Darwin to Melbourne 2023
By Helen
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| Decision 2023 | Tasmania 2023 |
Departure day arrived and we were ready… well we thought we were. Jen drove us to the airport and off we went. The original flight from CNX-SIN was okay, we were surprised when we were given a meal and we had a great chat with the lady in our row who was heading back to sail around Australia. The landing in Singapore’s Changi airport was a bit sketch, it was raining and you could feel the plane when it skidded a bit, but made it to the terminal. We didn’t need to grab the duffle as it was checked through so just went and checked into the aiport hotel. We were both fairly tired, but decided a walk through the terminal was the cure and allowed us to grab a quick dinner.
Back in our hotel, we found an Australian news channel and saw there was a large fire by Tennant Creek, people were being warned to stay away. That was supposed to be one of our stops but it was a few days away so we decided not to worry too much. We were up early for breakies and caught our next flight to DRW. This flight we were treated to an exit row, which was a nice surprise. The flight was smooth and we landed in Darwin with no skidding!
We disembarked, waited for the duffle which was one of the last bags off the plane and headed over to Let’s Go Motorhomes Darwin branch. To be honest, this was a disappointing experience. We were rushed through the process, the van wasn’t clean, the freezer wasn’t even defrosted and the awning “needed two people and a good thump” to go back in. The vehicle we were given was one of the older ones in the fleet. A positive was all the vans had really nice window coverings for the front windshield, front side and back windows so we had a lot of privacy. The side windows had screens that we could open for airflow or close for privacy, even half and half. Unfortunately we didn’t really have any options so decided to make the best of it and off we went to The Oasis Tourist Park just on the outskirts of Darwin. The campground was great, other than having to get our neighbor to move his Ute every single time so we could park. We got the van set up, unpacked and arranged everything that we could.
We christened the van as Skippy… or Skippy OG… we felt this was a fitting name since we planned on listening to some books about a beer can called Skippy. The next day we went for a nice lunch out and headed to the Darwin Aviation Museum which was actually pretty cool. They have a b-52 bomber, some other fighter planes, tanks and lots of history. We wandered around for several hours before heading to the local Woolies to stock up on groceries plus wine, of course, before heading back to the site. Still quite tired, we extended our stay.
We made plans for the next day, a walk through the waterfront precinct and the Darwin Military Museum. It was nice to walk and there was a decent breeze at the waterfront so it wasn’t crazy hot. Our fridge managed to freeze the carrots so we stopped by a pasture on the way to the military museum to feed them to the horses. The military complex was huge and didn’t have such a great breeze so it was too hot to see it all, still worth it as we saw some really neat displays. We gave ourselves a day to relax, do laundry and get sorted. Gotta say between the sun, heat and wind it’s probably the quickest our laundry dried the whole trip! The owners and staff here were great and went over our route with us. We were advised that there were more fires in the area so skip Litchfield and Tennant Creek, just head over to Wongaling. Probably for the best since we saw a fire not far from the park the day before. We had to move our last night and ended up in a quiet corner away from the lights so we sat out and watched the stars, which were great.
Darwin to Wongaling
Up early the next day, we hit the road. We had a new plan of 6 days to Wongaling with some days being 5+ hours of driving. I was able to give Paul a break on the long days as the road, while mostly single lane highway, was decent. We stopped at Daly Waters Hi-Way Inn had the best, huge, all day breakfast that will forever live in infamy and that all future breakfasts will be compared to. It fed us for 3 meals! Considering it was only $13 each and we were given a free beverage for staying, it was a pretty good deal! Barkly Homestead was next, it was a dirt lot with electrical hookups, crazy numbers of flies and a non-existent kitchen. Our neighboring camper was really helpful in showing us how to use the adapter for the water hook-up which we promptly forgot to take with us the next morning! We had a couple of “firenados” along the highway and could see a lot of the smoke from the restricted areas.
