Progressively working on the long process of documenting our 6 month trip through SA, WA, NT and outback Qld during 2021. The overall route is shown on the map below. The trip lasted from March through to September 2021.
Please excuse poor writing and odd changes in grammar, this has been adapted from the original Facebook posts which were published from the road without much attention to the words.
First Three Weeks
We moved pretty fast during the first week because our main aim was to get across to WA and spend a few months travelling around the other (western) half of Australia. Everywhere up to SA and NT have always felt achievable from home in Brisbane but WA has always seemed so far away and so big. We had the constant threat of WA border closure hanging over us (remember what that felt like?) and it weighed on our minds during our fairly brief time in SA.
Through NSW in three days and down to the Eyre Peninsula in SA, which is half way across Australia ..... well technically it's half way between Sydney and Perth by road but whatever, there’s a half way sign there!
A full week on the Eyre Peninsula for our second week. Safe to say we could spend a few more weeks just in this region, there’s so many great beach and ocean camping spots to be had as well as remote interior landscapes interspersed with quiet country towns. We spent a few days at Lincoln National Park and Greenly Beach free camping, as well as a trip through the Whalers Way area. There will certainly be a future trip dedicated to just the Eyre Peninsula and Flinders Ranges.
But our first stop was part of Mt Remarkable National Park east of the Eyre Peninsula. These photos are from our brief stay at the Mambray Creek Campground. A lovely place to camp with great bush walks and even hot showers at the amenities block! It was lovely to camp amongst the huge river red gums.
Then it was on to the Eyre Peninsula, the eastern side of which is remote and sparsely populated with quite a few amazing free camping options such as the one below not too far from Wyalla; Fitzgerald Bay. In the photo below we are looking back across towards Mt Remarkable on the other side of Spencer Gulf from our camp site.
After travelling down the eastern side of Eyre Peninsula we spent a few days in & around Lincoln National Park, which was a big revelation for us; magic scenery, numerous camping options and an absolutely amazing amount of wildlife. The dolphins and seals coming in close to shore were fantastic. It was a busy time and we didn't have too much choice for camp sites but feel we got pretty lucky with September Beach. Each day we walked around a beautiful heath covered headland with views over the ocean to get to this secluded bay for a swim. And the curious seals greeted us as we rock-hopped along the water's edge for the last bit to get down to the beach.
Below is our September Beach camp site, difficult to visual the epic view with this photo. Most of the camp sites were down lower and closer to the beach but the one we were in had the views.
Fee camping at Greenly Beach was another highlight, especially the fantastic natural rock pool. Just need to plan your swims around tide otherwise it's pretty sketchy thanks to crashing waves. We happened to be camped right near where two local old guys accessed the rocks for their regular fishing session. A quick chat with one lead to an offer of a freshly caught salmon, fresh fish right on the beach!
Rock pool at just the right tide and with nice sunny weather.
Whalers Way is privately owned land on the tip of the Southern Eyre Peninsula between Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay. It promised "some of the most spectacular, accessible and dramatic coastal views in the state" and did not disappoint. We spent a full day exploring and camped overnight at the far end. A swim at Red Banks Beach felt like one of the most remote beaches anywhere, rugged and beautiful.
In the photo below you can see our little van and another camper over on the opposite cliff.
Resupply in Port Lincoln and we discovered a great little coffee bean roaster; Boston Bean Company. Also called in at Talia Caves on the way to Pildappa Rock, which is like a mini Uluru.
View looking out from Talia Cave.
Our next place is inland to the Gawler Ranges for a bit of variety away from the coast. It also seemed like a good option for the Easter period, which would see the more popular places teeming with families.
Week 3
The Gawler Ranges NP was a short break from coastal vibes before making our way to Streaky Bay for three nights. The landscape is quite arid but filled with interesting rock formations.
