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| Camping at Kings Plains National Park, NSW |
Having successfully motored around Australia on our four-month camping trip, a few notes
are offered on how to plan such a sojourn; to summarise ups and downs
(mostly ups) encountered along the way; and to report some
highlights, birding and otherwise.
The whole journey,
from when we departed the Sunshine Coast on June 4 this year - my
Subaru Forrester towing a campervan - to when we returned home on
October 3, was planned carefully. I've long been a firm believer in
travel planning. It saves an extraordinary amount of time and energy
to know where you are going and have a fair idea of where you are
staying. So first up, our route needed to be sorted out. I have
travelled around Australia twice, hitch-hiking as a teenager the
first time and spending five years doing it the second time (living
in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin and Perth along the way) so I had
a good idea of where we wanted to head.
We opted to travel
through western Queensland, across the top of the Northern Territory,
continuing west through the Kimberley of Western Australia, then
south to the Pilbara, the mulga lands and on to south-west WA. Our route would take us east from there across the Nullabor to South Australia, through the
Eyre Peninsula to Adelaide, and on through the mallee of north-west
Victoria to western and north-east NSW before returning home. Four
months proved to be a good length of time for the task. We left out
north-east Queensland, south-east Australia, Tasmania and Central
Australia; to do any of them adequately would have needed more time.
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| Bitter Springs, Mataranka, NT |
One of us is a
birder and the other a non-birder, so the first principle is to plan
an itinerary that caters for both. I aimed to combine a fair
smattering of birding hotspots and bush camping with a decent look at
towns and cities and staying in caravan parks. We think it worked out
fine.
Before leaving, I
put together a list of places we wanted to visit and nutted out an
itinerary, which we followed with a few variations along the way. I
worked out travel times between destinations, using sites such as the
RACQ travel planner
(
http://www.driveaustralia.com.au/racq/trip-planner/).
I believe it is important to limit distances driven on any day and
not to drive at night. The most driving we did on one day was 6-6.5
hours on just 3 or 4 occasions; often we drove for a comfortable 2 or
3 hours between destinations.
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| Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu National Park, NT |
We thought it was
desirable to spend at least one night at each destination to get to
know the place, but we overnighted at a handful of places when long
travelling distances required it. Mostly we had 2 or 3 nights at any given spot with longer stays in Darwin (one week - our longest stopover),
Broome, Perth and Adelaide. We became adept at assembling and
dissembling our Jaco Finch campervan, taking an average of 30 minutes
to do either. At Karijini National Park (blog post here http://tinyurl.com/pt45mpc)
we chose to move camp because when we arrived, the only spot
available was in a zone allowing noisy generators; when a
generator-free spot became available the next day we shifted to it, taking just 45
minutes to complete the move.
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| Cambridge Gulf at sunset from Five Rivers Lookout, Wyndham, WA |
On the subject of
generators, they are a major disincentive to stay at designated free
camping spots, such as those in Camps Australia Wide.
We used the guide to help find 2
or 3 overnight spots out of the 122 nights we were away. These free
camping areas are usually noisy, crowded, and close to busy highways; the guide can be a useful indicator of where not to stay. We found a couple of unmarked
spots off the road for bush camping; one near Cue in the WA mulga was
especially pleasant.
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| Wildflowers in the mulga - Yalgoo, WA |
While
planning the trip, I researched the requirements and costs of camping
in national parks in each state and territory. I checked out the
prices of various caravan parks in towns and cities and used
Trip Advisor to get an idea of their quality and position, so we had
one picked out in each destination in advance. I often corresponded
via email with caravan parks before we left. Although we were in the
tropical north in winter, at the height of the grey nomad invasion
(of which we seemingly were part) we needed to book ahead just once,
for Broome.
Everywhere else, we
simply turned up and were able to find a camping spot, electing
mostly to take unpowered sites. Our campervan is connected to the
vehicle by an Anderson plug which keeps the van battery charged
and the fridge going while driving. We did not have television,
air-conditioning or the like so our power needs were minimal and met
by the battery and gas. Unpowered sites were usually considerably
cheaper than powered, and often were more nicely positioned on the
periphery of parks. We stayed in a motel just once – 3 nights in
Margaret River – and had 4 nights with a friend in Adelaide. We
spent $3,200 on accommodation – an average of $26 a night. National
park camping fees varied between states; the $30-a-night charge for a pit
toilet and nothing else in Victoria's Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park
was outrageous.
