Friday, July 24, 2020

In praise of WA rest areas and legal camping spots

No other state does rest stops as well as Western Australia.  Queensland comes a close second but even it does not match WA where free rest stops very often have dump points for the RV chemical toilets to be emptied.  I guess the vast distances people have to travel in WA partly explains why the local authorities are so obliging.  RV travel is a very popular travel pastime in this spectacularly wondrous part of Australia.

From Geraldton, north and eastwards, some of our favourite rest stops have been as follows:
Galena Bridge (Murchison River)
Blowholes (Point Quobba)
Minilya River
Barradale rest area
House Creek Bridge
Albert Tognolini rest area
Coongan Pool
Mary Pool - between Fitzroy Crossing and Hall's Creek

We heard that Three Mile Pool in the vicinity of Onslow is very nice but we opted not to go off the main drag to visit Onslow on this trip.

All these rest areas appear in the Camps Australia book which is our bible.  Many use Wikicamps instead of or as well as but we like the hard copy version which has photos of some of the sites.





 Albert Tognolini rest area where you over look a stunning wide gorge and where Andrew could go for a long fulfilling hike that took several hours.
 





Barradale rest area where we had a huge expanse of tract all to ourselves.  There were many other campers there too but you would hardly know.  The rest area, with toilets, was very large - the largest we have ever seen.





One of the nicest camping spots has been Coongan Pool, between Port Hedland and Marble Bar but a lot closer to the latter.


We stayed here three days and bathed in the river on a daily basis.  It was a magical spot and we stayed one day on the way down to the Bar and two more days on the way back to Port H.






There were a few other campers here too but we only saw them if we went for a walk as we each had our own isolated and private spot.






Andrew very nearly trod on these eggs among the spinifex.  The spinifex pigeons obviously locate their nests on the ground hidden in the spinifex instead of in the trees high up.







We have tried to capture in photos some of these stops but it is not easy to capture fully the spirit of a place.  Sometimes it was the company and the sociability of the people who also stopped there that was so memorable.  At other times, the sheer beauty of the surroundings and the relative privacy of the camping spot was the attraction.  Those travellers who stick to caravan parks with power and facilities miss the wonderful peace and tranquility of a rest stop.  While saving money is certainly a factor, without a doubt, we have come to appreciate what rest stops offer far and above the cost saving.

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