Category Archives: Western Australia

Our WA stats are: 9 1/2 months or 295 days 31,492 kms, 59 camp set ups 16 national parks Our top 5’s are (in no particular order): Nik –         Steep Point, Karijini National Park, Francois Peron National Park, Gibb River Road and Esperance. Amy-        The Gibb River Road, Steep Point, Margaret River, Broome (for theContinue reading “Western Australia wrap up!!!”

Our next destination after Knx was Lake Argyle, only 70kms down the road, therefore we arrived nice and early and securing our spot in the usual caravan line up. We had heard on the grapevine and from fellow travellers that you had to get there early in order to secure a powered site and thankfullyContinue reading “Lake Argyle, Western Australia”

The east Kimberley town of Kununurra was our next destination after our trip along the Gibb, we were looking forward to setting up on some grass and restocking the fridge and pantry. Kununurra, or Knx as the locals call it, was established back in 1963 as the main service hub for the Ord River IrrigationContinue reading “Kununurra, Western Australia”

Finally, after spending the morning doing all the last minute jobs like collecting meat from the butcher, filling the gas bottle, checking the post office one last time for mail, filling up with diesel and most importantly grabbing a decent coffee we headed out of Broome for the last time. Our jobs had taken thatContinue reading “The Gibb River Road Again, Western Australia”

We initially arrived in Broome way back when in early May and eventually left for good in the middle of July. However out of this 2 ½ months we spent in the southern part of the Kimberley, in total we spent about 6 weeks in Broome itself. Our initial visit had us restocking groceries andContinue reading “Broome, Western Australia”

From El Questro it wasn’t long before we made it back onto the bitumen and turned right, our destination for today was Purnululu National Park. Purnululu actually translates to mean sandstone in the local Kija Indigenous language, a much more appropriate name than the Bungle Bungles, I think anyway. Purnululu National Park was officially declaredContinue reading “Purnululu National Park ( Bungle Bungles), Western Australia.”

As nice as the scones were at Ellenbrae Station, we set off the next morning, all very excited, as finally the day had come where we were actually going to cross the famous Pentecost River. A very distant 8 years ago I had cut out a photo of a car crossing the Pentecost with theContinue reading “The Gibb River Road, part three, Western Australia.”

From Manning Gorge we had a big day planned, heading to Drysdale Station and then onto King Edward River campground, en-route to Mitchell Falls. The drive along the GRR to the turn off was pretty uneventful with the road being in pretty good nick, however once we hit Kalumburu Rd we encountered the worst roadContinue reading “The Gibb River Road, part two. Western Australia.”

The idea that was to become OZLAP was initially born from our desire to drive the iconic Gibb River Road in the remote Kimberley region, in northern WA. We really wanted to do it, but didn’t want to have to rush and fit it in to our measly 4 weeks of annual leave that weContinue reading “The Gibb River Road, part one. Western Australia.”

After a short stop over in Broome to restock food and water we decided to head out of town, heading north up the Cape Leveque Rd towards the Dampier Peninsula. The road is one of the roughest roads we had been on, so our first 85km was a bone rattling slow process. However all goodContinue reading “Middle Lagoon and Cape Leveque, Western Australia.”

We left Point Samson early for a big day of driving, as the further north we go the further apart things are becoming. We quickly called into Port Hedland Woolworths to pick up some fresh bread and milk, however decided against heading down to the port, we all voted we had seen enough big shipsContinue reading “Barn Hill, Western Australia.”

From Karijini we had decided to drive along the private Rio Tinto Rd for which we had the permit for, it wasn’t really a short cut more a case of going the more adventurous way. And what an adventure it was, with both Fiona (from Mols on Patrol) and I taking the wheel and steeringContinue reading “Millstream- Chichester National Park, Western Australia.”

Karijini National Park had always been on our wishlist, we have seen so many photos and in the last 12 months have heard so many fantastic reviews that there was no doubt that we would make a bee line straight for it. Our stay here coincided with 2 things, firstly the WA school holidays andContinue reading “Karijini National Park, Western Australia”

We first found out about Paraburdoo some 12 months ago by a fellow travelling friend, Shannon. She had posted on facebook about the FREE WASHING MACHINES……… so this place had stuck in my mind and it was a no brainer that of course we head there when we were in the area. We arrived lateContinue reading “Paraburdoo, Western Australia”

After a week of high 30’s temperatures out in the National Park, it was nice to drive into the Big 4 caravan park at Exmouth and have power with which to run the air conditioning, as it was still bloody hot!!! However, the downside was how busy the caravan park was, I had to queueContinue reading “Exmouth, Western Australia”

We left Carnarvon bright and early as we had a few kilometres to travel today. The drive was uneventful and we made it to Coral Bay for an early lunch. And it seems that at least 500,000 other people were in Coral Bay too and it wasn’t even school holidays yet!!!! After lunch we hadContinue reading “Ningaloo Reef, Cape Range National Park, Western Australia.”

