Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
27th October – 20th November
So, we have about four weeks to kill before we go back to Fremantle to complete our repairs. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, we’d just pick a destination and go. But the issue with the van is that we have two bent axles, and scrubbed tires. This means, of course, that we must limit the driving and stay off any dirt or pot-holed roads.
We drove 260kms north from Perth, then spent the next 4 weeks sharing our time between Tuarts, Wandoo and Smoke Bush reserves. They all have time restrictions, which we adhered to…mostly.
All provided good base camps from which we could explore the areas around Jurien Bay, Cervantes, Lesueur NP and the Nambung NP, home to the Pinnacles Desert.
Cervantes was the closest town to Tuarts. Wandoo and Smoke Bush were closest to Jurian Bay, our preferred town. Jurien also gave us access to drinking water, a dump point, and an overpriced but well stocked IGA. Both are coastal towns with pretty beaches a couple of coffee shops and pubs.
- Tuarts Reserve – It’s all about the Bees.
Tuarts Reserve is a great little bush camp. It’s restricted to 72 hour consecutive stay, and we could see why, it is very popular with travelers.
We’ve been cooking and eating outside lately, and while we were doing the washing up, we noticed a few bees trying to drink from the washing up bowl. Now, bees and hot washing water don’t mix, but they were obviously thirsty, so we got them some fresh. Within a few hours, I think we were watering the whole hive. Have you ever seen a bee tongue close up? Well, you will, and they are fascinating.
A little later Peter found a hive. It was in an old, hollow tree that had fallen and broken open. It was not a healthy hive, so we were pleased we could help them out a little. The second day we were there I measured the amount of water we gave them. From 7:30am to 6:00pm, they drank 1.4 liters of water.
While I had a captive audience (their water was on our table) I made the most of our tiny neighbours’ to practice my “Bee in flight” shots.
On our last day at Tuarts Reserve, I took a wander around the camp, saw an old takeaway container at the base of a tree, bent down to pick it up, and when I looked up, I found myself face to face with this.
Now this is a healthy beehive.
Side note – No Jo’s were stung during the taking of these photos.
The Pinnacles Desert
The Pinnacles Desert is in the Nambung National Park and is a Unique landscape of upright, narrow stone columns or spires. They’re a bit of a mystery but are thought to have formed 30,000 – 50,000 years ago, when the inland sea disappeared, leaving deposits of shells and stuff that formed the spires.
We arrived around 3pm, hoping for some nice sunset shots. We did a lap of the drive, casing the joint for potential spots, stopping along the way to explore.
Picking our sunset spot was a bit tricky, we had to avoid all those pesky tourists 😊 but we found a spot with some unusual formations and waited for the sun to go down.
We had a lot of fun and were lucky enough to be there on a full moon, and what a moon it was.
- Wandoo Reserve – It’s all about the Birds
We drove 34kms to Wandoo Reserve, also a 72 hour stay, but this one was not as popular. We had it to ourselves most days and on occasion, we stretched our visit to five nights. Shhh! Don’t tell the Rangers.
We hadn’t been there long when I grabbed my camera and went in search of the birds I could hear. I was thrilled to see a pair of Rainbow Bee-eaters, such pretty, exotic birds. Over our time there I saw a few species for the first time; Western Corellas, Straw-necked Ibis and…Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos.
Of course, there were other, less exciting but still pretty birds in the area. I identified 16 birds at Wandoo, and there were others that I wasn’t able to ID.
- Smoke Bush Reserve – Its all about the Carnaby’s
A mere 10kms from Wandoo, is Smoke Bush. This is a 24 hour stay, we stayed longer than that, but in all the time there, we never had any other neighbors. The Reserve is just a large gravel pit, but…it is elevated, surrounded by lovely country and it picked up the coastal wind. On a hot day, we just opened op the windows and stayed cool. No heat, no flies, great outlook, and this was the only place we had any kind of phone reception.
It also turned out that we were on the flight path of a flock of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos. Not every day, but most, they flew by. As they got used to us, they came ever closer.
There was also a magnificent Black-Shouldered Kite and a local Brown Falcon.
Not far from Smoke Bush is Lesueur NP. I have to say, WA is not my favourite state, but…they do have some amazing flora, and at times we could be fooled into thinking we’re in a different country, not just a different state.
So, even though we’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern, we have still had plenty to keep us occupied. Once the car and van are fixed, we can once more hit the road in earnest. Well, at least for three weeks, then we must be back in Perth to meet mum at the airport. (Told you we wouldn’t forget.)
Editors Note
If you made it all the way to the bottom of this post…I thank you.
