / 20

Facilities : In a nice bushy setting. Loads of wildlife - particularly roos & birds. Good clean amenities. No fires. Picnic Tables.

CAMPSITE # 110 - And the World's Worst Navigator Award goes to...

When I looked at the map of WA and calculated that Esperance was only about 3cm away from Albany, creature of habit set in and I automatically concluded that it was a cool 2 hours drive. 


Bad Navigator!


See that little black line with numbers corresponding to it, generally found in the 'ocean' at the bottom of the map? Yes, Amy, that is called a scale. And if you compare the scale of our map of WA to the scale on the map of Tasmania, every 30km on the Tassie map is equal to 100km on the map of WA. This has officially been self proclaimed, a Rookie Error. 


7 hours driving later, with one rather exhausted driver, we finally reached our campsite...


Site : Cosy Corner
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Free camp, right on the beach!! Great position the only downer was that it was too small and it was jam-packed with people. We were the last to pull up in the dark so practically had to camp on top of our neighbours. Drop dunny. No showers.


Every night before we go to sleep, Tom and I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling of the Troopie. Not because we have nothing better to do but because before we left on the trip, we laminated a map of Australia and mounted it to the ceiling. Each night, we get out our little black marker and join the dots of the path we travelled that day. As Tom sleeps on the right hand side of the bed, he's had all of the fun these last seven months as we had been on the Eastern side of Australia, it's easier for him to lie there and ponder on what adventure we should have the following day. Move over Tommy, it's my turn. Finally the black line has reached my side of the bed and now I'm the one that gets to do all of the organising and colouring in!

CAMPSITE # 109 - Esperance Seafront Caravan Park

For the most part of our long drive along the Nullarbor, there was always something to look at or some random conversation to be had.

You start clutching at straws, however, when you reach Australia's longest stretch of road being 90 miles or 146.6km long. I considered pinching Tom a few times just to make sure he hadn't gone stiff from holding the steering wheel in the same position for such a long period of time. 


We both let out a huge sign of relief as we approached the end of the straight and curved around our very first corner. Only to get around the bend and glance at the road ahead - once again dead straight up and over the horizon for as long as the eye could see. I guess, we had some kind of comfort in knowing that it was at least somewhere short of 90 miles long. 


Aside from that, the journey had passed by quite well. That is until, the final 80km of the Nullarbor Plain. For some reason, it just felt as though those last 80km went on forever as we slooooowly made our way to the final town - Norseman. We began to feel somewhat deflated and just over the drive. 


Tom and I had a little chuckle at how enthusiastic all of the waves from the travellers passing us by and heading in the other direction. For them, the Nullarbor Plain journey had only just began. Little did they know that their energetic five-finger-whole-hand-off-the-steering-wheel-I'm-so-excited-to-do-the-Nullarbor wave would, somewhere within the next 400 - 1100km, eventually transform into a bloody-hell-do-I-HAVE-to-wave-to-every-single-car-we-pass?!?! 


The relief of reaching Norseman was very short lived, once we found out we had at least another 250km to travel to get to our destination, Esperance. It was just approaching 5pm and thanks to the cold season setting in, the days were beginning to darken very early. It was going to be a long journey. Tom and I decided to live on the edge and pick up our pace from 80km/hr to 90km/hr, what can I say? We walk on the wild side... this time we weren't going 30km/hr under the speed limit, oh no... we were going a very daring 20km/hr below. Rebels.

We'd been told by a number of people that Esperance was an absolute must do. I can see the charm, it is a nice enough place but to me, it was more like WA's smaller version of the Gold Coast. The tell-tale sign that this place must have been rather heavily populated, for me, was at the site of the massive hardware warehouse, Bunnings. I guess I'm just a coastal town snob now that we've seen so many gorgeous little quaint towns where the locals are friendly and know each other by first & last name that Esperance just didn't quite make the Oh-My-God-I've-fallen-in-love-with-everything-about-this-town cut. 

That was my opinion, Tom would no doubt tell you another turn of events. I guarantee you Esperance will be a location that Tom will recall for the rest of his life. Tom had, undoubtedly, the best fishing experience of his lifetime down on the Esperance Jetty than ran 200metres out to sea. He caught 5 squid, 5 Barracuda and 3 Silver Trevally. Apparently, all of the passer-bys were very excited to stop and have a look in his bucket. A group of Japanese Tourists let out a big "Aaaaaaah, very good" and got out their SLR Canons to snap photos of the elite fisherman on the jetty. Once he returned to camp with his catch, I could just tell that he was buzzing with excitement and disbelief from the events of the last 4 hours. If I wasn't on this trip with him and there was no one for Tom to go back and check in with at camp, I have no doubt that he would still be there today, fishing his little heart out.