After an action packed stay at Hamelin Station we, along with our mates the Leeds, were ready to move onto our next destination, Carnarvon, some 200km up the road. Carnarvon, ‘the hub of the Gascoyne’, is situated on the mouth of the Gascoyne River, between Shark Bay and Ningaloo Reef, and is renowned for itsContinue reading “Carnarvon, Western Australia”

Now even though we were only at Steep Point for the one night, we felt that the photos alone deserved to have its own post!!! Once we had arrived back from Francois Peron NP, we cleaned, showered and slept in the van at Hamelin Station before once again restocking the car and heading out toContinue reading “Steep Point, WA”

When we left Kalbarri we decided to ‘wait out’ Easter at a station stay we had discovered called Murchison Off Road Adventures, about 130km north east, inland off the highway. We arrived just before lunch and quite frankly were not impressed, the toilets were covered in filth and when we were told to head outContinue reading “Hamelin Station, Francois Peron National Park & surrounds, WA”

We only had a short drive today from Coronation Beach to Kalbarri, so we extended it out a bit and stopped at a lovely little town called Northampton to look for a geocache. Even having done that, we still ended arriving into Kalbarri well before lunch, where we went straight to the caravan park, setContinue reading “Kalbarri, WA”

Our next destination was Geraldton, about 420km north of Perth, and the location of my First Aid refresher course, so we decided to power up and do some grocery shopping in town for a few days. We stayed at the Bel Air Caravan Park just out of town past the docks, so quite a fewContinue reading “Geraldton & Coronation Beach, WA.”

It was a good feeling to be back on the road again, heading to unknown places, and to be heading north. When we had decided to do this trip it was mainly because we wanted to see and spend quite a bit of time exploring northern WA, so finally after 14 months of travelling itContinue reading “Jurien Bay, The Pinnacles and surrounds, WA”

After waving goodbye to Rob at Mandurah we then headed north towards Lake Karrinyup Caravan park only a mere 70 odd kms away, however when you head off at 4pm on a Friday afternoon to head through the city the drive is certainly a long slow affair. Needless to say, 2 and a half hoursContinue reading “Perth & surrounds, WA.”

1st January to 2nd March Another highlight of our time here in Mandurah was catching up with our travelling soulmates the Leeds. We had decided to get together at the beach up in Fremantle, Woodmans Point and it just happened to be nearly 6 months to the day when we had parted ways way backContinue reading “Mandurah part 2, WA, 2016.”

1st January to 2nd March. The beginning of 2016 for OZLAP involved early mornings, very early mornings in fact, particulary for Mr OZLAP, Nik, who had scored a temporary contract as a qualified Greenkeeper at Lake Karrinyup Country Club. This contract involved preparing and getting the course ready for the Perth International tournament which was isContinue reading “Mandurah part 1, WA, 2016.”

27th November to 31st December After a relatively quick drive up the freeway we arrived at Chateau De Burton, AKA as my aunty Robyn and uncle Max’s gorgeous house just north of Mandurah. We quickly set up and spent the rest of the day catching up with Rob and Max. Over the next couple of days weContinue reading “Mandurah and Christmas, 2015, WA”

16th November to 27th November. Our first trip to Hamelin Bay to view the mantra rays was unsuccessful, so never ones to give up we decided to head there on another much sunnier day. We eventually found a carpark as it was quite busy and proceeded to walk down the sand path to the beach.Continue reading “Margaret River and the South West, Part Two, Western Australia.”

16th November to 27th November. After yet another amazing drive through some stunning forests we arrived at our next stop, a farmstay about 10 minutes south of Margaret River. Big Valley Campsite/ Caravan Park is actually a working sheep station that has a caravan park/ campsite attached to the homestead. It has 2 areas with 2Continue reading “Margaret River and the South West, Part One, Western Australia.”

12th November to 16th November Our next destination was a place called Quinninup, about 30km south of Manjimup and 30km east of Pemberton. Nik had found this little gem of a caravan park on Wikicamps, they had a lot of great reviews and were a hell of a lot cheaper than all the other parksContinue reading “Quinninup, Pemberton, Windy Harbour and Manjimup, WA”

8th November to 12th November Our next stop was at a council run campground about 25km west of Denmark, it is unpowered, has flushing toilets, solar heated showers and fire pits. It is completely run and maintained by volunteer staff and is over half the cost of the caravan parks in and near town andContinue reading “Denmark & Walpole, WA”

5th November to 8th November We set out a tad earlier today knowing that our drive was a little longer than usual, about 400km. Our intended destination was a free camp just before Albany called East Bay, it had been recommended by someone, somewhere, sometime ago…..we can’t recall actually. Just as well too as whenContinue reading “Albany, WA”

2nd November to 5th November After a wet Sunday night and a forecast for more rain to come on the Monday we decided to only drive back to Esperance and spend the night at Seafront Caravan park to do some school work, washing and utilise the cheap dryers. The next day before we headed offContinue reading “Munglinup beach, WA”

29th October to 2nd November. WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS FAR MORE PHOTOS THAN WORDS…….THE WORDS SOMEHOW PALED IN COMPARISON TO THE IMAGES. Don’t worry I’ll make up for it in the next blog…… After we bade farewell to Shannon, Gerard and the kids we made our way about 45kms east of Esperance to the infamousContinue reading “Cape Le Grand National Park, WA”

15th October to 29th October We arrived in Esperance a little bit ahead of schedule after we had decided to only stay a few days in Kalgoorlie and then overnight at Wave Rock. We had decided to break up our stay in Esperance and firstly spend a week at a cheap camp then a weekContinue reading “Esperance, WA”

14th October to 15th October After we left Kal we headed west along the ‘so called’ Great Eastern Highway, which continues on for about 550km into Perth. I say so called because I would definitely not rate the condition of the road as great, more so it was ridiculously bumpy, so much so that weContinue reading “Wave Rock, WA”