While at Streaky Bay we rang the Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience on the off chance they’d have availability for the sea lion swimming and got really lucky, two spots the next day. Well, what a brilliant experience! Sea lions, dolphins, pelicans, fish, all wild and unfed. The water was very cold even in wetsuits but just so worthwhile for a unique wildlife experience.
The remote coast around Streaky Bay is littered with great little beaches and rock pools plus the huge white sand dunes near Yanerbie. There's so much to explore and we really want to return at a more leisurely pace.
Hard to register the sheer scale of these huge white dunes in a photo.
We stayed at a great little caravan park about 6km out of town (Streaky Bay Islands) which allowed us to get some chores done as well as planning for the upcoming Nullarbor crossing into WA and dealing with school holiday crowds in the south west. Plenty of time was needed to complete all the paperwork required for WA entry.
THE NULLARBOR
The highlight of our crossing was free camping right at the edge of the Bunda Cliffs. It really feels like the edge of the world, the way the tall cliffs drop straight to the vast southern ocean and you can see the fragility of the overhanging rock layers, watching the bottom edge of Australia disappearing into the sea.
You can just make out our little rig in the photo below, which only shows half the height of the cliffs.
Something unexpected was the quality of light & colour, perhaps due to being so far south.
But for us at that time the most exciting thing was to actually get into WA! Notwithstanding that we had all required paperwork in place (G2G Pass) and hadn’t been near a hotspot in 3 weeks it was still a bit nerve wracking for two Queenslanders. Anyway no problems; friendly police, lost a few tomatoes to quarantine and we were through.
Once inside WA we slowed down, starting with a free camp just past Cocklebiddy. They have a large enclosure purpose-built for two injured eagles rescued by the owner after car strikes along the highway.
We then headed slowly to the south west, still needing to work around school holiday crowds for the next two weeks before hopefully meandering along what looks like an amazing area.
Weeks Four to Six
Finished our Nullarbor crossing, stopping for fuel at Norseman and continuing down to the tiny village of Salmon Gums, where we stayed two nights in the little community caravan park. Didn’t do too much, got some washing done & put up with flies brought on by the unseasonably warm weather. Pub dinner the second day with a few of the other people also staying at the van park was a fun night.
Pushed on to Esperance for some fresh food shopping, mainly to replace what we had to give up at the WA border! It’s a great little town but of course pretty busy during school holidays.
Stayed at the Duke of Orleans Caravan Park for seven nights. It’s more time than you would normally spend here but we are needing to wait out the school holidays before continuing through the south-west. There’s quite a lot of great looking spots between Esperance and Albany that we wanted to experience with smaller crowds. Spent a couple of great days having look around Wharton Beach and Little Wharton Cove which are close to Dukes.
Then it was exploration of Cape Le Grand National Park. Great short walks around spectacular coves and headlands. Even managed to find a couple of spots in the Park that had relatively few people; Hellfire Bay and Little Hellfire in particular. Amazing how few people actually walk any further than 1km from carparks. Thistle Cove was also spectacular and Lucky Bay is nice but extremely busy so we only had a quick look.
Week 5
A strange week with a few ups & downs. Started off with worrying about ex-cyclone Seroja, which was forecast to cross the west coast near Geraldton and then continue all the way down right over us east of Esperance on the south coast. We considered leaving to get out of its path as heavy rain and high winds were forecast but where to go? Still school holidays and poor weather forecast over a wide area anyway. In the end we sat it out at Duke of Orleans and the conditions were not too extreme. Monday was rainy and high winds for about three hours after the low crossed the south coast. Geraldton and Kalbarri got smashed so we feel fortunate to have not been up there.
Our last full day in the area turned out to be a good one; into Esperance for a coffee (Downtown Coffee) and found an excellent deli (Deli King) for lunch. Didn’t look like much from the outside but a real goldmine inside; great selection of deli stuff, fresh sandwiches and friendly staff. Also called in to Lucky Bay Brewing for the afternoon. They do excellent wood fired pizza and the beers are easy drinking, especially in the outdoor covered area. The weather had improved and so our spirits were lifted. We were also able to get some research and planning done for the coming weeks which had been basically impossible with only sketchy internet at Dukes.
