travel

Dog Friendly, Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta

| Chris Riley

For our first trip away in our little Avan, Georgie Girl, we decided we’d go again to Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta. We stayed here only a few weeks ago in our previous Erde Camper trailer, and it was after that trip that we realised that ‘caravanning/camping’ really does put us in our ‘happy place’. That trip inspired us to go back to something that wasn’t canvas, it inspired us to get our little Georgie Girl. (Not that we don’t like canvas, in fact we do, it’s just that canvas is a little harder for two old codgers nearing their 70th birthdays). As you can see from the images below the caravan park is full of beautiful shady trees, with many of the sites having trees around three sides providing both shade and a feeling of privacy.

There’s three caravan parks in town, but during the main season Flinder’s Bay caravan park is the only one that takes dogs. I think during the off season it closes, and then dogs are allowed at Turner’s Caravan Park. I think both parks are council owned.

The park is right on the southern ocean, so the crashing waves provide wonderful background music. Several tracks lead out of the park directly to the ocean for a lovely walk down the rocky foreshore, or for a cooling dip for those brave enough to venture into the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. (Not me – if it’s not 40 in the shade, not much more than my big toes gets near the water). Dogs aren’t allowed on all of the coastline down here, but there is a dog friendly area of the beach at the eastern end of the caravan park. However, currently there are dozens (possibly even hundreds) of toxic Sea Hares washed up on shores of the ocean, and the banks of the river. These creatures are absolutely deadly to dogs, so it’s not wise to let a dog off the lead at the moment anywhere near water in Augusta. If you’ve never seen a Sea Hare, below is an image of 4 together on the banks of the river. Each would be around 20cms in length, and around 10cms across. They look like a huge piece of liver.

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A little mobile Ice Cream van that makes delicious real fruit Ice creams is often at Flinder’s Bay. Our first encounter with said Ice Cream van was accidental on our first night here when we walked down the path that led to the beach. Of course, we tried one. Yum! Today’s encounter was much more deliberate.

There are two ablution blocks in the park. Both are more than adequate, and are kept perfectly clean. With Seniors discount the cost for three nights is $145. It’s a lovely park, not pristine, and there’s no jumping pillows, no swimming pools, and no kids adventure playgrounds. It’s a park that feels close, (and is close) to nature. As I type this, our Mr Tilly is lying out under the trees, and there’s lots of little birds flitting all around, the waves are crashing in the background, and I can smell the eucalypt. Tills is happy, we’re happy, and in fact there are a lot of dogs here, and they all seem happy, as do their owners.

The park is about a twenty minute walk to the river. We have walked it, but we prefer to drive into the river picnic area and then walk down the river to the river mouth and back again to our car. It gives us about an hours walk and there’s so much to see on the river. Today we saw pelicans, dolphins, wind surfers, kite surfers, kayakers, swimmers, paddle boarders, and water craft of all types. As we meandered down the shady trees that line the river back we saw huge trees, Hampton’s style grand houses, little old river cottages, and of course, those ugly, deadly Sea Hares.

Augusta is a lovely little coastal town located at the south west corner of Western Australia. It’s where two rivers meet and run out into the ocean, and it’s also where two oceans meet, the Indian, and the Southern Oceans. You can read more about the town here https://lifeofrileyow.com/2019/05/14/augusta-the-small-town-where-two-big-oceans-meet/ It’s only just over an hour’s drive from Busselton where we live, but it’s a very different sort of coastal town. Busselton is a place with calm pristine waters and beaches. Augusta is place with a rugged coastline, and crashing waves. As far as coastal towns go, Busselton and Augusta are both gorgeous places, but they are as different from each other as night is from day.

We go home tomorrow after our three night ‘shake down’ trip. It’s been wonderful. A real pleasure, and we will be back this way again for sure. It’s a lovely caravan park, in an even more wonderful unpretentious little coastal town.

Georgie Girl – the first trip.

| Chris Riley

Having a few days to spare before having to sort out kitchen renovations (that’s another story), we decided we’d take our little Georgie Girl for a bit of a whirl. For our first trip in our little Aliner we headed down to Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta in the South West of WA. More about the caravan park and town later…..

