Melbourne to Perth 2024
Helen
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| New Zealand South Island 2024 | Kuala Lumpur March 2024 |
The flight from Christchurch was packed but we arrived as scheduled and moved in the chaos that was Melbourne Airport. The lines to get through customs were really long so it was hard to determine which one to be in. There was a sign saying they were filming an episode of Border Patrol which added to the confusion… for some reason, people were avoiding that line!
The airport had staff giving directions, so we got where we needed to go and eventually made it through with no issues. Getting an Uber was also a bit crazy, we hadn’t gotten sims yet so we needed to be in an area to use the wifi and we had to determine which ride share stop we were at. As usual, Paul wasn’t daunted, found someone to confirm which stop and it wasn’t long before we were on the way to Let’s Go Motorhomes for our pickup appointment. Dealing with Carol again was great, she is really nice and remembered us from last time. We got a nice surprise when we were given a brand new Escape van with only 24 kms! Wow, it even had the new car smell. We loaded our luggage and followed Carol over to the local Woolies for groceries, wine and a sim card. It was then we realized the air conditioner in the cab wasn’t working so after our errands and lunch, we headed back to Let’s Go. This time we were dealing with Carol’s daughter, who was also super nice. We waited while they took the van over to the mechanic but it turns out the van was so new, they hadn’t charged the AC yet and it would take several hours. Instead of keeping us waiting, they brought out another new van, this one was only 600km and gave us a half day credit. We transferred everything over and we were on our way.
This van is Skippy Part Four or SPF for short. Our first stop was the Airport Village location, a short drive since we were tired from our early flight… plus we had planned to head to the Thai restaurant that night. We checked in, got the same spot and started unpacking. Since it was the exact same set up as our prior Let’s Go vans, it didn’t take long to get sorted and we headed off for dinner. Unfortunately the Thai place was closed, as were all the restaurants in the area. A bit disgruntled, mostly me because the hanger is real, we headed back to the van and had wraps. Back in September 2023, we discovered that Australia has Yumi’s brand, which makes falafel’s and other vegetarian patties that are gluten free, microwavable and delicious! We’d been having them at least 4 or 5 times a week since we first found them.
We decided to head back to Port Campbell and see some more stops on the Great Ocean Road. But first, we had to stop at a mall so that we, being me, could get a new cell phone!! We had been sharing Paul’s OG Pixel for about 6 weeks while waiting for the S24 release. There was the option to continue sharing the Pixel, but we didn’t know how long it would last and the S24 cost was similar to Canada. We could have picked one up in our last week in New Zealand but like everything there, it was much more expensive. A short drive over to the mall, we checked it had parking for the van first, nipped into JB HiFi and got a Samsung S24. We quickly got a new SIM card and Paul used the grocery store wi-fi to set up the phone while I stocked up on the items we didn’t get the previous day. Grabbed a quick lunch and we were on our way. On the drive to Port Campbell we had to go past the ferry to Tasmania, we did consider a detour to Left of Field momentarily but stuck to the plan to head west.
Port Campbell and the Great Ocean Road was an exercise in patience. All the stops along the Great Ocean Road were packed with large international tour groups and buses. Walking to the viewpoints was hard because people were all over the place and blocking pathways but we managed to muscle our way over to the railing for some photos. According to one guide we chatted with, some tour groups bring over their own drivers which explains why we almost got hit by a tour bus that was going the wrong way when leaving the 12 Apostles parking area. Unfortunately, our campsite wasn’t the best, which was a bit disappointing because we loved it in 2017. It seems the park was sold and the new owners were doing some major changes. We were in a new, unfinished site that was really just a sand dirt spot. The amenities also hadn’t been maintained since the plan was to tear them down and build new ones. A storm blew in that night with a strong, gusty wind that had dirt going everywhere so it was a bit of a rough start. That said, it’s still spectacular and we were lucky to be able to be there. We weren’t able to see the couple we had met in Tassie, but they emailed us with loads of suggestions. Due to the changes with our flight to KL, we had to cut our trip short by about two weeks, which meant we had less than 5 weeks to make it to Perth. We had to make tough decisions to miss some stops and visits with friends so we could make it over to Western Australia in time.
The next morning, we got up early for the long drive to Keith making a stop at The Bay of Islands along the G.O.R for some photos. It wasn’t as crowded here and we enjoyed the views. Really how can you not, with the spectacular views you can understand why the area is so popular. Then it was a stop in Warrnambool for groceries that I had forgotten during the prior shopping trips then over to JB Hi-fi for a mouse and the set up to be able to use DEX on the new phone. We stopped in Mt Gambier for lunch and to see the sinkhole, a nice way to break up the drive. After lunch, I gave Paul a short driving break and we saw an Emu baby and mother along the way. We arrived at the Keith Caravan Park shortly before supper time, a nice little park with grassy sites. I decided to break my kitchen safety streak by using the peeler on my pinky nail. The result was Paul cooked supper and we met Rod, an older Australian who came to the rescue with some bandaids. He is doing the Big Lap and it was interesting to hear where all he’d been. Rod also shared stories about his time as a sheep station manager back in the day.