It is longer than the usual, but I am now officially up to date and we should get back to shorter more manageable posts.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
11th October– 27th October
This was the last leg of our trip to Perth. Yup, we finally made it, and checked ourselves into Fremantle Village on 11th October. We had the usual medical and mechanical check-ups, and were keen to have a look around Perth, but we’ll get to that later. First, we had a couple more stops on the way. An overnight stay at Boscabel Hall and a few nights at Boddington.
Not much to say about Boscabel Hall, other than it’s a really good overnight stop. A big open area, nice, and a few birds.
Then we came upon Boddington and what a lovely little town this is. Very pretty, beautifully kept, and with a river flowing through it, plenty of birds. Way over the other side of the river bank I spied a nest and a couple of young Spoonbills; one of my fav waders. ☺️
This is a very popular spot, with a lovely rose garden nearby, so parking spots at the 72 Hour RV camp site, are at a premium, so get in quick.
So, back to Fremantle Village. I don’t think that the Fremantle Village caravan park is actually in Fremantle. You drive past the “Welcome to the City of Cockburn” sign, then put the indicator on to turn into the Village. Cockburn is a light industrial area, and not particularly pretty. Still, it was a short drive (about ten minutes) to South Fremantle and another five to the Fremantle harbour area, the starting point of the Americas Cup yacht race Yet another five minutes gets you to North Fremantle train station which offers $2 per day parking, and an easy train ride into the city of Perth.
We had booked in at Fremantle Village for two weeks, having organized some repair work on the car and maintenance on the caravan. True to form, even though the car repair had been arranged a couple of months earlier, communications between the repairer and the insurance company had ground to a halt so we extended our stay another week to get the work done.
That too, was in vain and now we’re going back on the 21st November to get the work done. 😒 Nothing’s ever easy when you live on the road.
During our three weeks, we did quite a lot of exploring. Including several hours roaming Kings Park, in particular, the Botanical Gardens. We’re at the tail end of the wild flower season, but the park was still stunning and we saw some different flowers.
The caravan maintenance went without a hitch. Tony from Westcoast Trailer & Caravan Service, came to us and did a great job with the van. He fixed the brakes, re-packed the wheel bearings, and gave Chunky Bum a thorough going over. Sadly, he found a few more problems and parts needed to be ordered. Luckily, we will be back on the week beginning the 21st and can do the work while the car is being repaired.
Perth city is… well it’s a city. It certainly didn’t grab us the way Adelaide did, but the area around the river is quite lovely. I was able to catch up with an old friend, and that was wonderful.
The 21st of October marked one year since my operation, and I’m pleased to report that my latest check-up was all good, and both Peter and I are fighting fit, and still loving life on the road.
We spent a fun day in Mandurah, visiting the Giants of Mandurah, if you want to learn about them, follow this link – https://visitmandurah.com/giants-of-mandurah/
We only saw three of the five, as we had a better offer to have lunch with Peter’s cousin. It was great to catch up, and the lunch was delish.
We did a few day trips around the area, and into the city and of course a day trip to Rottnest Island. It’s a thirty minute ferry ride over to the island, then you can explore on foot, bike, bus, or a combination of these. We did the foot and bus combo and had a great day. The bus took us past an Osprey nest that he said had been in use for about 100 years. Each season, the breeding pair will do a bit of maintenance on the nest and raise their young. This year they have two bundles of feathers to feed.
And I’ve saved that best till last. Rottnest island was discovered by a Dutchman, Willem de Vlamingh. He thought the island was overrun with rats, hence the name, Rottnest (Rat’s nest) Island. What old Willem thought were rats, are the cutest little marsupials called Quokkas. I’m pleased to say they still live happily on their island.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
22nd to 25th September
This post is going to be short on words, long on photos, and not a bird in sight. My headliners are just a few of Western Australia’s wild flowers.
First off, a little about Lake Grace. It’s southeast of Perth and for the most part, is a system of dry salt lakes, but when in flood, Lake Grace forms two very large inland lakes. The lake is known for its colours, pinks, mauves, and greens, but like all salt lakes, the depth of colour relies on the environment. When we were there, we saw shades of pink, but I have to say, nowhere near as impressive as Lake Bumbunga.
We stayed at Lake Grace for three days and spent most of the time hunting wildflowers. They may not move very fast, but…you really have to hunt them down. Here are some of the roads we took.
Now to the main event. There are a lot of images, but I did cull them…a lot, so there could have been a lot more. ☺️ If you make it through them all, I hope you can find your favourite. I know which one mine is.
To date we haven’t seen fields with massed flowers, wrong place, wrong time, but along the roadside near Lake Grace we got an idea of what the massed flowers would look like.
I must say, I have never seen a flower with such vibrant blue as these, and they have not been photoshopped at all.
One of the magnificent things about some of these flowers, is their uniqueness.