We crossed from the Northern Territories (NT) into Queensland just before Camooweal, made a quick detour at Bunnings in Mount Isa to get a replacement adapter on the way to the Cloncurry Caravan Park Oasis. It was a nice little park with a refreshing pool, if you take Arlo the human fish child out of the equation. He liked to do depth charges right in front of you while his parents whined “Arlooooo…” from the other side of the pool. We had a nice visit with a couple from Canberra who recommended we stop at Richmond for the Kronosaurus Korner dinosaur musem. Needing a shorter day, we decided to check it out and decided to stay overnight. The museum was neat and they are still finding fossils in the area. We found a great butcher shop and realized that tenderloin steak was cheap in comparison to Canada! We stayed at Lakeview Caravan Park which had a nice set up for the amenities and a lake walk. The past two days felt like we were driving through the Canadian Prairies and Paul made numerous references to Mad Max. Then it was a rotten, fly filled night at Big 4 Charter Towers, a pit stop in Townsville for groceries and we were in Wongaling!!! We stopped at numerous small towns along the way to make lunch and it reinforced our decision to drive through quickly. A lot of the towns were struggling and some places are going through a rough time.
At Wongaling, we stayed at Bali Hai, where we stopped twice in 2017. It had new owners but was still really friendly and no kids allowed made for some awesome peace and quiet! It was cloudy and rainy so we only had a short beach walk that day, next day we just hung around, did some laundry and started making some plans. Our neighbors were gray nomads and we ended up having some great chats with Collum and Sharon. We are forever in her debt for telling us about Dan Murphy’s (get a free membership for discounts) and clean skins! Apparently businesses get special orders from the wineries and any leftovers from the bottling are sold in bulk. It gets bottled with a label that just shows the type of wine and winery and is anywhere from $3-10. Wine is cheap to begin with, but this was just a bonus.
Unfortunately, things kind of went to shit that night when during some heavy rain we discovered the Skippy OG had two unadvertised indoor water features. The air conditioner leaked onto the bed and when we got up to grab a towel, found out the sliding door didn’t seal properly and the rain was pouring in. Let’s Go Motorhomes in Darwin was our first contact and they were rotten to deal with, nothing but excuses, “all vans leak” and no one can fix it. Bali Hai offered to let us park under the entryway if it rained again and didn’t charge us to use the dryer to get everything dried out. In the end, we were put in touch with Let’s Go Motorhomes in Cairns, who were good and helped us arrange an appointment in 2 days in Townsville. Luckily the rain moved on and our remaining time was sunny so we were able to get things dried out. We went for a drive down to Turtle Bay so we could hike Morgan’s Lookout and Kennedy Bay again.
On the way to Townsville we stopped at Lucinda for fish and chips, which were delicious… but they didn’t have malt vinegar (insert shocked face here)! A walk on the beach and through the green space gave us a nice break in the day. We booked a site at Crystal Creek Caravan Park where we had a great experience with Rod and his wife Elisabeth. We had some small issues with Skippy and Rod helped Paul get everything sorted before coming to our site to hang out for a beer and a visit. Turns out Rod does metal work and he asked Paul to take a look at the electrics on his forge. Unfortunately Paul couldn’t figure it out exactly what was going wrong but was able to give him some suggestions to try. Next day we were off to Jayco Townsville for the van repair.
We stayed down by Soroptomist and Jezzine Park at Tasman Holiday Park Rowes Bay this time. We wanted easier access to places for walks and restaurants since we didn’t know how long the repair would take. It was walking distance to the Strand if we wanted to head out for a longer walk. Ask me about the “buddy bench”, I sat there for a few minutes but no “buddy” showed up. We took Skippy in to Jayco for the repair and were pleasantly surprised when it only took a few hours. Apparently all the bolts were loose on the air con unit and the sliding door wasn’t seated properly. They sealed everything up, even fixed the water fill door for us. We got some groceries, wine and headed back to the campground. It was like a weight off our shoulders having it dealt with and we had a much needed rest day.
Ayr to Melbourne
Next up, a two night stop by Ayr at the Alva Beach Tourist Park for some beach walking, crab herding, sand flies and an LFC game. It was under new ownership since our last visit in 2017 and didn’t have the same vibe but we had a chance to reset, which we needed after the drive and stress of water leaks. Then off to 3 nights in Bowen at The Tropical Beach Caravan Park. We got a nasty windshield chip on the way because really, why not (insert facepalm here). We can say that if the repair guy stands on milk crates and brings out a Bic lighter for the repair, just leave. Aside from the bad windshield repair, we had a really nice stay in Bowen. Several beach walks, sunny days and turtles popping up along the shore. We also met some friendly people on either side of us when we moved up to the beachfront site for 2 nights and had a great time visiting. Mark from Scotland told us about how he was attacked by the infamous Australian Magpies.