The next day, after a stop at the local pharmacy for gauze and finger cots… asking for finger “condoms” resulted in some confusion. We had another long day to get to Crystal Brook. The white cockatoos in the trees were the noisiest we had experienced. We took the more direct route to cut down the driving time but unfortunately that meant bypassing Adelaide so we weren’t able to stop in and see Adam and Tina ☹️. We took a break in Tumby where we had a really nice walk down the shoreline to the viewing point for Tumby Island. Then an overnight in Elliston where we walked along the beach, over to the historic jetty and Wellesley Point before coming back on the pathway. We did have a beautiful drive along the shore through Streaky Bay and if we ever went back, would stay there.
We didn’t get much for groceries before leaving the area because we were about to head across the Nullarbor. There is a food quarantine just as you cross the border so we couldn’t have fresh produce. They came into the van and checked the fridge and pantry area but we were prepared and nothing was confiscated. We decided on a stop at the Nullarbor Roadhouse which was pretty decent. It’s a gravel lot with power sites for vans or caravans. They also had an option for motel rooms and the roadhouse had a restaurant where we had a decent meal. It didn’t meet the Hi-Way breakfast standard but was good enough. They had basic amenities along with a small area to sit or BBQ plus you could walk around a bit. I was fascinated with the caution sign that showed kangaroos, wombats and camels.
We had three choices for our next stop: Caiguna, Cocklebiddy or Balladonia. We chose Cocklebiddy mostly because of the name really and it was a halfway point to Norseman. It wasn’t the best stay, the campground was very exposed, the roadhouse didn’t have a lot to offer for food and the amenities weren’t great. It was the only spot that we didn’t have decent cell service which was surprising considering there was a tower close by. In hindsight we should have had a long day and just kept going. We did have an early start the next morning since it was going to be hot… +38 before 9 am! Driving by Balladonia, we noticed a large amount of smoke which was growing quickly. When we checked into Norsemen a couple of hours later we were told the highway had been closed shortly after we passed through. It was due to a quickly spreading bush fire we saw, so we were lucky to make it. There is only the Eyre Highway that connects South and Western Australia and it’s a big deal when that closes. It stayed closed for about 3 days before they started letting limited traffic through. About 10 days later the highway was closed due to flooding… crazy!
Norseman was okay, but we were glad we didn’t spend more than one night. The campground was pretty basic and I swear the caretaker deliberately set the door locks to be a mind test. It was so hot you could smell the eucalyptus trees beside the van but too hot to sit out for long. With the roads being closed the local IGA didn’t have much for groceries and the pub, which was an off-license, was pretty grim but we managed to make it work. Next day we headed down to Esperance which was on the coast. It was a nice little town and we had a decent campsite. We ran some errands, did some laundry and hung out in the caravan park’s green space a bit. It was a nice area where they had a food truck and drinks van with some live music that night. We actually tried to extend an extra night but with the closures they were trying to shuffle reservations around so we weren’t able to stay. It was a beautiful area but we couldn’t tell you why neither of us took photos!
We headed to Bremer Bay where we hoped to do a whale watching tour and booked a few nights at Bremer Bay Beaches Tourist Park. Our site was a bit odd due to the way our neighbors parked their caravan, it was like we were sharing a living room. Luckily they weren’t there often and we had a nice green space behind us with a bit of privacy. It was a nice beach walk route connecting back to town through some dirt track trails. We stopped at the local brewery for a bevvie and some good live music before continuing our walk back to the campsite along the “official” pathway. They had done a really nice job on the pathway with interesting stops and lots of panels with descriptions of local highlights. It was a nice 10k walk that we did every day. In the end, we weren’t able to go whale watching, it was really windy and there were large swells so it wouldn’t have been enjoyable. We did spend hours one night practicing taking night shots and moon zooms with the new phone… the planet people, get your minds out of the gutter!
Then it was over to Emu Point by Albany, for a couple of nights. It was a huge park by the beach so we did a beach walk to Albany center and back which was really nice. Albany was a great little town with everything we needed. The caravan park was nice, had a huge water park for kids but was still fairly quiet. We did have people continually walking through our site, which got a bit irritating… especially when we were sitting outside and they just walked less than a foot away. People walking right through your site really seems to be a thing in both Australia and New Zealand which we don’t remember happening when camping in Canada. Get off of my lawn!!!
