Blue Arsed Fly: Travelling around southern Western Australia

In this next instalment of Blue Arsed Fly Bruce travels from Yarrawonga in SA , across the Nullarbor and on to Albany in WA. 

Now we’re off and as usual first stop is Yarrawonga where the second parents live for a lovely home cooked meal, a chat and advice which I may take on board.

We stock up on food, get the wireless broadband up and running and make sure everything is ok. After 2 days we head for Kerang, 280 k’s down the road, where we stayed at the Ibis CP $25 a night, good level grass sites, dated but clean amenities. There is not town water so don’t hook your water up, rain water is available from a tank next to amenity block.

It’s on the east side of Kerang and we stayed hitched up ready to head off heading west. By the way, there is no taking fruit further west and there is a bin next to the CP, so make sure you eat the fruit before you get to Kerang!

Next day we were off to Ouyen and as always went looking for a place to buy a heart starting cappuccino for on the road. Of course it was raining for almost all the way to Ouyen where we stopped in town for a bit of food shopping before heading to the Ouyen CP. We must be the only ones in town because, while we were the first to arrive, a lot came after us and we all remained hitched up.

It was $27 p/n with almost level dirt sites, basic but clean amenities and town water. It was about two degrees below zero, blowing a gale so we put the heater on in the van and stayed put.

Next stop is Loxton on the Murray River for two days, driving there was on very good roads but, by jeez, it was colder than a politicians heart! The heater was on all the way there.

Stopped at the Loxton CP Big 4 on the river $27 p/n with discount, as always (but remember this is low season). There are level grass sites or gravel if you want it, amenity block is good.

Dropped anchor and then sailed around for a look see around town, didn’t stop at the info centre as we got everything from the CP. Very nice town and you can take a drive to Berri or Kingston on Murray and is worth a couple of days stay.

Early the next morning we were off heading for Burra but as we left early and got to Burra early and as we had stopped there before we decided to drive a little further, before we knew it, we were in Port Augusta 200 kms north.

Take my tip and stop at one of the places between Burra and PA if you’re not in a hurry, as most of you Grey Nomads know just about everyone going east or west stops there. We stayed at the Big4 CP on the highway, $38 p/n with discount and this is the low season, good level gravel drive through sites and VG amenities.

Ceduna was our next stop where we parked the van at the Foreshore CP Top Tourist $27 p/n with discount level gravel sites, fair to good amenities, a small park and although we didn’t book a site, it was full up by nightfall.

Took a drive around town and along the foreshore then stocked up for the drive across the Nullarbor. Next day drove around a bit and went to the fish processing factory where they were filleting gummy sharks and we bought 4 pieces of very nice KG whiting for $16.

I like a nice bit of flake but for some reason watching them filleting those sharks made me sad, maybe it’s because I’m and old softie at heart!

As we were crossing the Nullarbor we left early at 0730 with a full tank of diesel and by the time we got to Nullarbor 300 k’s away, we had to stop for fuel as we hit head winds.

Imagine the pain when we paid $2.08 a litre for fuel, 48 litres cost me $118! At Border village it was $2.05, at Eucla $1.94 and where we stopped for the night and filled up at Mundrabilla $1.94.

It was $20 for a gravel site, no water but had electricity and an amenity block with showers and toilets. Did I mention it was blowing a gale? Well it was and that’s why the fuel consumption headed for the roof!

For the trip across the Nullarbor we had head winds all the way and our fuel consumption went through the roof.  To travel the 1200kms or so from Ceduna to Norseman cost over $400 dollars in fuel, pulling the van we got an average of 5.5kms per litre.

Some might say that’s good but for the Discovery it was poor considering what we got on other trips.

We were going to stop the night at Balladonia but because we put the clocks back 45 minutes we went the extra 200 kms to Norseman where we stayed at the only CP, the Gateway CP for 2 days, just over $32 p/n with seniors card.

Nothing flash about the park, bare essentials, level gravel sites, good enough amenities with disabled amenities as well. If you want a dump point you have to go to the Tourist Bureau where you pay $3.50 for the key to the dump point out the back.

There isn’t too much to see round town, two lookouts, one overlooking Lake Cowan about 7 k’s out of town and since they had rain a week earlier there was a lot of water in the lake. Then there is the town lookout looking over the mines both sides.

Don’t expect too much in the town, most of the shops have closed down, has a supermarket, pub of course, one café and a couple of petrol stations, diesel at $1.669. There are a couple of drives further out of town that maybe 4WD.

Then we were in Esperance 200 k’s to the south. Never been that way before and I expected, salt bushes, salt pans and was surprised to see agriculture everywhere with towns spaced along the way.

We stayed at the Seafront CP a Top Tourist park which is on the way from Norseman, $35 p/n with discount, shady dirt or grass sites and adequate amenities but rather small.

Esperance is a must see place and you’ll need a few days to see everything, from sea tours, scenic drives and quite a few national parks. A must see NP is Cape Le Grand with its beaches and other scenery, it needs the whole day, and take something to eat and drink as there is no food to buy there.

You can also park your van there if you want to, as there is Le Grand Beach and Lucky bay where you can park the van for a fee. There are also toilets and solar showers. The beaches around Esperance are sensational, brilliant white sand and turquoise blue waters.

On we went and the next stop Albany where we stayed at the Middleton Beach CP Big 4 and the cost was $40 p/n ($46 over summer holidays) without discount but the other CP’s are of a similar cost.

Has to be the best park we have been to so far, this one is right on the beach and you can hear the waves on the beach at night. Great wide slab sites for your van and car, amenities were the best so far with family and separate disabled bathrooms. For those with kids it has a lot to offer with pool, games room and movie theatre during the holidays. A lot to see and you should take a few days to look around, big town and has all the facilities.

At the end of 4 days we hitched up the van in the rain and drove 55 clicks to Denmark in the rain.

Stayed at the Rivermouth CP $25 p/n, nothing special about the park, good thing it has slabs because each site was saturated. Amenities were ok and they have disabled facilities, no lighting at night.

Lot to see around Denmark, scenic drives through the forest and along the coast, take a visit to the Honey Meadery 16k’s east for a great drop of honey and great honey flavoured ice creams. Again worth a few days stay to look around.

That’s all from me for now.  If anyone sees the sticker on the van, stop by and have a chat!