The first flower in this set is my personal favourite, and Peter found it for me. It is so delicate and pretty and perfectly formed, I just love it.
These too, are particularly delicate, and what is hard to tell from the photos, is that some of these individual blossoms are no larger than my little finger nail.
Here are some more unusual flowers. The first is so intricate and delicate, whereas the second could be formed in wax.
Purple is one of my favourite colours, and these flowers celebrate the colour in style.
Red and yellow, a match made by Mother Nature.
The first images in this set were a much bigger blossom, about the size of my clenched fist, spldi almost succulent petals, whereas the next are delicately feathered, they look so fragile.
And last but not least, the humble white flower, not so humble, just lovely.
I hope you made it to through them all, and like me, were blown away by this small selection of WA’s wildflowers.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
26th September – 5th October
We headed east from Lake Grace, (I know, we’re supposed to be heading west) through Lake King, another salt lake, and slightly more pink than Lake Grace, then south to Ravensthorpe. They have the wildflower show here every year, and though we knew we had missed the show, we thought there might be some gardens to enjoy. We were wrong. Apparently, the flowers are brought in, and displayed in the herbarium hall. Not what we expected, so we continued on south.
We were looking for a place to stay for the night and saw the sign to Hopetoun. In an instant decision, the indictor went on and we turned right. Hopetoun is a lovely little town right on the beach, and we enjoyed three nights in the 72 hour RV stay just a short walk to the beach.
Fifteen kilometres from Hopetoun is the Fitzgerald NP. We did a day trip there and were so impressed, that we booked into the Hammersley Inlet Campground for a five night stay. It was a bit hairy getting to the campsite. The last leg was down a 25% decline, which really tested the breaks on both the car and the caravan, and of course the climb back up was a tad worrisome. Still, with a bit of a run-up, and me ready to jump out and push, we made it to the top.
It was lovely, peaceful except for our noisy neighbours.
We had only been there a few hours before we realised we would have to cover up the mirrors, and the tow ball and anything else with a reflective surface. We didn’t mind them messing up the car, but they were going to exhaust themselves in their attempt to chase away their own reflections. Very pretty, but not the smartest bird in the nest.
It was only a short drive to the waters edge for Peter to drop the kayak in and go for a paddle. I still can’t bend my ring finger after the fall at Gawler Ranges, (can’t grip the paddle) so I had to walk to the beach, while Peter cruised. 😊
We had previously walked to the beach together, it’s just over 2kms, but it is quite a challenging, undulating walk over Sand, soil, stones and stairs.
The walk was well worth the effort. Peter beached his kayak at the end of the inlet and walked the short distance to the Indian Ocean. We went to the beach a few times, it was way too cold to go swimming, but very pleasant to tip our toes in. The beach stretched for miles in both directions, the south was all sand and sand dunes, while the north was rocky and really interesting to explore.
On one of our trips to the beach, a particularly windy day, Peter caught us a meal of Australian Salmon. I’d been exploring the rocks, and I came back to find Peter frantically digging in the sand. He had been told that the best way to keep fish fresh without ice, was to clean and gut them then bury them head down in the sand. He had buried them with their tails sticking out, problem was the strong wind had covered them up and he had no idea where there were.
He did eventually find them, and they were delish.
The Fitzgerald National Park is a wonderful place to explore, we saw more wildflowers.
A few birds and bees and bugs.
And a very relaxed Whistling Kite
Not to mention some amazing scenery.
After our stay at Hammersley Inlet, we spent a few more nights back at Hopetoun, before moving on.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
20th – 22nd September
Wave Rock: I think most Australians would have heard of, if not seen the iconic photos of people “surfing” the wave (I know my mam and dad did). 😊 So, we were excited to visit and “surf” the wave ourselves.
Let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it looks, that slope is deceptively steep, and even though we don’t look as though we’re very high on the wave, we were slipping down even as the photos were taken.
Wave Rock is an impressive rock formation, and the colours of the striations, especially when the sun hits them, is pretty awesome, so we couldn’t understand why they’d build an ugly wall across the top of it.
Our first thought was that it was built to stop people falling off, (those of you who know me well, will know my thoughts on that). But that isn’t the reason.
You can walk up on top of the wave, it’s not a pretty walk, industrial looking stairs, high, wire fences and lots of Keep Out signs. But the reason for this, and the wall, became clear when we reached the top. Off to one side of the wave is a dam and those ugly walls act as a waterflow management system, ensuring that as much rainfall as possible flows into the dam. So, I can live with the practicality of the walls, though they could’ve made them prettier. 😉
The top of the rock was similar to McDermid Rock, though not as impressive. Still, we wandered around up there for a couple of hours, enjoyed the views, and spotted our next destination way off in the distance.
At the base of the Humps is Mulka’s Cave, one of the oldest rock art caves in southern WA and well worth the look.