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| Wandoo woodland at Dryandra, WA |
Nor were camping
conditions as crowded as we expected on the grey nomad trail. In
Darwin, for instance, although the Lee Point Resort and Caravan Park
was almost full, we had a reasonably private spot overlooking the
bush. The exception was the cheek-by-jowl Tarangau Caravan Park in
Broome, where the owners pack in as many as they can.
(Fortunately some Brisbane friends had flown over to join us in
Broome. They booked a motel room across the road, so we had a
bolt-hole to escape to .) In southern Australia, as it was late winter, there were no hordes of grey nomads to contend with and on several occasions we were the only people camping.
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| Cape Arid National Park, WA |
Petrol varied widely
in price, and predictably was most expensive in such isolated
fuelling stops as those on the Nullabor Plain and Barkly Tableland.
The price went from $1.56 a litre in Mt Isa to $1.96 at Camooweal, a
relatively short drive north. The most expensive petrol was $2.16 a
litre at the garage at the turnoff from the Great Northern Highway to Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) National Park, WA. We
intended to visit the park, staying at the Spring Creek Camp Ground
near the entrance. However, we were told by camp ground staff
that the Subaru would not be able to drive through the park as it was
not 4-wheel-drive, and that we could be fined by national parks
officers if we tried. We learned later that this was a ruse, with the
aim of signing people up for expensive 4-wheel-drive tours, so beware
if you go there. In any event, the camp ground was dirty and crowded,
so we were happy enough to give the place a miss.
Incidentally, the Subaru proved perfectly capable of going everywhere we wanted to go, including some suitably bumpy roads.
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| Nullabor Plain, SA |
We spent a total of
$4030 on petrol, chewing up 2,444 litres – an average of $1.65 a litre.
The cheapest petrol was on the way home in south-east Queensland. We
had no mechanical problems with the vehicle and suffered just two
flat tyres. Unfortunately they happened at the same time, at Kings
Plains National Park (http://tinyurl.com/lxgzkjs)
in NSW. Apart from replacing the tyres and having a wheel alignment
done at the time, the only vehicle repair costs on the trip were replacing the
car battery and campervan battery, and servicing the Subaru in Perth
– a total of $1300. Added to that are the costs of servicing the
campervan and vehicle after returning. So not including food, alcohol
and a few odds and ends such as museum and national park entry fees,
the trip cost the two of us around $9,000.
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| Flooded River Red Gum, Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park, Vic |
We worked around
being in the Top End of the NT and the Kimberley at the height of
winter, a sensible strategy to escape the cold but one which had us in south-west WA in
early-August, a little earlier than the optimum time to see
wildflowers at their best and to avoid the wet winters of that
region. We were fortunate with the weather, however, being confined
to the campervan by rain for just one of the 122 days we were on the road.
The weather in
south-west WA was uncharacteristically mild and fine, and we enjoyed
some quite spectacular wildflower displays, especially in the mulga
lands and at Cape Arid. In Eyre Peninsula in SA we encountered some serious winds at times, particularly at Whyalla where we feared our little abode was going to be torn apart. The inland was
usually cold at night though never severely so; the long johns and woolly gloves were left unpacked. Sometimes temperature fluctuations were
startling – the thermometer dropped from 28 to 18 degrees in the
space of an hour as we headed south into the Pilbara in WA.
I'm often asked for
trip highlights. Birding highlights later but in terms of
aesthetics and landscapes, I was blown away by the view from the Five
Rivers Lookout at Wyndham ( http://tinyurl.com/pst3eg7);
the vast expanses of the Cambridge Gulf at sunset simply took my
breath away. Another memorable sight was rounding a corner at
Muirella in Kakadu National Park to see Nourlangie Rock glowing on
the horizon, the sandstone massif reflected in the wetlands
stretching below it. The fabulous Dale Gorge at Karijini National
Park, referred to above, was another heart stopper. Karijini, by the
way, was the only place where we paid a penalty for not carrying
spare petrol; we would have liked to have visited other gorges in the
park but did not have sufficient fuel.
