Our Australia trip

We figure that, if the wind doesn’t work in our favour, there are more clouds around with the cold front (days of around 24 and nights 14 degrees) and soon we will be forced to use paid campings along the Margaret River area, we might as well explore more inland.

We leave Australind / Leschenault and drive to Bunbury to visit a bank, the Information centre to learn about free bush camping in South Western Australia and visit the beach. The beach is not special but the dogs enjoyed the stop nevertheless.

There’s already a dog there…..oh no, just rocks with some resemblance,

Marjo buys some organic produce from a stall and then we move onto Peppermint beach. The road takes us along nice places which allows for nice pictures.

Then we come to the sleepy town of Peppermint beach and have lunch on a deserted beach.

There is no wind at all, so we drive more inland to look at the first bush site. It’s alright but not far from a busy road. The first step outside results in a giant mosquito on Marjo which shows that the sign with Medium Mosquito danger is true. We decide to move onto the road between Capel and Donnybrook. It is a nice bushy road that takes us first past, then – after a u-turn – to the Ironstone gully rest area.

It is named after the water that flows over the Ironstone into a gully and looks quite good. After opening the door we hear a swarm type buzzing but can’t see any flying nasties. When we’re settled though it seems there are many many large flies around. Not that they disturb us really (or the other way around) so we stay.

Posted from Capel River, Western Australia, Australia.

With kiting on our mind our next stop is Leschenault where the estuary seems a good place. It is big, facing the same way as the ocean (good for the prevailing south westerly wind) and you can walk everywhere.

The camping is 80% permanents and it seems it has Christine on its mind.

The bush camping along Leschenault doesn’t accept dogs so we go to Leschenault camping across the road from the estuary. The wind is straight west which makes it (for me) too hard to leave the shore and a storm’s brewing with gusty wind spikes. So we have some healthy lunch (some have more healthy bits than others) and go for a walk, play some guitar and the like.

That night another downpour wets the bus which keeps us and the chairs under the awning nice dry.

The next day the wind has turned to south west and several times I walk out to the estuary to see if the wind is strong enough for kiting. Not sure what it is but the wind is very gusty again. From perfect one moment, to nothing the next.
We go to the estuary anyway and rig up but stand there like idiots (well, I was. Marjo was her beautiful self). We ended up playing with the dogs instead.

Then Marjo caught dinner, a nice blue swimmer crab.

Unfortunately the dogs didn’t like it so we left it at the estuary.

That evening we watched a movie and slept deep under the doona. The nights have gotten colder again (14 degrees) and it’s almost time to wear socks to bed.

Posted from Leschenault, Western Australia, Australia.

Mandurah is a pretty busy place. There’s a lot of development and traffic.
The caravan park is nestled behind a shopping village, and although handy to have that in walking distance, we anticipate a lot of noise. Nothing could be further from the truth. The caravan park is stretched over a kilometer, starting behind the shops and continuing until the estuary.

We get a spot halfway down on a large grassy field. Too enthusiastic I run out, bare feet, only to call out some expletives and carefully get back to the bus. The green grass is littered with bindies so we just wear our thongs (the footwear kind). For the picture Marjo was so kind to take them off.

Then we go and explore the estuary. Not great for kiting but nice birds.

We have nice neighbours, a couple (Eric and Melissa) our age with younger children. They have been on the road for 4 years, home schooling the kids and are now back from where they started. They were keen to move into their home the next day and had their caravan for sale. Eric is a lot like me, he kites and plays guitar. We exchange some songs and he gets so excited that he snaps a string on his guitar.
The wind is not suitable for kiting so he explains where, around Mandurah, we can go for kiting.

That evening we eat our healthy food from the Dutch shop: broodje frikadel met friet!

Being the healthy cook she is, Marjo assured that I also point out the nice green salad.

The next day we decide to stay and tour the area. We leave the trailer behind and take the kite. Our first destination is Rockingham. Because there’s a big cycling tournament that morning, we do some unplanned sightseeing following detour signs. Our first stop is Safety Bay and can see that there will to be any kiting today. He maximum wind here is only 12 knots.

