By Chris Bibby

It was late August and I was well and truly sick of the cold weather and the hum drum of city life, so it was time to plan a trip up north to try and chase some sunshine and get out of the city for a bit.

I hadn’t been up to the Ningaloo Reef for a while and was keen to check it out again and have a bit of an explore. After doing a bit of research we decided to head up to Warroora station, about 50k’s south of Coral Bay. We chose Warroora because we were after a wilderness site out of the way of the crowds, somewhere where we could take the dog, and somewhere where it was accessible only by 4WD.

We were also keen on testing out a Camper Trailer as everyone I had spoken to that has one has raved about them and reckons there’s no going back to a tent after you’ve tried a Camper Trailer. Buying one at this stage was not really an option in the budget, and with all the different varieties out there, figuring out which one to get was a difficult decision. How would it tow behind my vehicle? What would it be like Off Road? Would it just be something that gets used twice a year and ends up in the shed? So we decided to hire one for the week to see for ourselves.

We hired a Camper Trailer from Classic Hire in Hamilton Hill, it was an offroad fold out type with a soft floor and fold out kitchen at the back, one of the pretty much standard designs. We brought it home and I thought it would be a good idea to do a test setup in the front yard to sus it out as the next time I would be putting it up would be night time. Just as well I did, the person who had it last had decided to hose out the inside and drench the mattress, so the mattress was damp and mouldy. Not wanting to stuff around I went and bought a new mattress from Clark Rubber.

Putting it up for the first time, was relatively painless, there were a few curses, but that was largely because I didn’t bother reading the instructions, but all in all putting it up and packing away was a pretty simple process and a lot less painful than stuffing around with the big tent.

The next day we had packed up the vehicle and the trailer and head off up north at about lunch time, one of the first things I noticed was how less cluttered everything was in the vehicle. Being able to split the load between the vehicle and the Camper meant that the usual gear that was piled sky high on the roof rack was now in the camper.

On the road, the trailer towed pretty well, mind you the Prado 3.4L V6 isn’t the best for towing, but I found we could comfortably cruise at about 90 – 95 kph whilst still getting reasonable fuel consumption. In fact I got the same fuel consumption towing the camper as I do with the roof rack loaded up.

The first night saw us at the 24hour stop just north of Kalbarri on the Murchison River. It was here that I really started to appreciate the convenience of a Camper. Within 10 minutes the camper was set up, the bed made and I was sitting down enjoying a coldie from the engel. After having a good nights sleep (something that I haven’t really experienced before camping in a tent) we packed up the camper just as easily as it was setup up and headed north for Warroora.

One thing I love about traveling in the north of WA is the long straight roads and the distances between towns, it gives you a peaceful feeling of isolation, solitude and simplicity. The stresses of city life are all but insignificant.

Not that there weren’t many people on the roads, every 5 minutes you’d pass a brand new Patrol or Cruiser towing an equally brand new Caravan. The grey nomads were in abundance, and it looks like they were having a ball. I was jealous talking to some of them at the amount of time they had free to tour around and the places they had been. I just hope I don’t have to wait until the 2.5 kids leave home and I retire to do the big trip around oz!

We arrived at Warroora station at around 2:30pm the next day, and checked in and paid our camping fees at the homestead. After talking to the lady there, and getting a mud map of the station, we decided we would head down to the Lagoon Campsite as that was one of the more remote Wilderness sites on the station.

The track down was quite rocky and rutted in some areas, so I dropped the pressures of the vehicle and the trailer and took it easy. There was a little bit of beach driving and the camper handled it all fine. After selecting our site, setting up again was a stress free quick process that saw us sitting down contemplating a swim within about 15 minutes of arriving.

Warroora station is a working sheep station with about 50km’s of coast line starting just south of Coral Bay. The owners make parts of the station available for camping. It is one of the few spots in WA where you can camp right on the beach. There are a variety of campsites on the station to suit all different kinds of travelers, the most northern campsite is called 14mile and this is very popular with caravanners, and possibly the only campsite accessible by 2WD, however the track in is still sandy.

To the south other campsites include Maggies, Stevens, Bulbari and The Lagoon. We found that the further south you went the less people there were, we had a spot to ourselves at The Lagoon.

There’s no facilities at all at Warroora Station so you must be self sufficient and they also require you to take in a chemical toilet. There are however some rubbish tip sites and chemical toilet disposal sites. It should also be noted that whilst dogs are allowed on the station it is at the owners risk and they do bait for foxes with 1080.

We spent 5 nights at Warroora and thoroughly enjoyed it, somehow I don’t think it would have been so enjoyable if we had to stay in a tent for that long, the camper trailer was luxury. It was great being able sleep on a nice comfortable bed off the ground and out of the sand.

The only gripe was the bloody wind! We decided to head back via Denham so Tash could see the dolphins at monkey mia, and also to break up the trip home a bit (even though Denham was a bit of a detour!). We stayed at the Shark Bay Caravan Park, and whilst Caravan parks aren’t really our sort of thing, the detour to Denham was a spur of the moment thing and we hadn’t researched any of the more remote sites in that area. It was however great to have a hot shower and a counter meal at the pub.

We spent a couple of days exploring the Shark Bay area around Denham, got to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia, and managed to find some great spots on the beach out of the way where we could set up for the day and relax and swim. One of the great things about this area was that you could find a place out of the wind. However being a world heritage area, there’s restrictions on where you can camp and what you can do, especially if you like to travel with your dog.

Heading back to Perth was a bit of an anti climax after such a trip, but I was definitely convinced I’d be getting a camper trailer. The ease of setting up and packing away was one thing, but having a bed as comfortable as the one at home, was a real bonus. Being able to split the load between the vehicle and the trailer meant less clutter, and is probably better for the vehicle too. The extra fuel consumption from towing was negated by not having to carry as much gear up on the roof rack, so consumption figures were the same as if I had not taken a camper. I thoroughly recommend them to anyone, especially if the lady in their lives isn’t keen on camping because of the thought of sleeping on the ground in a sandy tent! I’m sure they have saved many marriages that tents have threatened!