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| Port Lincoln National Park, Eyre Peninsula, SA |
We never tired of
the stunning coastline of south-west WA – at Cheyne Beach, Albany,
Walpole, Cape Arid (this national park east of Esperance was
especially appealing (http://tinyurl.com/n8fg62k)
and elsewhere – and of southern Eyre Peninsula in SA, particularly
around Streaky Bay and south of Port Lincoln
(http://tinyurl.com/q96zv79).
Cape Keraudren in the southern Kimberley
(http://tinyurl.com/lxfnxdz)
was an unexpectedly beautiful stopover.
Darwin and Perth are
former home cities of mine and it is a pleasure to revisit them; our
week in Darwin was especially blissful. Smaller towns each had their
own character and we enjoyed getting to know them a little as much as
the cold beer and pub counter meals. (To avoid drink-driving, the proximity of pubs to
caravan parks was a factor in our caravan park selections.) Among the towns we liked were Blackall in Queensland; Pine Creek in the NT; Kununurra and Wyndham in the Kimberley; Geraldton, Cervantes, New Norcia, Bunbury, Albany and Esperance in south-west WA; Port Lincoln and Whyalla in SA; Mildura in Victoria and Broken Hill in NSW. Margaret
River in south-west WA, surrounded by tall forests and beautiful beaches, is a
stand-out in the town stakes.
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| Broken Hill and surrounds, NSW |
On the subject of
food, cooking while camping, while pleasant enough, can become a bit
of a chore after a while. We generally avoided canned or frozen meals
but tried to keep it simple so we did not waste time. We had a small
Weber Q oven for frying and baking, and quite often made use of
facilities such as microwave ovens in caravan park camp kitchens. Outside the van we had some pleasant culinary experiences - a duck curry at a hotel in Mt Newman and lobster seafood platter in Cervantes were especially memorable. Food costs varied hugely. A steak with chips and salad at Pine Creek, NT, cost $35; the same meal, with a bigger steak, cost $11 in Esperance.
If you like a drink, beware of the difficulties of purchasing alcohol in northern WA and the NT as authorities try unsuccessfully to put a lid on the indigenous drinking problem. Often we could not purchase cask wine or could do so only at certain hours (for instance, after 2pm in Katherine). Sometimes it was not possible to buy reasonably priced wine. For a bottle each of their cheapest reds and whites in a pub in Wyndham, we paid $46; the same wines at home would have cost $18.
Notwithstanding my
pre-trip research, some caravan parks did not live up to
expectations. The Norseman Caravan Park in WA was a rip-off at $38 a
night for an unpowered site, especially when our view was the back of
a shed and a pile of rubbish. Conversely, some parks were
delightfully positioned and suitably private. Stand-outs were the
Bathers Paradise Caravan Park in Esperance, WA; Coalmine Beach
Caravan Park near Walpole, WA; Pinnacles Caravan Park at Cervantes,
WA; Mataranka Cabins and Camping at Mataranka, NT; and the Discovery
Tourist Park at Kununurra, WA.
Camp grounds in
national parks also varied sharply in appeal. We were particularly
impressed by the Congelin camp ground at Dryandra, and the camp
grounds in the national parks of Karijini and Cape Arid in WA, Kakadu
in the NT, Port Lincoln in SA, and Bald Rock in NSW.
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| Bald Rock National Park, NSW |
We did not encounter
problems with crime or harassment of any kind. We suffered no
injuries or serious illness. We managed even not to lose anything.
One serious hiccup was the collapse of the focusing function on my
near-near Sony Cybershot 300 camera; I was without a camera for a
week until my old Cybershot 200 arrived in the post from home. The
only experience with a mildly scary twist was me running into
a very large Saltwater Crocodile while birding the mangroves at
Wyndham
(http://tinyurl.com/pst3eg7).
