12 Mar Around Australia 2023 – The Big Lap

Murchison House Station, near Kalbarri (Wiki)

Campsites along a creek, good facilities, a bit to close to the next van for a station stay (but still much better than a caravan park). Quirky collection of old military and farm machinery. Close to the spectacular Kalbarri Gorges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gladstone Bay Campsite, Shark Bay (Wiki)

Operated by the local station, stacks of space, right on the coast, toilets good, rustic shower, $20 per day for 2 seniors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warroora Station, Ningaloo Coast, south of Coral Bay (Wiki)

Station campground with excellent facilities. Gravel road access a bit corrugated, recommend tire pressures down to 25 on car, also down on van, proportionally.

Track access to beach sites north and south with magnificent views, sandy close to beach, so the low pressures help. DBCA campsites along the coast tracks, just toilets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karijini Area

Camping areas in the national park area are a bit busy, also no camp fires allowed. This spot, in Wiki as “Going Overland Flat Spot” is a fantastic free camping area. No facilities of course, but acres of space along a bore service track, fabulous view of the hills, and campfires ok because just out of national park area.

Take the Hamersley- Mt Bruce gravel road from Karijini Drive, 5.3 km, then take track to the right, “Hydro Bore” small sign. Camp anywhere along here. I guess we were about 2km along. This was our outlook, great when dry, then came the very unseasonal rain, so we had to leave after 2 days, before it got soft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellendale Lagoon, just off the highway between Broome and Fitzroy crossing (WikI)

Beaut free camp by the generosity of the station owner. No facilities, but large lagoon, plenty of shade, great bird-life and a friendly cow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Violet Valley Campground (Wiki)

Located 13km to the west of Warmun (north of Halls Creek), along a reasonable access track, but with 4 or 5 creek crossings (ok for our 15ft van, but would be a problem for big vans).

Good facilities. Memorable for us, as the unseasonable rain found us again, ultimately bogging the van when we came to leave after a longer than scheduled stay. Fabulous aboriginal caretaker family used a bobcat to help us get free.

 

Kununurra – Kimberleyland Caravan Park

Good quality place, quite spacious sites for a caravan park.

We took a flight in a seaplane, over Bungle Bungles, gorges, Argyle Diamond mine, landed for morning tea on a Lake Argyle island, then back to land on Lake Kununurra. Spectacular!

 

 

Victoria River Roadhouse

Good facilities and great spaces, particularly if you choose the unpowered option. Spectacular hikes nearby.

 

Katherine Gorge Area – Buffalo Hill Bush Camp, 1530 Gorge Rd, Landsdowne NT (Wiki)

Plenty of space, not much shade, but good facilities and not expensive (see photo from chopper). Adjacent was a helicopter operation. We took a flight over all the gorges. Just the 2 of us, 3 passenger max.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corroboree Park Tavern, about an hour east of Darwin (Wiki)

Spacious camping area with good facilities. Crocodile tour on the Mary River nearby. Big monsters almost in touching distance from the tour boat!

 

Mataranka, Bitter Springs (Wiki)

Great experience in hot springs at these places. There are caravan parks very close, but we stayed  about 20 minutes away in the Elsey National Park (booked through NT National Parks. Very attractive bush camping with good facilities.

 

Leichardt Lagoon, 20 km SE of Normanton toward Croydon

Very scenic with shade, $20 per night, OK toilets and showers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forsayth

Lovely small caravan park in a small country town. We could not get a booking at Cobbold Gorge itself, so stayed here and did the day trip. Perhaps best, as the gravel road to Cobbold was pretty rough. Cobbold definitely worth a visit however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undara Lava Tubes

Well organised attraction with pretty good caravan sites, very well spaced, great facilities. The Lava Tubes are really special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oondooroo Station, about 20 minutes north of Winton (Wiki)

Spacious well grassed sites, good facilities, $25 pn plus extra for fireplace and wood.

