Category Archives: Campsites

Campsite Collection #3 – Port Hedland to Albany

Posted on 21 September, 2011 by rohan

Port Hedland – I was tempted to write here that the camp site at Port Hedland was so bad that I simply refused to take a photo of it, but the truth is I simply forgot. Mind you, the place we stayed wasn’t exactly the height of luxury. Our original choice of accommodation – Cooke Point Holiday Park – which looked quite nice from the little we saw of it at the front entrance – was actually booked out for powered sites (in Port Hedland??? Really???) and we had to settle for the only other accommodation available – a place called Blackrock Caravan Park. It too, was (nearly) full to overflowing… with permanent residents, all of whom work in the mines or refining plants in and around Port Hedland. All we could get was an unpowered site (but we used a spare power point connected to the swimming pool shed anyway). Needless to say, there was a constant noise associated with the comings and goings of the shift workers, and our site was right near the front entrance (not to mention the freight trains that rumbled passed with a blast of their air horns just across the road from us)! Thankfully, we only stayed for the one night and we were on the road and headed for Karijini the next morning.

Karijini National Park - about as "bushy" as our camping has been so far. No electricity or water and the sites were far enough apart that we felt a certain amount of seclusion & remoteness (the only luxury we were afforded was the 'long-drop' bush toilet - you can see it in the background of this picture).


Tom Price - electricity, water and grass... all were luxuries after the recent overdose of red 'pindan' dust. Unfortunately, this was also the only caravan park in town, and they charged accordingly!


House Creek Rest Area - just when we thought we were past the worst of the red dust, we stopped here, Red Dust Central (and it was still quite hot, too). Another crowded rest area (as were all the rest areas we have stayed at barring Lake Hart) so not much room to spread out. But in the end I guess you get what you pay for - in this case, nothin'...!


Coral Bay - this lovely part of the world has a VERY "Seaspray in the Summer" feel to it. And apart from the bore water and very salty sea water, you could easily spend lots of time here.


Nerren Nerren Rest Area - hot, dusty (albeit no longer red dust) and a really smelly bush toilet... not the nicest place to spend an evening. Add to this, it was the first time all trip that we were really infested with mozzies.


Cervantes - not the worst place we've stayed, not the best either. At least they had some decent music playing in the ablution block (just why they were playing piped music into the amenities block, I have no idea).


Perth (Karrinyup Holiday Park) - now we're talking! Back in the big smoke again (relatively speaking) and we're provided with some decent amenities, a decent site (although their "grassed site" did lack a lot of grass), and the toilets had WATER in the bottom of them and they FLUSHED!!!


Bunbury - home of the wild weather. Thankfully we were staying in relative comfort, despite the wind and rain (the little blue building on the right of this picture is our own private ensuite), which enabled us to stay an extra night and reassess our itinerary for the coming few days.


Albany - probably the best kept, in terms of presentation, campsite we've had on the trip so far. Note all the guy ropes... it's windy, and forecast to stay that way!

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Campsite Collection #2 – Tenant Creek to Broome

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by rohan

Here’s our campsites from Tenant Creek (the day after Alice Springs) to Broome.

Tenant Creek - similar to Erldunda, not very busy, not the greatest place in the world but suitable for our needs for a night as we continued to head north


Mataranka - I know others thought it was a great place to stop (especially with the thermal pool) but it really didn't do anything for me at all. Although, the wallabies and peacocks that frequented our campsite were quite interesting.


Darwin - can't say enough (good things of course!) about our Darwin hosts, Dan and Tach. We had a fabulous 4 days with them - in their driveway! Certainly one of my Top 3 places of the trip so far.


Mathison Rest Area - located 104km west of Katherine, this little rest area was situated right on the roadside, but it had all we needed for the night and we ended up sharing the same rest area for the evening with 13 'neighbours' .


Kununurra - relatively 'lush' in comparison to most of our previous campsites. Kununurra is in the strange situation whereby they have TOO MUCH water (due to the Ord River/Lake Argyle irrigation system) and they actually ENCOURAGE you to water the empty caravan sites!


Mary Pool Rest Area - another roadside rest area, this one is located approx. halfway between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. What a busy place, there must have been 30-plus other vans there for the night. Perhaps the poor reputations of the "locals" in Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing was partly the reason for this...?


Derby - a nice large site, but very dusty. It didn't help that the westering sun meant no shade on our van from the surrounding trees... and the temperature was hitting 38 degrees the afternoon we arrived! Derby itself is nothing to write home about - dusty, hot and smelly (as a result of the mud flats that surround the town as a result of the massive 10 metre tides, the largest in the southern hemisphere).


Broome - the campsite itself was probably the smallest we've had so far, without a blade of grass in sight. As for Broome, I'm still undecided - it certainly has potential, and the short time we had there was enjoyable and chock-full of interesting things to see and do, but we really didn't have enough time there.

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Campsite Collection #1 – Murray Bridge to Alice Springs

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by rohan

Well it looks like the ideas for my blogging have gone out the window, as I haven’t blogged since Day 3 of our trip (probably not worth reading anyway)!!
So I’m taking a different approach.
Here’s a look at all the campsites we’ve had on our journey. Collection #1 is from Murray Bridge (Day 1) to Alice Springs, in chronological order.

Murray Bridge - not a bad site, but the weather was not pleasant (still freezing cold, and raining the next morning when we were packing to leave)


Port Augusta - this site was known as the "Rose Garden" and apparently was only allocated once the rest of the park was full (quite a few were turned away after we had arrived) so I think we were lucky with this one


Lake Hart Rest Area - Our first roadside stop. Free, so no facilities, but what a view!


Coober Pedy - it must get hot here 'cos they've got sun shade over the top of the caravans!


Erdunuda - nothing special, but certainly not the worst site.


Kings Canyon - lovely views (see the background), but they come at a (considerable) cost!


Ayers Rock - again, nothing special but satisfactory for our needs.


Alice Springs - the campsite was OK, but Alice Springs itself did nothing for me. I was glad to be on our way heading north again.

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