The trip is detailed in a series of 40 blog posts preceding this one. All up, we drove
19,999.3 kilometres in four months to complete the trip. And no, we
felt no compunction to drive around the block for a few hundred
metres to round it off.
BIRDS
I saw 441
bird species, 3 of which were lifers due to recent taxonomic splits:
Nullabor Quail-thrush, Western Quail-thrush and Pilbara Grasswren. I
tried though failed to see another potential lifer – Western Ground
Parrot. I also saw a few races which are potential splits, notably
the south-west WA forms of Rufous Fieldwren and Crested Shrike-tit. I was not after a big list and because I was not preoccupied with chasing ticks, I was able to
indulge the pleasures of photography and reconnecting with birds I
had often not seen in decades. We saw a total of 49 Wedge-tailed
Eagles on the trip. Some of the birding highlights follow.
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| Hooded Parrot, Edith Falls, WA |
Western
Queensland. Plum-headed Finch at Blackall; Flock Bronzewing,
Spinifex Pigeon & Grey-headed Honeyeater at Bladensburg National
Park.
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| Rufous Owl, Kakadu National Park, NT |
Northern
Territory. Rufous Owl at Mataranka and Kakadu National Park;
Hooded Parrot & Gouldian Finch at Edith Falls; Black-tailed
Teecreeper, White-lined Honeyeater, Partridge Pigeon & Little
Kingfisher at Kakadu National Park; Rainbow Pitta at Fogg Dam;
Purple-crowned Fairy-wren at Victoria River.
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| Gouldian Finch - Wyndham, WA |
Kimberley, WA.
Star Finch, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, Buff-sided Robin, Yellow-rumped
Mannikin & White-browed Crake at Kununurra; White-breasted
Whistler at Wyndham, Broome and Cape Keraudren; Gouldian Finch at
Wyndham; Great-billed Heron at Derby; (Asiatic) Gull-billed Tern &
Black-breasted Buzzard at Broome.
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| Pilbara Grasswren - Mt Newman, WA |
Pilbara-Mulga
Lands, WA. Painted Finch at Karijini National Park and Mt Newman;
Pilbara Grasswren & Spinifexbird at Mt Newman; Western
Quail-thrush & Ground Cuckoo-shrike north of Cue; good numbers of
White-fronted, Black & Pied Honeyeater in the mulga; Chiming
Wedgebill at Yalgoo.
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| Western Whipbird - Cheyne Beach, WA |
South-West
WA. Musk Duck, Blue-billed Duck and other
waterfowl in Perth; Rufous Treecreeper, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and other SW WA specialties at Dryandra; Red-eared Firetail at Margaret River, Cheyne
Beach and Walpole-Nornalup National Park; Rock Parrot at Cape Leeuwin
and Cape Arid (and Lincoln National Park in SA); White-backed
Swallow at the Pinnacles; Crested (Western) Shrike-tit near Walpole;
Rufous (Western) Grasswren near Cervantes and at Cape Arid; Western
Whipbird, Western Bristlebird & Noisy Scrubbird at Cheyne Beach;
Hooded Plover & Cape Barren Goose at Esperance.
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| Malleefowl - Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park, Vic |
South Australia.
Nullabor Quail-thrush & Slender-billed Thornbill at Nullabor;
Southern Scrub-robin at Lincoln National Park; Western Grasswren at
Whyalla Conservation Park.
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| Redthroat - Broken Hill, NSW |
Victoria.
Malleefowl, Gilbert's Wistler & Chesnut Quail-thrush at
Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park.
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| Spotted Quail-thrush - Bald Rock National Park, NSW |
NSW.
Redthroat & Chirruping Wedgebill at Broken Hill; Chesnut-rumped
Heathwren at Kings Plains National Park; Spotted Quail-thrush,
Red-browed Treecreeper & Superb Lyrebird at Bald Rock National
Park.
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| Western Pygmy-Possum, Cheyne Beach, WA |
Mammal highlights
included Western Pygmy-Possum at Cheyne Beach, and Southern Right
Whale at Cheyne Beach and Cape Arid.