After this, we got into a routine. We had a good stay at Hydeaway Bay Caravan Park where we had some long beach walks and a nice evening around the campfire. Hiked up and over the large hill to Dingo Bay but no dingos were sighted, probably a good thing. We met a retired military member who actually knew Les Hiddens aka Bush Tucker Man and learned a lesson not to leave the towels and chairs out if it looks like rain. Cape Hillsborough Nature Park was next, we stayed on the upper level so no sand flies this time. Arthur’s Point was closed but we were able to still get a nice walk climbing up the pathway and over the up to Beachcomber Cove, coming back along the beach. A two night stop, due to a late night footy game, at Barra Crab Caravan Park by Clairview, which was recommended by people we had met earlier… not convinced we had the same experience, but it was fine. A quick stop at the Capricorn Caves where we had a good tour before heading for an overnight at Keppel Sands Caravan Park. We had a lovely walk up the bluff and then down the beach and back through town. The campground was nice and we both wished we had spent longer here. At this point, Paul had noticed the cushioning in the van was shot, probably why he wasn’t sleeping great. The side I slept on was in better shape so we thought we’d do a test and switched. Since Paul did the driving we figured he needed to be well rested.
Next day, as we were heading out we had another issue with Skippy, the engine light came on while driving. We pulled over and called Let’s Go Motorhomes, this time in Brisbane. They were good to deal with, told us it was okay to drive to Rockhampton and arranged an appointment with a mechanic. The mechanic couldn’t sort it as they couldn’t dump the codes without a special tool, so we ended up at the Renault dealer and had Dave, their mechanic, work on it. He was great, had it sorted in an hour (broken vacuum hose) and we were on our way. We asked Let’s Go Motorhomes if they had any extra foam or what we could do with the cushions but were told, nothing they can do, get an air mattress. So we stopped at a store on the way out of Rockhampton for some padding. We were hoping that we were finally finished with the van issues!!! We stopped at a site next to the highway called Bushchook’s Travellers Village which was nice. The owner was super friendly, cheers for Liverpool, spent time in Canada and the kitchen was one of the best setups we had seen to date. We sat outside that night, even though it was cold, and watched the stars.
Next we headed to the old stomping grounds of Moore Park Beach in the Bundaberg area, Kingfisher Caravan Park in Tin Can Bay and Beachmere Caravan Park where we stayed our first ever night in Australia. We had great beach walks, our first real bogan experience and a nice night stroll in the fog where we avoided the “sea devils”. We had to stop at Alowishus Delicious cafe for a coffee on the way out of Bundaberg. Paul still gets the Happy Birthday free coffee emails every year since we first visited in 2017! We decided to stop at a new place and hit up Miami where we stayed at The Ocean Beach Tourist Park. We walked along the beach, went along the pathway into town and found a good coffee shop. It was much nicer than we were expecting and while busy, it wasn’t crazy.
Our next stop at Iluka ended up being one of our favorites. The actual campground, Iluka Beach Caravan Park was okay, nice people but our site wasn’t the best, sandy and uneven. It was just for a night and the amenities were good, so we made it work. We got set up and decided to head off to check out the beach. You had to walk through the town and a park to access the beach where we had one of our best beach walks. It was empty, except for us, the kangaroos and birds. We were able to walk over to and up the bluffs to the viewpoint which was really nice. As we were headed back, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out at the highly rated Chez Basho Boatshed Cafe. Turns out we were very lucky to get in. As we got closer to the restaurant, we met two groups who couldn’t get a seat. We had an amazing meal and once finished eating we moved outside to finish our wine so they could have the table. We walked over 13k’s that day and had a wonderful time.
