FREE CAMPS V CARAVAN PARKS

       

                                    Mary Pool free camp in the Kimberly area of Western Australia

John and I have been travelling in a motorhome since 2007 and in all that time we have only stayed in caravan parks. We have never felt the need to free camp, we like our creature comforts too much. If it's hot we need air con and power and water are on site whereas at a free camp we might be lucky to have a toilet and certainly no water and not much chance of a shower block. 

We are self contained in that we have water tanks and shower and toilet. Free camping means no hot water for a shower onboard. Our fridge works on solar or power, we have gas for cooking, so no worry there. 

Since we started talking about this year's trip we spoke of trying the free camps every so often. We also have the off road vehicle now, which will make it easier to access some of the camps. 

Bob and Elaine have said they will also free camp, something they haven't done before either. 

I'm researching recipes for easy bread or flatbread we can have fresh and make when we have power supply and away from supermarkets. In some isolated areas I have bought frozen bread and realised later it's 12 months old!  I don't want to so desperate again. 

    

                       

 I have a breadmaker at home but if I keep adding more appliances in the motorhome we won't be able to fit in ourselves.  I have a small electric oven  I use when we are away to cook scones, slices etc, here's hoping the bread turns out good enough to enjoy. I'll aim to bake some bread similar to the above picture.

Two weeks until Trip

I've been home for two weeks from Europe and now time to think about the around Australia trip. John went to the Caravan and Camping show while I was away with Bob and Elaine and bought some new steps for climbing up to our bed in the motorhome. He also got a broom with a retractable handle which is easier to store. We haven't as much space in the Sherwood as we had in the Sydney. Which is not a bad thing as the more space you have the more stuff you think you need. 

          

The cold weather will follow us for the first part of the trip. We are heading west through NSW over to Victoria and along the Murray River towns then into South Australia and across the Nullabor. I'm guessing we won't get warmer weather until at least Kalgoorlie. Even then it's not the coast, but Elaine and Bob will head towards Perth while we keep inland until we meet up with them again further north. 

We had to rethink and add warmer clothes and bed linen. We went to the south coast in February and only needed a sheet and a quilt if we had a cool night. I did buy a wool quilt each and recently bought a wool blanket for extra warmth.  The warm sheets will be a bonus too, the cotton ones packed away until we get North.

         

I think we will be glad of our deisel heater as well.  

We have bought a single electric hot plate as it won't take up as much storage as the double hot plates did. 

If we free camp we will use the gas hot plates for cooking.