Marjo thinks I need to study marine signs instead of making silly remarks.

We drive further along the beach towards penguin island. Of course dogs can’t come near so we make our own fun with a tennis bal.

And end up with sand everywhere.

Then we leave the touristy area and look around in the hinterland and visit the dam.
We drive along a bush environment with little streams and stop for some bus made lunch (doesn’t sound the same as home made, but that’s what it was).

There are nice wild flowers along the way.

We come to the dam that supplies Perth with drinking water and feel a bit sorry. The dam is already quite a way down and summer hasn’t started as yet.

On the way back to Miami we see Thrombolites which are kind of baby Stromatolites although I might have misunderstood that.

That night a cold front comes through, dumping the first sizeable rain. Lucky for us, in the morning, the sun is out again. It feels crisper but still nice.

Posted from Leschenault, Western Australia, Australia.

We had earmarked this site in Perth quite a while ago as we wanted to catch up with Peter Lehtonen and also used his place as a mail drop and for a few reviews such as the best baby running prams one, published here.. Joran has been so kind to collect our mail and act as photo backup that we snail mail. So when we know we will be at a certain location he sends the memory cards and other stuff there. This time Peter’s place.
From Moore River the Burns Beach camping is only 45 minutes so we arrive quite early (9.15 am), plenty of time to explore the ‘hood’. It seems that this is a busy place. Or we are not used to anything over 3 cars in sight. We get a bit claustrophobic (I know, how spoilt are we) and the rules on the beach seem excessive. There is literally no one on the beach and dogs are not allowed there. Everyone seems to use the bitumen foot/bicycle/skate/dogwalk path that follows the coast. It is not possible to get off the path and if you managed to scale the 5 foot fence, signs tell you that a ranger would be ready to fine you for $400. On the spot.
It is a friendly camping though, but feels restrictive to us. The view is nice.

The primary reason we stay is to have breakfast with Peter and a possible kiting spot. There’s no wind enough so we just do some work around the bus (cleaning and stuff), play guitar and go for walks over the foot/bicycle/skate/dogwalk path.

There is a reason why people have NO dog campings as we found out that evening. Our neighbours (5 people and a dog in a tent) go out that evening and leave the dog in the tent. The poor little animal must have been lonely as he was barking almost non stop from 7 till 10.30 pm.

The next day we meet Peter for breakfast, do a quick guided tour in the bus for him and get new tyres for the trailer. Then we do Perth in a flash. Marjo’s not big on busy cities and I have been to Perth many times before. So we do the essentials: the Dutch shop.

Where we stock up on essentials such as speculaas, boerenkool, hagelslag, Maggi and of course for Marjo a cinnamon stick.

Then, on a Saturday morning, we run into a traffic jam. Haven’t seen that in a while.

Of course, this being Perth, there are people who take the median strip (notice the dust) and even trucks who get themselves in trouble by trying to cross to the oncoming lanes through very soft sand. I wonder how the driver will explain this to his boss.

Then we go on our way to Miami caravan park in Mandurah. We stop somewhere for lunch and look on the map for a nice spot. There’s a lake close to the road as you can see in the picture.

Yeah, I know, somewhere the water got lost. Also the road along the missing lake was somewhat eerie, with cars sitting on the side and single older men in them. Waiting for? Not one of those places I hope?
We don’t wait to find out and drive on to Mandurah.

Posted from Macleod, Western Australia, Australia.

After leaving the nice spot at Sandy Cape, our mind is set on kite surfing. The piece of coast we are doing now has a perfect setting with a reef further out and a sandy shore……if there would have been wind. The forecast for wind is not great, every day below 19 kph (10 knots) which is not enough to kite. The ideal range is from 15 to 25 knots although I’m struggling to do the 25 knots and also the crew don’t appreciate getting sand blasted at those wind speeds.
We consider staying till Tuesday at Lancelin as the beach and water is droolingly good (even Dotti agrees) but neither of the campings take dogs.