Since beginning the trip 7 months ago, Tom has progressed from being the fisherman who struggled to even catch the fish that were pests and overpopulating the waterways to catching first class calamari squid the size of his leg. It's incredible how we can learn so much from ourselves being on a trip like this.

Tom always enjoyed a little fish here and there but never really had the true passion for it like he does now. And I had never ever written any journals or travel blogs or anything until this trip and now, the two of us have both developed these incredible passions that we couldn't ever imagine doing this trip without.

Site : Esperance Seafront Caravan Park
Rating : 8 / 20
Facilities : Very big park and we were located right up at the top of the hill away from the ocean and near the road. Bathrooms and Camp kitchen are clean and neatly presented but a little dated. Really like the shade cloth that they peg down on the grass for your site. The price of $35 per night for a powered site dropped them down by 3 points. 10 minute walk into town centre.


And just incase you haven't already watched it...

FOOTAGE : TOM'S BIG SQUID!!!

This thing is absolutely incredible, I didn't think they got this big. He caught it off the jetty at Esperance in WA. Looks like we'll be having calamari for dinner for the next 8 days!!

CAMPSITE # 108 - Driving the Nullarbor - Are we there yet?

One of the biggest factors we had to consider when preparing for the 1100km (monotonous) drive along the Nullarbor Plain was to make sure we were wise about where & when we filled up our dual fuel tanks.

At a combined total of 160 litres, plus our new tyres extending our range, we guesstimated that we could get roughly 1300km without having to refuel.

We did our major fill up the day before in Streaky Bay where we paid $1.56/L. About 170km down the road, we did a top up in Penong at $1.66L.

Just as we began to complain about the 10c increase, we pulled in to the Nullarbor Roadhouse for a loo break some 200km away and just out of interest I checked their price on diesel - $2.04/L!!!  The most expensive we have ever seen!!! Thank God we didn't need to refuel once we arrived at the SA/WA border, the price at the first servo since Nullarbor at Border Village was $1.88/L, 12km down the road however, they had diesel for $1.77/L. It blows my mind how they think they can justify such a dramatic difference in price from their neighbouring stations. I'm just glad we have dual tanks!!!

Day #1 of the two day drive across the Nullarbor wasn't your typical drive across the arid Australian outback. Only for us would thunderstorms be forecast in one of the hottest & driest areas of the country. It was big-fat-black-storm-cloud followed by scorching-hot-sunshine followed by another big-fat-black-storm-cloud. Urgh!

For a while, you just a few kilometres away from the sea. We stopped in at the first cliff edge viewing point to capture these photos. We decided not to do that ever again after we passed the next viewing point that was closed down because the cliff had fallen in.... eeek!

The Nullarbor Plain actually has the largest golf course in the world. At various towns, you pull in and they have a tee off area & a hole. We didn't play due to lack of a) golf clubs and b) desire to do so in a thunderstorm. (Tom snapped this shot during the scorching-hot-sunshine stage) ...

However, WA really welcomed us with open arms. It was as though, as soon as we were cleared by the scary Quarantine lady at Border Village and entered Western Australia for the very first time... WA said "let there be blue skies and sunshine for you my child". 

Because you're not allowed to take any fresh fruit or vegies into WA, we stopped just 100metres short of the quarantine point and had a rather delightful vegie stirfry. I may have gotten slightly carried away at trying not to waste any... 3 chillies in one stirfry = Amy sculling a litre of milk.

From the border all four hours of the way to our Moondini Bluff campsite that night, we were driving along a stretch that apparently would make any geologist wet their pants with excitement. 
I was informed by the on-board travelling Geo that the whole area we were driving along would have been under water sometime within the last 10,000 years (which apparently is "just yesterday" in Geology Land). This was determined by the sheer cliffline that ran parallel to us on our right, the shells found scattered everywhere that had not yet fossilised but where evidently in the early stages of diagenesis and the rock type underneath us - limestone. I was then led to be informed that limestone is built up plankton compacted together over a course of thousands of years.

I noticed that we were surrounded by hundreds upon thousands of sinkholes as close as 20 metres from the road we were travelling. What I found quite interesting is that rainwater is infact quite acidic to rock, particularly to limestone, and over time the ground water erodes krasts (caves) into the limestone. Some of these holes can be fairly close to the surface so it causes the area to collapse from underneath and can sometimes fall as deep as hundreds of metres below ground level.

I read a book a few years ago where this girl was murdered and her body was locked, by her murderer, inside a fridge and dumped down a sinkhole. Tom gave me a rather concerned look when I thought out-loud and said that a sink hole could possibly seal the deal for the perfect murder. 