Finally time to leave and we headed west to what turned out to be a fantastic two night stay at Starvation Bay. Down a 20km dirt road with only basic facilities (drop toilet) but very well laid out, relatively private sites for $15/night and best of all, not too many people! After some exploration around the beach & headland we found an amazing couple of rock pools almost perfect for swimming. Lots of multi-coloured crabs darting around in the smaller pools and rock crevices. Had to dodge a few showers but also had periods of beautiful sunny conditions too. All in all an ideal reset for the trip.
From there we headed further west and inland to the Stirling Ranges National Park. We stayed three nights at Stirling Range Retreat in the unpowered section, which is very close to being in mulga bushland rather than a van park. The huge array of bird life kept us occupied each morning and the only downside was truck noise.
The Retreat is virtually at the National Park boundary so very handy to the walks. Well, not really walks exactly, more giant stair climbs. You basically just go straight up from each car park. But the views are amazing and we were really lucky to have two perfect days with the weather.
It’s quite common to be clouded over and/or raining because the range sticks up out of an otherwise very flat landscape and creates its own weather. We got to the top of Bluff Knoll which is the most famous and popular.
Mt Hassell the next day had views that were just as good but there was literally no one else on the track.
Rounded out the week with Castle Rock in Porongurup National Park on the way down to Albany. It’s a short walk out to a steel catwalk structure fixed to a large granite outcrop which has great views both to the south (Albany coastline) and north to the Stirling Ranges.
We then moved on to Kalgan River Caravan Park on the outskirts of Albany. Managed to get an edge site right on the river that has a nice outlook. There’s a couple of National Parks and Nature Reserves around the area that look to be well worth exploring. Good cafes and even a coffee roaster are on the agenda too. The weather is a bit variable so we’ll just time the explorations to suit.
Week 6
This update is a little overdue and we are still in Albany. We’ve really enjoyed exploring National Parks, found good cafes, a local orchard with beautiful avocados and apples, great beaches and bush walks. But also discovered that the front wheel bearings on the D4 are shot. Managed to source one and a great local mechanic let Scott change it at his workshop but had to order the second one and wait for it to arrive (still waiting as of writing this). We’ve been limiting ourselves to short drives, decided this was safer than risking long drives and a possible bearing failure. Plus it’s so convenient to have a workshop space and professional assistance if needed, which may not be so easy to find if we’d moved on to somewhere else.
The Torndirrup National Park is part of the peninsula that creates the bay that Albany sits in. It features some amazing coastal geology, particularly The Gap and Natural Bridge, as well as 13km walk right out to Bald Head which is more than worth the effort. We made two visits, one for the big walk and one just for sightseeing and a swim at Misery Beach, which is the opposite of its name.
We went back to Porongurup National Park to walk the 7km loop taking in Marmabup Rock and Nancy Peak. This one has some challenging sections, especially getting up to Marmabup Rock but has excellent views in all directions as a reward. The relatively unknown Gull Rock National Park is just down the road from Kalgan River, where we happened upon a great little walk from Ledge Beach to some magic afternoon views over the bay.
Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve is managed just like a National Park and is home to a couple of endangered species not found elsewhere so there’s not a lot of it that’s accessible. However what you can get to is pretty amazing. We’d seen that Little Beach was beautiful but didn’t know about an even nicer one just a short rock scramble away, Waterfall Beach. And the drive out there through lush farming country is nice too.
In Albany, it’s worth mentioning Kate’s Place and Vancouver Street Cafe. Both have excellent food, service and coffee. Also tried the well known fish shop at Middleton Beach called Ocean & Paddock. Can see why it’s been voted best fish shop in WA a few times.
Comments