So on we go, we look at options between here and Perth and come up with only one reasonable spot. We thought about Ledge Point but the camping asks $43 a night and I have to start looking for a job at that rate. We also look at free camping half way, but the combined fines of having your dogs in the National Park along the coast plus ignoring the No Camping signs would be $8,000. then we toss around the option of hijacking a tin shed near Wedge Island, but again we chicken out when we see the many signs.

So we decide for Moore River bridge rest stop.

On the way we stop for the Pinnacles but again they’ve hidden them in a National Park. The rangers are pretty smart as they spotted that our ‘babies’ were not of the human kind. Must have been our mistake of dressing the ‘boy’ in red and the ‘girl’ in blue.

At Moore River bridge stop we find a spot that allows us our little own area.

Not much later we find out that we had a primary location and that this site gets full pretty quick.

Despite the number of people in such close proximity, it was a very quiet night and a lovely walk in the morning along (and for some in) the Moore river.

Posted from Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Because the camping at Jurrien Bay is fancy, which means expensive, busy and with many rules, we look for alternatives in this area and find Sandy Cape, only 14 km north. We return along the same road and turnoff on a 7 km corrugated road which seems to be used by trucks to transport Lime that is quarried here.

Then we arrive at a nice bush camping. Shielded from the wind by a small dune, right on the beach.

Then it’s time for lunch and after the first bite of our pan-toasted sandwich Marjo and I look at each other. There’s a strong taste mixed with some gentle natural type perfume with every chew. It seems that while waiting for the pan to heat up Marjo sprayed herself with fly spray and then went to coat the sandwiches with a thin spray of olive oil. Or so she thought. Or it could be that Marjo had come up with her own fly deterrent from the inside out and started coating our food with insect spray.

The dogs and we like it here and that afternoon I try out some of the tips from the Kite shop owner, using body dragging. The wind is not very strong so I have some success but not enough work with the board. That will be tomorrow’s focus.

Meanwhile the dogs have a nap on the beach. It takes Dotti some time to find the right shady spot.

Marjo, meanwhile, goes on a walkabout and in her subtle way makes clear that she’s had enough of paying for food and that it’s about time for Axel to catch his own.

That evening we sit together on our ‘private beach path’ and watch the sun set. It never tires.

The lime dunes behind us show a peculiar pink and blue colour. Pretty!

Although the combination of wind direction, wind strength, seaweed that keeps clinging to the kite wires and waves makes it somewhat hard for a novice kiter….

We have a great time doing some art and playing guitar.

And exploring the picturesque beach.

And when I tried to pose for next year’s travel brochure, Dotti and Nossi thought it was a new game.

Then we went some dunes up and down.

At which point Dotti went nose first in the sand and had a swim to clean it off.

And then it’s time for some well deserved rest.

Another great stay!

For more information, read this in-depth guide by portablecnerd on water tanks, heaters, etc.

The next day starts cold and overcast. We have seen the Ellendale pool and after dumping our toilet cassette we are on the move again. With more small movements we start relying again on our GPS which sends us down another 34 km dirt road. We are not in agreement though and do a u-turn and return past the windmills towards the coast. We want to go to a large lake (Indoon) that seems to be nice for water sports and allows dogs.
It is not to be.

With these warnings the campsite has barely any campers and we are game, but not stupid. After have lunch here, we move on and head to Leeman which is renowned for kiting. The coast here has a reef about a kilometer from the coast that keeps the waves out. Ideal for kiting…..if…there….was…..beach access.

The beach is not visible under the loads of seaweed. We have seen this since Carnarvon and the west coast seems to be covered with the stuff. It’s about time more dugongs eat all this stuff or some genius scientist finds a purpose as it’s not very nice along the shore.

Our next option is Green Head which has no real beach. The cost is mainly rocks which is a pretty sight, but has no purpose for what we want to do.