We packed up Georgie Girl with clothes and food for three nights and headed down to Augusta. It’s only about an hours drive from home, so a nice distance for a short get away. The town is just gorgeous, very different to Busselton, we love it.

We ensured we had enough Prozac for hyper-vigilant, Mr Tilly, but we forgot to give him one before leaving home. We tied him on his long lead to a tree on our site, and proceeded to set up camp. He lay down in the shade watching us, and watching the world go by. And he stayed happy and contented for the rest of the day. Maybe he’s turned a corner, maybe he’s decided this caravanning/camping caper is worthwhile after all. He was an absolute pleasure, and without any Prozac. Phew! That’s been nearly eight years coming. Below is a photo of him lying under the table like a beached whale, in the dirt, and looking very relaxed.

The van itself goes up very easily. I think it takes less than a minute to push up both sides and to connect the door. For this trip we decided we’d try out the Avan awning which came with the van. We didn’t hold out much hope for it, as most Avan owners seem to prefer using a gazebo. Another pleasant surprise, it went up very easily. We can see we haven’t fitted quite correctly, so later today we’ll try to work out exactly how it goes. It looks like it’ll add a lovely addition to our outside space when we head off to Broome later this year for our longer winter trip, so it’ll be worth nutting out exactly how to get it up correctly.

As you can see the two peaks aren’t aligned correctly. We’ll sort it out. Our plan for when we’re up in Broome during the winter later this year was to use two gazebos, one fully enclosed against the weather and the other open for breezy fresh air, with a sun shade. If the awning works well, we’ll use it for the sun shelter and will still erect one enclosed gazebo to be able to sit outdoors in windy conditions.

The Avan is small, so our intention is to use it basically as just a bedroom, and to transport our gear. We want to get back to outdoor living when away from home, just like it was in the early days when we were in tents. We loved our tenting years, caravanning, though convenient, just isn’t quite the same. So, we’d like to get to somewhere between the two. 

Next came our first disappointment – Paul connected the water, but so far he hasn’t been able to get the pump to work. Perhaps it needs a new pump. Paul tried to work it out yesterday afternoon, but after an hour or two decided that’s a job to be looked at when we get home. We have a tap at our door, so we can get water for the kettle and washing up etc. It won’t be a hardship for three days.

Our van, being 23 years old, doesn’t have a hot water system fitted. Maybe one day we’ll get one fitted, maybe not. Although it was a pleasant convenience in the fifth wheeler and the New Age, not having it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. In fact, it’s one of those things that makes it feel more like we’re camping.

We both slept soundly last night, and as always when camping, it was an early night. Paul slept on the double bed with Mr Tilly, and I slept on the single (cafe dining converted to single bed). The double bed isn’t big enough for two old codgers and a dog, plus we don’t want to climb over each other when nature calls during the night. At nearly 70 a really good nights sleep is becoming more elusive, so the convenience of our own bed when away from home seems to ensure a better night’s sleep.

We noticed a few drips of water coming from the peak in the roof this morning. There was a lot of condensation over night, but with all the windows opened in the van, we shouldn’t have been getting any inside the van. Maybe the seal needs some attention, another little job that my man will look at when we get home. I’m sure it’s nothing major. Gee, I’m pleased to have a partner that’s a very clever and capable ‘handy man’. I feel so sorry for women who have partner’s that hardly know one end of a screwdriver from the other. Sometimes though I wonder if Paul doesn’t wish he was one of those useless types – he’s always so busy. Part of him loves the busyness, but I’m sure there’s sometimes just a little part of him that just wants to sit down with a good book while someone else does the hard work. As I type this though, he is relaxing with his book. What a pleasure!

2024 draws to a close

| Chris Riley

As 2024 draws towards its end I can’t help but feel relieved. What a year, not one I hope to repeat anytime soon that’s for sure. As anyone who knows me well, I’m very adaptable to change (with the exception of changes to technology). 2024 though has seen more changes than even I can adapt to easily.

First we sold our home of 2 1/2 years in Nova Village. Thank goodness we moved into ‘one of those places’ whilst we were still young enough to recover from both the experience, and the financial loss. That’s not to say those places aren’t well suited to some people, it just didn’t suit us. At the time we sold the real estate market was at the peak of the biggest real estate boom I’ve ever seen. Finding a house, any house at all wasn’t easy. Fortunately we found a place to rent on a periodical lease whilst we looked for a place to buy. We knew the rental propert was going to be short term so we needed to pounce on anything remotely suitable. Houses were going under offer before they were even listed. It was manic!

