Suzanne & Nic Outback Caravan Trip 2025

 July 3rd: Left Wooramel River Retreat and drove along North West highway till the Kalbarri turn-off. Gradually the Spinifex and low bushes gave rise to acacias and casurinas. The road was mostly single lane and we travelled at our steady 85km/ hour wishing to avoid any further tyre issues. There were overtaking lanes, and if we have a truck behind us we are able to let them know via our CB radio that we will slow down if they want to pass us. It works well! As we reached the Ajani Kalbarri turnoff suddenly the vegetation changed to arable land and there were crops on either side of the road with rolling hills. We reached our destination at about 2pm- The Murchison House Station- a farm whose main business is export of feral goats after mustering them. It has 25 camping sites along the Murchison River in amongst gum trees. Our inverter has not worked since our puncture, and Nic has been trying to communicate with various Redarc agents in Perth. Meanwhile we are able to plug into St...

 July 2nd: left van park around 10am, and filled up with diesel. We returned to Tyrepower to ask the direction of tyre rotation given to the Prado. Kim and Jo Jolly have been in business in Carnarvon for 45 years and I suggested that they might know Nic’s aunt Liz and uncle John Williams who were in Carnarvon from 1970 until the early 1980’s. Liz was a teacher and John a doctor working in aboriginal health. Jo Jolly was a nurse and she remembered John, in particular his role in reducing the incidence of STDs in the community.  We headed to Fascine for coffee where I was able to write a few cards and post them. We then headed to the Bumbaks’s in the “fruit loop”where bananas mangoes tomatoes pumpkins beans capsicum melons grapes and zucchini are grown. Bumbaks make an extensive range of jams relishes and sauces most with a chilli and spice accent, and fresh pumpkin scones. We purchased these!  We then headed for the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum. This was fascinati...

 1st July: a lovely start to the day with a phone call from darling little Frances in San Francisco! It was a day of the chores- the washing, then cleaning  the car and the van from the fine red Pilbara dust that permeates everything! I cleaned the upholstery in the Prado, washed the car mats and cleaning the chrome bull bars. We had the tyres on Prado rotated and we did a shop at Woolworths. We then drove around the Carnarvon and out to the peninsula to the marinas and we went for a walk along Pelican Beach during the golden hour. Meanwhile Nic was wrestling with our inverter which has not been working since our puncture. We ran into Paul & Robyn ( who provided the jack for us and Paul plays >70’s cricket) at Kim Jolly’s and we decided to meet at the Gascoyne Hotel for dinner where we had seafood baskets follows by a tour of their motor home! Not for us!l                    Pelican Bay beach      

 June 30th: awoke at 6 am at Nanutarra Roadhouse and had left by 7 am. It was a glorious time of day with many birds in the sky and a wedge-tailed eagle by the side of the road! The light was perfect on the red earth with small trees and Spinifex and low  bluish hills in the background. We travelled for 5 hours driving at 75 km/ hour only because of our damaged tyre in situ. We got into Carnarvon at around 12.30pm and Julian from autopro sorted us out with a much heavier Bottle jack. We proceeded to the Aboriginal Cultural centre, Gwoonwardu Mia, where we had lunch then took in a lot of the indigenous history including information about the burrowing bees! We found a long vehicle parking area and walked to the Visitors centre and then to  Woolworths. Our appointment with tyre power was at 4pm. Kim Jolly whom Dave from Tom Price so highly recommended, did us proud and our caravan was fitted with 2 new tyres and a new rim for our our spare tyre, our original spare tyre retu...