Next is Jurrien Bay and this gives more satisfaction. By now it’s late and the wind has gone so we turn into a campsite and stay for the night. I cook Fish and Chips and we catch up on emails and Facebook and listen half to a divorced father desperately trying to get his three under 10 sons to get to sleep in a tent too small. Poor guy.

We left the camping at around 9 am and headed towards the Geraldton Woolworths for some new groceries, took fuel, got some new wine and beer and bought Metalfix, some water based paint that seems to bond well with rust, advised by a fellow camper at Quobba Point. His bus was covered with red blotches of the paint. Luckily they also sell it in grey which matches our bus :). At the same shopping centre there was a Kiting shop that had some tips and sold full length wetsuits specially for kiting and windsurfing. So no more freezing my xxxs off in cold water or display of excessive skin 😉

Then we drive more inland towards a natural pool we read about. First we pass the Geraldton wind park with 54 massive wind turbines that moved really slow in the hard wind. I guess they generate quite a bit of power at these slow speeds but have less wear and also not make the annoying sound that fast turning turbines make.

There are nice displays of wild flowers and suddenly we think it starts to hail, but no, we are hit with an army of bees that seem to enjoy the fields of little purple flowers before splashing to bits on our windscreen. Next we arrive at the campsite. The flies definitely get less annoying the more we head south.

The campsite is in a nice bush setting and we find a spot along the water.

With no waves and not too much wind Marjo gets the itch and does a little kayak dance.

Then she is off and makes some scenery shots along the way.

When she’s back it’s time for drinks and dinner. Another great day.

This must be the first time that I have not set a foot outside the bus between last night and departure. Marjo, my brave lionheart (hey, we’re Dutch after all) took the challenge and singlehandedly fed the dogs (who had today’s special of dry food with fly), took in the magnetic fly screens, turned off the gas and closed the trailer. The packing up of chairs, dog rope, dog beds and stuff we already did the night before when the flies went wherever they go after dark. Flies buzzing around my face and crawling in orifices I never knew I had is just not my thing. So we sped off, leaving some rubber behind.

Then we were on the road again, just missing one of those tailless animals and a tail-only animal.

We arrive at the camping on the outskirts of Geraldton, that we booked ahead of time. Because it is still school holidays and we want to give the bus a service we did not want to be in a situation where we wouldn’t have a bus and nowhere to stay.

The camping was close to the coast, which meant, there was no road between the campsite and the ocean, just a large field and dunes. It took Marjo and Nossi over half an hour up and down dunes as well chased by flies, to get to a seaweed infested beach. Dotti and I decided to guard the bus and didn’t regret that decision.

The camping otherwise was nice apart from a lot of local miners who tend to leave at 5 am and don’t believe anyone else should sleep longer than them. So we were up bright and early ready to drop the bus off for its service. We decided that there was no point for Marjo and Dotti and Nossi to stay at the campsite so they came along to Geraldton. We drove along the shore to look for an appropriate spot to stay for a couple of hours and found that the shore in Geraldton town is mainly developed with a large marina, a port for late container ships and even a mine site.

More south we found a nice beach with sun shelter where I dropped them off.

Then I went to the mechanic, leave the bus in their capable hands and walked up and down the hills to town. I walked around a little to kill some time, bought a capo for the guitar and at 10 am went to the WA museum which explained why this is called the Batavia coast.

After midday the bus was all ready. I then made a stop at Bunnings for a bag of grout for Marjo’s mosaics and a stop at Hungry Jacks for hungry Marjo and Axel. Then onto the beach where we had our lunch and a play with the dogs.

Then we went back to the campsite and did not too much. Well we cleaned the fresh water tank, cleaned the bus, cleaned ourselves with showers (not that this did anything to deter the flies) and had a night of Bones on the iPad.

While waiting for the bus to be serviced I visited the WA museum to look at the Dutch mishaps along the coast here. A interesting story about the Batavia, the Zuytdorp, De Vergulde Draeck and the Zeewijk.

A story in pictures.