With a long weekend coming up, we booked in for 5 nights at Cheynes Beach. It was a bit of a backtrack from Albany, but made sense as the campground was highly rated. We were actually lucky to get a decent spot because the next day it was packed solid with families. Kids were running everywhere but we did appreciate the one dad who kept telling his kids to stay away from our van. We were able to get in some great beach walks and there was a neat rock formation where people were fishing. Spent a frustrating day trying to get change for laundry, including a drive to the local post office which resulted in us back in Albany at a Woolies and ATM. When we were able to do laundry, not surprisingly, someone had washed a dog blanket and our load was covered in bits, so we had to redo it. The staff were great though and got it sorted. There was a chippy van run by the campsite, where we had some nice chips to recover from the laundry incident. The chippy staff were really funny, the older man asked Paul some interesting questions, but it was all in fun.
At this point we were actually getting pretty tired of all the driving and needed a change from all the vans. Paul had done 99.99% of the driving while I took care of the cooking and chores when stopped. He handled the roads with all the twists and turns, no shoulders, the crazy traffic, maneuvering through large cities trying to make sense of my garbled directions… he was amazing. Since we had time at Cheynes Beach, we spent an afternoon booking our remaining few days, trying to make it as easy as possible.
We had booked three nights at a place called Northcliffe which had us feeling that we were in a bad episode of some hillbilly spoof. It was very rustic, the kitchen was basic and bathrooms weren’t the cleanest plus our site didn’t have water because the kitchen pipe was leaking. The owner came and turned it on so we could fill our tank and we had a really nice chat, enjoyed hearing about his adventures. We headed into town for coffee and met an older man who was walking the Bibbulmun Track. We had a good first night, it was very quiet and with no light pollution so the stars were really nice. The next day started off great, we drove down to D’Entrecasteaux National Park. We parked and had lunch at the point overlooking the town and Windy Harbour Beach before heading over to Tokulup Lookout which had a fantastic view. From there we decided to go down to Salmon Beach for a walk. It was beautiful but so windy! We ended up having to use our buffs to cover our faces from the blowing sand… we both felt we had been scrubbed. It was worth it though because it was beautiful. When we got back, some serious “bogans” had moved into a site just by ours… screaming, swearing, kids unsupervised, belching, leaving food scraps all over the already limited kitchen. It completely changed the feel of the place to the point we left a day early.
Our next stop was just outside Augusta. The Munday Camp Ground was small and basic, but everything was clean and the owners were really nice. Luckily we were able to get in a day early since we fled the other site. We had some good chats with people in the kitchen, met Johno who was a character, Sam who reminded me of my Aunt Vee, a lady from New Zealand and two other local couples who were just traveling around. Since we had a few nights we planned some short day trips over to Hamelin Bay to see the stingrays that come in really close to the beach. It was really busy there but you could move away from all the people to a quieter section of the beach and enjoy a nice walk. We did the Jewel Caves which was okay. The tour guide was good but the group that was supposed to be capped at 20 ended up with almost 35 people which affected the tour.
After that it was up to Busselton where we stayed at Mandalay Beach. It was a large campground, maybe a 5 minute walk from the beach. We did have to ask to be moved from our first site… it was by the bathroom and everyone was walking through our site plus you could hear the laundry. Our next site was great and we didn’t have any issues. The grounds staff helped you line up and park your caravan, nice but a bit off putting when the first guy stuck his arm in, grabbing the steering wheel. We had some nice beach walks and were able to get our documents printed for our Thai visa applications… oh yeah, did we mention we are heading back to Thailand?
We positioned ourselves to be closer to our Perth drop off by spending a couple of nights in Mandurah. That was a mistake as it was filled with unsupervised screaming kids riding bikes through the kitchens, people walking through sites and parking boats in the middle of the roadways, pretty loud and rowdy groups. That said, we were able to pack and clean the van as well as get our laundry done so it worked. We drove up to Perth, leaving early to make the long drive. It was on a Saturday, so the traffic wasn’t bad. Slyvia at the Perth depot was great, she gave us a tour of some of the newer models and we had a really nice chat. Every retun had us receiving compliments about how clean and well kept the vans were, which was nice.
Our flight wasn’t until the next morning so we had booked into the Ingot Hotel. It was great, the staff were really friendly, we packed, went for an Indian dinner for our last meal in Australia and relaxed. Our ride to the airport the next day was fun. Paul guessed the driver was from Nepal, which made her day. Perth airport was one of the best airport experiences we’ve had. No delays, everything moved smoothly and we were quickly by the gate. And so ended our almost 6 months, approximately 25,000 KMS of driving, 150 nights in various versions of Skippy, campsites and shared facilities.
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| New Zealand South Island 2024 | Kuala Lumpur March 2024 |