We did find a place that suited both us, and our budget, and moved in on Paul’s birthday, the 8th of May. We’ve done a few things to it since, but at a much slower pace than is usual for us. We’ve both been tired from the two moves, not to mentioned our strapped finances after our estimated loss from the move out of the retirement village in excess of $300,000.

Our enthusiasm for home renovations has been unusually slow, but is recovering now though I’m pleased to say. We’re making plans for how we can really put our own stamp on this little villa to make it our own. I’m sure I’ll have a few changes to show you in 2025, but let’s just see the back of this God-damned awful year first.

 Above is one change we’ve made so far. The kitchen needs a bit of makeover, it’s been designed poorly, but for now Paul has built a small half wall across the end of the kitchen so as to give us a place to put our microwave, and we’ve painted the dark drawers white. (I only do white kitchens).

Below is an image of one of the planned changes to come. A double Velux roof window into the kitchen – with one window opening. It will provide ventilation and light, as well as giving a sense of space by adding some height to the low ceilings.

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We did manage to fit in a couple of little holidays this year. I went to Bali for a week with a small group of ladies from my walking group. Then Paul and I flew up to Darwin for two week break from the winter.

We bought a swag, tried that out in the forest, and loved it. Carting it along with enough camping gear in our little Toyota Hybrid though wasn’t easy. We had a tow ball fitted to the car, and looked for a light weight trailer. The most suitable one we found happened to be camper trailer – which created another dilemma for us. Anyway long story short – the camper trailer won out. Out with the swag, in with the small camper trailer, which we tried out with Mr Tilly as soon as the weather permitted.

What a nightmare that was. We’ve since decided no more mobile homes for us until Mr Tilly goes. He’s such a stress freak when away from home. He’s only 7 1/2, so that’s a good few years away I should imagine. We have still kept the camper trailer, but have removed the tent section. The trailer is very useful for our little home hobby business.

Ah – now there’s another little snippet of news for you. You may remember Paul has upcycled a lot of furniture in the past. It’s become somewhat of a hobby now. Much of our own  furniture is old pine furniture that’s been saved from land-fill with an up-cycle, and we’ve done quite a bit for friends as well. We decided a couple of months ago to try to put our spare time to good use, and try doing some up for sale. We hate the throw away mentality of the world today, so prefer to re-cycle and up-cycle for ourselves wherever possible. This has evolved from that.

We look for furniture pieces that are around 15 – 30 years old. You know the old dark stained rubber wood or pine pieces that were popular, the pieces that are now being discarded, often to land fill, as the owners replace them with the latest furniture trend. After many, many hours of sanding, filling, repairing and painting we move them on via the local face book market place. It’s become a bit of a labour of love, with enough profit to allow keep us investing in a few more pieces that we can save from the scrap heap. It gives us a sense of purpose, and we both love seeing the old transformed into something new.

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That’s not all though – you may remember a good few years ago I wrote a post on the Bunbury Farmers Market.  It’s a place we love to shop at, and a place I worked at for a short time. It was a fabulous place to work, and a job I enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately the travelling distance did prove to be to great, so I didn’t stay long. When I left though, I said, “if ever you open a place in Busselton, I’ll be back”.  Guess what – a new Bunbury Farmer’s Market opened in Vasse, a suburb of Busselton, this month. And guess what else – yes, I’m back there working as Food Presenter once again. I’m in my element!

Bunbury Farmer’s Market

I’m thoroughly enjoying it again. It’s a wonderful, business, and quite unique for Australia. It’s grown to be quite big, so much so that I believe it attracted the attention of Gina Rhinehart, who has now invested into its future growth. I hope it doesn’t grow in way that changes what makes it so special. At the moment there are of course quite a few teething problems, but on the whole it’s running fairly smoothly. I’m a bit torn. I love working there, but I also find breathing new life into an old piece of furniture very rewarding. The furniture – well that’s really a two person job, and one which Paul and I love working on together. As we move towards the start of another new year, I’m sure my way forward will become clear. Let’s see where 2025 takes me…..