Winton is a great country town and the Dinosaur Centre out of town is mind-blowing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longreach, Apex Riverside Park (Wiki)

Council operated $5 per night, big area to spread out, toilets. Friendly brolgas and the over-friendly apostle birds (as everywhere in NT and Queensland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lara Wetlands, south of Barcaldine on Lara Station. (Wiki)

Large lagoon made by damming the water from a hot spring. Caravan circle the lagoon. Toilets and wood-fired hot showers, well managed. Bathe in the hot springs, pretty hot, so 10 minutes maximum. $30 per night.

 

Morven (Wiki)

Small central Queensland town with a good pub. The shire runs camping at the sports fields, $5 unpowered, $10 powered.

 

 

Lightning Ridge (Wiki)

Some van parks in town, but not great reviews. We stayed out of town at the Lightning Ridge Rest Area on the Castlereagh Highway. Had toilets and was quite ok.

Highlight for us was the cactus garden, quite incredible. Of course the old mine workings, some current, made an interesting vista. And a pretty wealthy bowling/social club (with lots of pokies). And a free public hot pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warrumbungles (Wiki)

This is a mountainous national park in northern NSW, with some nice walks, and spectacular views (view from our camp below).

We stayed at camo Wambelong, less structured than the nearby Camp Blackman. Had toilets, but no shower, a spectacular view and plenty of kangaroos. We travelled 5 minutes to camp Blackman for showering. You book with the NSW National Parks online, but being uncertain about which camp, we arrived at Wambelong, set up and then went to the Admin Centre near Camp Blackman to pay…..no problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mudgee

Lovely town, worth a visit. We stayed with my cousin in long awaited luxury.

 

Forbes (Wiki)

A prosperous mid-west town, with plenty to see. Also had some cousins here, but we camped at the showgrounds, very roomy, good facilities and inexpensive ($15 upowered, $25 powered)

 

Deniliquin, Twin Rivers Reserve (Wiki)

Just a bit east of the town, free camping amongst huge river red gums, right on the Edward River. We were the only ones there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halls Gap in the Grampians, Western Victoria

Here we stayed in an Airbnb house with our daughter, husband and baby and dear mother-in-law, whom we’ve now sadly lost. Some beautiful memories. Very scenic area with good hiking and scenic drives.

 

Naracoorte Caves (Wiki)

Campsite operated by SA National Parks. Lots of space and good facilities.

The nearby caves are wonderful. Also wonderful for wine is the Coonawarra wine region, close by, north from Penola. Relaxed cellar door visiting, in contrast to Barossa, Clare and Adelaide Hills, thatmostly require booking on-line and pay for tasting, with only a portion credited back for a puchase. My favorites in Coonawarra were Wynns (the largest) and Zema (less expensive but excellent wines).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount Barker Caravan Park (WikI)

OK for a caravan park, central in Adelaide Hills. We saw nice gardens, views and did a day trip into Adelaide….gave the pretentious wineries a miss.

 

Alpana Station, just south of Blinman in the Flinders Ranges (Wiki)

This was one of the highlights of our trip, and we stayed a week. Very spacious camping along a dry creek bed with large shady trees.  Good long drop toilets, no power or showers, altough there is an option for pwer and showers close to the homestead.

Fabulous history of owning family, now to generation 7. The owner wife took us on a 4wd tour of the large property, us in her Landcruiser, with two tag-along 4wds. I was happy to be in here vehicle for the slight extra cost, as the drive was very rugged. Just amazing country.

We also did really special day trips though gorges in the region, and also to the famed Wilpena Pound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pildappa Rock, near Minnipa on Eyre Highway (Wiki)

Great free camp location, stayed 2 nights. Good toilets. Our van in photo from top of the rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cliff-top free camping east of Eucla

The highway is close to the sea, so you can get a stunning view from a free camp. Howling off-shore winds overnight meant rather disturbed sleep, however.

Norseman Caravan Park

Reasonable caravan park, where we survived a violent wind storm.

 

Karalee Rock, east of Southern Cross (Wiki)

Excellent free camping, plenty of shade. The toilet is now closed, however.

A really interesting location, where the rock was used as for rain-water collection, with an overhead flume to transport it to a dam.