Food Stuff

geoffc · Veteran Member

Food Stuff

wendyv · Guru

How many nights do you envisage taking to cross?
Remember that you will lose any fresh fruit/vegies at the quarantine checkpoints - near Ceduna if coming from the west, or at the border if going west. So no point in packing too much of those. Will also lose honey going west.
Presume you have some freezebox capacity? Just pack enough meat packs for the nights you plan to take. Throw in some pasta and bottled sauces for if you take longer. If the freezebox is big enough you can take a couple of serves of frozen veg.
You can restock at Kalgoorlie or Esperance - or Ceduna/Port Augusta.
Take some cask water.

Possum3 · Guru

Geoff,
Why only ask the ladies - in my case for instance, the child bride can't boil water without burning it - I do all cooking and the providoring as well.
I assume your "standard fridge" to be a smaller three way fitted to a van or camper. Regardless, fridge size doesn't really matter as long as you have room for the basic milk, butter, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce bacon and eggs. In the freezer we carry - Salmon portions, mince, chops and sausages.
We buy bread as we go and top up with fresh meat and fish in major towns. In the pantry; Pasta (macaroni, small spirals, angel hair spaghetti - are easiest to cook in van), Arborio or jasmine rice, SR Flour, couple of pancake mix (add water and shake), canned vegetables, sardines, salmon, tuna and fruit (fresh fruit cannot go across border also Honey prohibited). Sweet biscuits for morning tea - Salada and Sao for light lunches, Weet Bix, Rolled Oats (sachets). Condiments, jam and Vegemite. Sweet potato, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin. Sugar, Tea (leaf as I'm Fussy+) and Pre-mix cappuccino flavoured coffee sachets.
I only buy Roasting meats (for Camp Oven), and fresh fruit when camped near town for a couple of days.
We do buy special treats from local bakeries and coffee shops when in town, sometimes fish and chips if available. That's about my Pantry - we eat pretty well, but we deserve it.

Bruce and Bev · Guru

This link is the official list for every state and territory and tells you what you can bring into and out of each one:

www.quarantinedomestic.gov.au/

Weird thinking goes into their minds. For example you can bring fresh carrots in WA, so long as they have no green tops on them - just the carrot.

As Wendyv and Possum says it really depends on how many days you intend to take crossing the Boor. It can be done in 1-2 days and others spend several weeks stopping at the fairly extensive and well laid out (primarily in WA) rest areas. Remember in WA that many rest areas have fully graded tracks going back into the scrub away from the road and truck noise and you can drive a motor home or pull your 24ft van through most of them.

The popular ones are usually fairly full by about 3-4pm and you are left with the less favoured spots after that. If you can park in the designated rest area and walk the graded tracks back and pick one that you can drive in and out of without backing or scratching your vehicle(s)

The are plenty of Servos right across the plains and many have pretty good food and not hugely expensive considering the cost of cartage, power and site labour (a burger might cost you about $6)

geoffc · Veteran Member

Hi and thanks Wendy, Possum and Bruce
Possum you were right in your assumption. It is the standard three (3) way unit (van is only 15Ft) with the small freezer across the top
Our plan is to do
Adelaide - Kimba, (1) Penong (2) Head of the Bight (whale watching) (3) ****lebiddy (4) Norseman (5) Kalgoorlie/Boulder (for a couple of days) - Northam, then to Rockingham
We both find that around the 400Ks is a pleasant drive
regards
geoffc

-- Edited by geoffc on Friday 18th of March 2016 10:38:02 PM

Hey Jim · Guru

Yer Geoff,

Why just ask the Ladies. My Lambie too can't operate the kitchen. I too do all of the cooking, bar service ( Very important). I have an Air pot to keep up her need for a cupper ever hour.

Each time we get pulled over for a road side breath test and get asked if we have been drinking, I always tell the truth. Yes officer fifteen minutes back. biggrin biggrin biggrin we both had one. What did you have consume Sir. Mums Brew. biggrin biggrin biggrin

Canned vegies Whole Spuds, peas, carrots. (Fresh road kill where possible, if whole. Emu, is now one of my favorites in the camp oven.) other wise Chicken drum Sticks/ Lamb Shanks in vac sealed bags. Most Butchers can do this for you and will last in your refridgerator for a week or more if semi frozen.

Hey Jim

TheHeaths · Guru

Geoffc, just remember that the Head of the Bight Whale centre doesn't open until June.

Long Weekend · Guru

Geoffc,

Given your schedule of only four or five days you can cut down the amount of food taken and have, say, two meals - or one big one - a day at the servos. Have breakfast in your van and just carry enough of the food suggested by Hey Jim for emergencies.

The larger servos all serve meals - Border Village, Eucla, Madura Pass (that used to serve the first beer in WA, nowadays Eucla has that honour) Cxcklebiddy, Balladonia to name some of them.

It has been several years since my last time across - from that trip one servo I do not recommend is Yalata - it was chaos inside the day we stopped.

By the way, it always amuses me when there is a story about the Nullabor crossing and the servos are described as 'the small town of xxxx.' Generally, each place has only the servo and sometimes a motel and that is it! A small town, no way.

Murray

-- Edited by Long Weekend on Saturday 19th of March 2016 09:57:39 AM

-- Edited by Long Weekend on Saturday 19th of March 2016 09:58:39 AM

TheHeaths · Guru

Yalata is now long closed.

Roadhouses are available at Ceduna, Penong, Nundroo, Nullarbor, Border Village, Eucla, Mundrabilla, Madura, ****lebiddy, Caiguna, Balladonia and then Norseman. For fuel, if you have the range, I would recommend Ceduna, Penong or Nundroo, then Mundrabilla, then top up at Caiguna, before Norseman where prices return to more normal levels.

As far as stops are concerned, we stayed at Nundroo, Nullarbor, Mundrabilla and Fraser Range Station stay, and Jilah Rockhole (near Mundrabilla) and Baxter (on 146 km straight) road side stops on way to and way home from WA in August and October last year.

Road side stops had some problems with full long drops (check before staying if no onboard toilet), and would not recommend Nundroo due to state of amenities. All others ok, although staff/owner attitude at Nullarbor left a lot to be desired. Food was good. Would also recommend Fraser Range (100 km before Norseman) as a stop.

Long Weekend · Guru

Hi TheHeaths (Ian)

Thanks for the update - I sure won't miss Yalata! Haven't heard of Baxter before - must be a new one. The distance between stops used to be enough to have a break every couple of hours, two exceptions being between Balladonia and Norseman which is 192kms with nothing between. Make sure you fill the tank and tummy before setting off. The other is between Caigana and C*cklebiddie and is only 66kms.

I presume Fraser Range Station and Jilah Rockhole are free camping.

We are hoping to go across again for the National Rally at Albany.

Murray

geoffc · Veteran Member

Hi and thanks to one and all that have been prepared to pass on their own little bit of information
We were envisaging make the move at the end of July but thanks for the heads up re the whale centre any way Ian
We have planned for our fuel stops at around the two hundred Km as this leaves me with around a half full tank
On our last trip to Melbourne for around trip of 1634km we returned 17Lts/100Km but one would have assume that this should come down a bit as there will not be no way near the same amount of hills to go over as there is between Adelaide and Melbourne
Just of topic can any one give a reason for ****lebiddy coming up minus characters
One again thanks all for your input
regards
Geoff

wendyv · Guru

Fraser Range is a commercial campground on a sheep property. It is a very pleasant place to stay overnight, but obviously there is a charge.