The next day we headed to Woolgoolga where we had two nights at the Woolgoolga Lakeside Caravan Park so we could catch the footie game… there is a trend here. Paul had been having back pain on and off for a few days and it seemed to be getting worse. Unfortunately it was the weekend and no clinics were open and Paul didn’t think it was enough for a hospital visit so we decided to take it easy. This campground was okay, busy, but we didn’t have anyone really close which was nice. We did a short beach walk and later walked over to the park at 11pm to get a better signal for the game. It was really windy and the BBQ areas weren’t overly sheltered so it was tricky to keep everything cooking. There was a caravan by the BBQ that had a sticker saying “Old Fart and a Tart” which was quite funny to see.
The next morning Paul’s back was worse than ever so we needed to get it checked. We were heading to Bonny Hills and ended up stopping at the Coffs Harbour Hospital. All and all, it was pretty impressive. Paul was triaged, waited a bit then called back to see a physio. They couldn’t find anything so the doctor did some blood work and x-rays. The good news was that nothing showed up so the doctor determined it was sleeping in the van on bad cushions and going for such long walks after being sedentary for a while. It was surprisingly reasonable considering everything that was done. Paul was released, told to be cautious and we headed out. We got to Bonny Hills late but we had called and let them know we needed a late check in, so everything was waiting for us.
We saw our first whales at Seal Rocks. The campground had set up a nice porch area by the kitchen and invited people to use it as a “happy hour” meet up spot so we headed over after a nice beach walk. Paul saw a whale breaching and pointed it out. We sat there for a couple of hours and saw several whales breaching and lots of spouts but weren’t able to get photos. I bonded with a kookaburra who was fascinated with its reflection in my glasses. We continued south, meeting some Calgary friends, Slaven and Alex, who were visiting family in Sydney. We stayed at Lane Cove again so it was easy to get transit into the main areas. We met for lunch, walked the small market and spent the afternoon in a nice pub catching up. Unfortunately we weren’t able to meet up with Jarah, from Sydney, who we met in Nepal. Next day we headed to Decathlon on the way out so Paul could finally replace his sandals and had some dim sum at a DinTaiFung location. The original in Taipei is still the best.
Our time on the mainland was coming to an end. We had several days in Kiama, where we stayed at Kendall’s Beach Holiday Park. Paul wasn’t sick this time, so we had some great walks along the shore and were invited to a family dinner in the camp kitchen one night. We also ended up with a group of unsupervised teenagers beside us on the last night, who got a bit rowdy. Had a good laugh at how slow they were moving the next morning. We headed to Surfside, where we met a really nice older guy who stopped by for a long chat and shared some interesting stories. We did 3 nights in a Beachcombers Holiday Park at Potato Point where we met a guy from Calgary, went for long beach walks where we could see whales from the beach. On our last night, we were invited to a family celebration around the fire pit and were given loads of information about Tasmania, they even passed on some maps!!
We stopped at Eden, saw the whaling industry information point but no whales were around. NowaNowa which was a small stop off the highway. We had two nights and had some great conversations in the kitchen. We did a walk to see the trestle bridge and over to the welands which was different. At Seaspray we did a nice long walk along the beach and made it back just before a massive thunderstorm hit. The thunder and lightning were pretty epic. Can’t confirm if the beach is actually 90 Miles as we only did 8k! Then off to Wilson’s Prom for our last few nights. After a rough start, we were moved to a nicer site and ended up having a really nice couple beside us with the same van. We were warned that there was a large family reunion going on and being close to the playground meant there would be a lot of noise. There wasn’t and it seemed we lucked out with all the kids getting along and just having fun. We went for a walk down through Fairy Cove to Tongue Point, which we basically had to ourselves. The next day we spent getting packed, doing laundry and got ready for the drive to Melbourne and dropping off the van.
We drove into Melbourne, needing one last stop at Decathlon before heading to the campground. We booked a place close to the van drop at Airport Tourist Village which ended up being a decent little place with friendly staff. The fact it was walking distance to a highly rated Thai restaurant had no bearing on the decision to stay. We finished packing, cleaned out the van and finished the laundry. Leks Thai restaurant was great and we enjoyed our meal. Dealing with Carol at Let’s Go Motorhomes Melbourne for the drop off was great. We told her about our experiences with Darwin and how we felt they used us to bring the older model down to a registered province so they could sell it. She apologized for our treatment, checked and told us our next rental was much newer. Next stop Tasmania!
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