We have settled back into the big island of Aus’… attended to all those pesky needs that consume you when you hit home ground… and then we’ve taken off again. We are currently on our western run across the continent to Perth where we plan to spend most of this year exploring the western coast.
Having just returned from our adventures in Tasmania we are growing once more accustomed to the life of the traveller as we move up through the eastern seaboard. We are at the present preparing to cross the Oondiri Plain once more and spend the winter months in WA but more about that later. Continue reading
We’re currently on the Great Nature Trail NW Tas’ having taken the Spirit of Tasmania across the Bass Strait. Our first camp was a few days at Forth, in a delightful freecamp 20ks west of Devonport. It is a spacious cricket reserve beside the Forth River with a lovely outlook and a local pub just along the walk that will take you across the river. After the most recent rains here, our world is green and lush, although there is some flooding debris to be still found around the banks. The locals will tell you that the river is still higher than it has been for some time, testament to the awesome force of water that swept down the local rivers in the most recent floods. The camp was one that came recommended as a place to wait-up for the trans-strait ferry. It was one we choose to camp up at, having got off the boat at 6:30pm and I too would highly recommend it. There are of course other spots, some closer, though this one is convenient and spacious and the village of Forth is just a country delight.
Freecamping is one of the greatest pleasures there is in being a traveller. Not because it is free, as inexperienced travellers imagine, but because of the freedom. It isn’t about camping in rest area’s and skipping those Caravan Parks but more about the involvement you have with the Aussie bush, the forestry area’s, the National Parks and those precious Reserves that dot the country. Continue reading
Our favourite places to set up camp are often to be found in National Parks, Forestry and Reserves. Each State approaches the provision of these camps in different ways. Some like Victoria see these places as belonging to the public, and therefore generally encourage their free use, while others have usually quite reasonable maintenance and camping charges applied. But in general they are great places to camp. The campsites are usually comfortably generous with a minimum of facilities… ie drop dunnys and you are required to have a measure of self-sufficiency. Continue reading
Camped-up along the Peel River near Nundle, tucked into the hills, is a special delight. For The Man it is the pull of gold, that of wresting the golden flecks and the lucky occasional nugget from the earth. Most people think that this is it… in its entirety; and they couldn’t be more wrong. You aren’t going to get me down there in that cold water puddling. Me… I would rather sit in the sun and entertain myself in other ways.
Tweaking and refining systems in the van and cruiser is a constant and ongoing task when you live on the road full time. There are endless little tasks from lubricating the moving bits and pieces to rotating tyres and checking systems etc. Living with solar as we do, complimented by gas systems and backed up by the trusty genny life can get complicated at times, this particularly when you struggle with living Un-plugged at the best of times.
One of the best things about living in a caravan and freecamping, particularly in wilderness and remote regions, is that if you wait around long enough you truly abandon society and become part of the wildlife. We recently were very surprised to realize that this too can occur in a caravan park, albeit that the wildlife is a tad tamer than usual.
I wanted to do a blog purely on camping out. Mainly because we usually use the freecamps, National Parks and Forestry’s when we can and this is the true and traditional Aussie camping out experience. This is a choice of ours and a clear preference of many, although we do have a holiday every now and then in a holiday park… or caravan park, like everyone else who uses occasionally or actually prefer these ‘plug in’ settings every now and then.
We’ve completed The Lap, an Aussie dream and yes… we adored our time travelling. It was all part of our retirement plan and given 18 months we feel that we took way too little time to appreciate all our country has to show us. We planned diligently and as happens, found we had commitments to meet with family and friends all along the way as well as our many adventures. These we all very much enjoyed but there was so much to see that we had to set aside for another visit a great deal and already we have made plans to return to many of these places. We also made lots of new and great friends who we continue to run into, who we follow on Facebook and with whom we will catch up with again for sure. Plans are already afoot.
Jan Hawkins Author 