Did I mention the Troopie got new tyres? All of these photos keep on popping up in our images folder and considering Tom's the photographer, something tells me he really likes our new tyres...

The sign says "Royal Flying Doctor Emergency Landing Strip"

Us driving on the Emergency Landing Strip A.K.A The Nullarbor Plain...

All the way along you find all these trees along the side of the road have been decorated over time by passer-bys... I think this one was supposed to be an electrical appliance theme. Other ones we saw were - ties, stuffed toys, bras, energy drink cans, t-shirts, hats, cups... the list goes on.

Site : Moondini Bluff Camping Ground
Rating : 8 / 20
Facilities : A really big rest area with loads of spaces to camp, heaps of firewood available, some picnic benches and a bush toilet.   


Tommy has mastered the art of cooking beer bread in the camp oven. We put together a little video on how he does it. If you ever get the chance, I strongly recommend giving it a go because it tastes divine...

CAMPSITE # 107 - The finer things in life

We had in our minds that we’d wake up nice and early in Streaky Bay, have our morning coffee, I’d have my muesli and Tom would have his toast with Vegemite and Honey (yes, together). We would then be off, ready for a fresh, early start to the long road ahead.

It couldn’t have worked out any differently. What can I say? It’s extremely difficult to get your butt into gear when you’re in a town as peaceful and serene as Streaky Bay.

A Chai Latte amongst civilised people in the cute little bakery across the road from the bay was calling my name. Somehow, having 3 weeks off from blogging everyday saw me five blog posts behind and I dreaded the thought of having to rush through it all just to catch up. So, while I nestled in to the warmth and comfort of the town bakery, Tom set about repeating his very successful squiding efforts from the day before.

The next time I saw Tom, about 4 ½ blog posts later, we met back up at the Troopie. He was soaking wet and was quite uneasy on the nose. I never thought that horrible fishy stench would make me so excited after all... Smelly Tom = Seafood for dinner!!

I asked him what on earth happened to him and why he was so wet. Now, before I tell you what exactly happened, I should firstly point out that the world’s largest Great White Shark caught on rod and reel was actually caught in Streaky Bay in 1990. After a 5 and a quarter hour struggle, the local fisherman finally reeled in his 1520kg catch.

So, as you can imagine, unless you suffer from suicidal tendencies, swimming in the bay does not really write the recipe for the longest, happiest and healthiest life.


N.B. I (thankfully) did not take this photo of this GWS. It was however taken in Streaky Bay in 2008. See - http://www.fearbeneath.com/2008/11/sixteen-foot-great-white-shark-spotted-at-streaky-bay/

As Tom was reeling in squid #2, a gust of wind caught his Akubra and it went flying off into the dreaded bay of sharks. Toms initial reaction? Why, to fling his thongs off of his feet and throw his shirt to the floor of the jetty, of course! At this point, one must begin to weigh up his priorities – to risk death at the jaws of a 6 metre shark or to stand and wave farewell to his favourite goes-with-him-everywhere-can’t-live-without hat. He dropped his shoulders in disappointment as he evaluated his surroundings and realised that why retrieving the hat was a hard enough task in itself, swimming the 100metre length of the jetty back to the shore and making it there with all limbs still intact was a challenge in itself.

As he put his shirt back on and once again protected his feet with the 50mm of rubber, he began trying to cast his rod out to hook his hat as it was quickly being swept away with the current but, to no prevail. Tom said his goodbyes to the hat he once loved as he watched as it floated and floated further away. As he continued fishing, he stood and kept watching his hat disappearing away in the bay, only it was still floating! And, it was heading towards the shore.

After skyrocketing himself to the base of the jetty and trespassing through some million dollar surfers shacks, Tom catapulted himself off a private boat ramp and dove further for his hat than the English cricket team could ever dive for a ball. After plonking his soaking wet hat firmly back on his head, he turned around to be applauded by the group of elderly people enjoying their afternoon tea by the bay. In the words of Thomas E Simpson – “Great Success!”

Living on the road like we are, you really learn to appreciate those finer things in life that you hold so dearly. To Tom, on this day it was his hat. And now, as with most trusty Akubras, this one just has another story to tell.

Sometime late that afternoon, after Tom cleaned and filleted our dinner, we said our goodbyes to our favourite town, Streaky Bay.  We knew it would be a long night's drive trying to make up the hours passed but, we finally got there in the end.

Site : Nundroo East Rest Area
Rating : 6 / 20
Facilities : Quite close to the road but there were a lot of trees surrounding us so it was a lot more private that some other rest areas.