The Humps is another big rock formation and by far our favourite. Bigger and bolder than McDermid Rock and Wave Rock, with more troughs, and gullies, peaks and oases, we stayed up there until the sun was low in the sky.
There was something prehistoric about this landscape, I mean can’t you just picture a herd of Brontosaurus wandering about in the valley below? We didn’t see any Brontosauruses, but found some boulders to play on. What can I say? We’re easy to please. 😊
The water in the ponds was crystal clear and delicious. As fresh as you can get, at least, that’s what Peter told me.
There wasn’t a lot of wildlife to be seen, but this bird of prey, a Brown Falcon I think, kept me busy for a while.
I stalked this bird for thirty minutes or so, got a few shots then decided to park my bum on a rock for a few minutes. I hadn’t been sitting long when I realised that the hunter became the hunted. I was minding my own business, enjoying the view when my peripheral caught a movement. I turned to my right in time to see the falcon coming at me, in a head on attack… No Kidding! At really high speed he passed over my head so close that I thought I’d lost my cap. I thought Peter would come running to my aid, but the sound of his laughter in the distance told another story. Falcon 1 – Jo 0
In this area we stayed a couple of nights in Hyden at a little spot called ‘The Camp’. It’s a lovely little town and they’ve done up a really good display of the local characters from years past… kind of a rusty history told in rusty sculpture. Really good.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
15th – 20th September
Our next stop was McDermid Rock, followed by The Breakaways. We didn’t know what to expect at McDermid Rock, other than a bush camp near a big rock, but we were looking forward to getting away from the wind and the dust and the sand blasting from Lake Ballard. We had to go via Kalgoorlie so decided to make the most of civilization and clean the van.
As you can see from the photos, yet another plan was foiled. 😊
So, on to McDermid Rock.
First up, the road we took was a bit dodgy. We thought it was a main road, but more than once, we had to ask ourselves if we hadn’t taken a wrong turn somewhere, as there was nothing but dirt.
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound, having traversed more corrugations, fallen trees and washouts. We set up camp and in short notice, decided we’d have to stay a few nights.
We spent hours exploring McDermid Rock, it was steep in places, but we were able to pick our way along, up, over and around the rock.
We were fascinated by the many water holes and mini oases on the rock. These small patches of flora cling to life on this otherwise barren rock and they remined us of the rockpools you often see on a rocky coastline, little Eco systems all on their own. The water holes and the oases, I am sure, make life a little easier for the birds, lizards and…tadpoles.
There were a few lizards in the area, I identified two distinct sub-species. Pretty Boy (Ornate Lizard) and Stanley, (Crested Dragon – feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). Until I was able to go online to identify them, I had to make up names for them. Pretty Boy and Stanley seemed to fit. I’ve become quite fascinated with our scaly friends, there are so many variations in colour size and behaviour. And like my friend from Lake Ballard, I’ve no idea what he was, these little guys don’t back down.
We are discovering that the tourism marketing team in WA, just as in all the other states, do a great job with their glossy tourism magazines and brochures, to make things look bigger, better and bolder than they actually are. We have followed a couple of the wildflower trails and have seen none of the massed, open fields of wildflowers…yet. However, there is indeed a wide variety of beautiful flora in WA, you just have to go off the beaten track to find it.
A group of Twitchers pulled in next to our camp one morning, and we got to talking to them. They had come here specifically to see a Chestnut Quail-Thrush. Peter picked their brains and got directions to the last known sighting, so next morning at 06:30, we went hunting Chestnut Quail-Thrushes. Peter spotted three or four, I only saw one female, but did manage to get a few shots before it scurried away through the scrub. It may surprise you, but I did a bit of bird hunting throughout our stay. I didn’t get many but there were a couple of new sightings for me.
I was happy with the Super Blue moon shots I took at Kalgoorlie, thanks to some advice from a fellow traveller, 😉 so I decided to try my luck for a few night shots while at McDermid Rock.
I couldn’t get the lighting right on this first shot, but I love the way the old moon is still visible by Earth-light (sunlight reflected off the Earth to the moon and back again).
Reluctantly we left McDermid Rock and made our way to The Breakaways. So very different from the Breakaways at Coober Pedy, but very interesting. The Breakaways might have been better named the Drop-offs as the entire area appeared to be a giant sink hole. Well worth checking out even though we only stayed for one night.
We decided to try some more night shots and this time we got technical, we dragged the telescope out (Celestron NexStar8 SE,) then connected my camera (Canon 5D,) to it. Next we connected the camera to my laptop. We certainly need more practice using this technique, but love the results and I think we might be doing it again.
So, unless we get picked up by some little green men for being too nosey…we’ll check in again soon.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
