Hello, I'm new to the site, so I hope this post is acceptably written.
I am planning a trip in May with my elderly mother driving from Brisbane to Broome, down WA coastline, across the Nullabor, down the Eyre peninsular, off to Flinders Range and then home via Mungo National Park. I have purchased 2015 diesel 4wd for the trip and spending time now learning the 4wd. I will be limited on what tourist attractions we do, as mum can only walk a few hundred meters. We have a wheelchair to conserve her energy, and I only leave mum when safe to do so and for about 30mins to walk a little further. For us being on the road provides opportunities for new experiences, meeting people, enjoying the scenery and breaking up the mundane.
We are also limited, as need to stay in cabins or motel type accommodation. I was told its peak season out the back and need to book accommodation or miss out. Regrettably, I have had to lock in dates. This has caused me some anxiety, as I have not done a road trip of this size. I thought we would be able to take off and each day decide when we would call it quits for the day and if we wanted to stay overnight or forever (lol). I scored a few extra grey hairs trying to decide whether it would be better to do lots of short drives or longer drives and stay extra days in specific towns. I have checked availability, and it is definitely filling up, at least on the budget end. So, I have locked in dates and destinations, with a range of overnight to 5-night stays, keeping most of the drives 2-4hr, except for a few unavoidable 6hr days.
I have travelled previously on "she'll be right" and off we go. However, hearsay and online info indicates that a number of destinations are not necessarily safe to stay. I switched out Tennant Creek for Barkly Homestead. For us, the rest are unavoidable as I haven't been able to find accommodation outside of towns like Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby. Personally, I feel it's a route well-travelled, being mindful of the risks and not being out after dark at least in those areas and a few others.
I was wondering what your views maybe in relation to safety risks along our journey and if there are any recommendations for staying at a particular caravan park (with cabins)/motel?
If anyone with limited mobility has visited Kununurra, Mungo and Flinders areas, what walks or lookouts we may be able to access and how difficult the tracks may be for me to drive, given very limited 4wd experience.
Oh, my bucket list was to walk through the Bungle Bungles. This is not possible with mum, as even now with 4wd it would be 5hr return and too selfish to drag her all that way. My only option is to fly over. There is an expensive for us combo tour, flying in then jumping on helicopter. If anyone has flown over, I would love to hear your view on flying over?
Thank you
-- Edited by 2oldducks on Thursday 13th of March 2025 01:16:56 PM
Hi there, There are many great things you can see from your vehicle and without long walks. You haven't said how long you can be away from home though. It's been some years since we were in WA (2015) so bear with me and I will start at the bottom of your list - the Bungle Bungles. Flying over these is a great and memorable experience. My husband and I flew by helicopter (HeliSpirit) from Warmun - Turkey Creek Roadhouse on the highway. We have never been in by vehicle by the way. Cannot recall doing much around Kununurra besides a general look of the farm land, the one lookout I remember probably wouldn't be suitable for your mum but it was right by the carpark so you could go for a quick look. We did go to Lake Argyle and there are lookouts over the lake at car parks. I presume there are still boat tours. If you drive up to Wyndham there is a good lookout. At Geikie Gorge we did the National Park tour and the tour run by an aboriginal gentleman but I cannot remember the name. We booked both tours at the tourist information centre (one morning, one afternoon) but the aboriginal gentleman's tour was the best. He was a local and told stories about his family and was happy to deviate a bit to get closer looks at the crocodiles. We drove in and out of Derby, as in we didn't stay there. Broome was booked out so we stayed at the caravan park at Roebuck Roadhouse. We were in our motorhome, but the park had rooms, like workmen's quarters, laundry if you needed one. Loved Kalbarri National Park both the Gorge section and the ocean section. Since we were there a lot more of the road has been bituminized and the big lookouts have been built. The ocean scenery section was lovely also and you don't have to do the long walk to see some of this. Go drive The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park. We did the loop drive a couple times. We stayed at Fremantle and you can do the free bus tours around town, take the trip to Rottnest Island from there. It used to be Cheap Tuesday to get to Rottnest Island and there is also a bus tour on the island. To get to Perth we caught the train from Fremantle and then took all the free bus tours. You can get on/off where ever you want and we also just sat and did the full circles of all of them. There is so much good countryside to drive around in WA. If you go anywhere near Kulin drive the Tin horse Highway. We haven't been to the Flinders Ranges or Mungo NP. Stop at the windmills at Penong, SA. Loved the Eyre Peninsular. The cliff side is great ocean scenery. These days SA has lots of silo and water tank art. The Yorke Peninsular has a painted water tank trail. On my must "to do" list. One thing with silo art - it's on flat ground and you can drive right up to it. Have a look at the Silo Art website for listings. Lucky you to be able to do the trip you are planning. IN NSW, depending which way you are travelling, look at the silo/ tank art at Hay, Weethalle to name a few.
The last few years holidays we have been travelling in our old 4WD or car and we mostly stay at motels. We have found motels are usually cheaper than cabins in caravan parks. Cabins have kitchens whilst motels usually have a small fridge, kettle and microwave. Take a decent non-breakable microwave container to heat up food and a can opener and if not taking a car fridge but an Esky, take small ice bricks because those smaller motel fridges only have little freezers to re freeze the ice bricks (we don't have a car fridge and was caught out with a large brick on our first trip). We normally take a breakfast box, sometimes make sandwiches etc for lunch thus the esky or cooler bag. We also have our thermos mugs and make tea in the morning whilst having breakfast and have a biscuit/cake container so we can pull up wherever we want for a cuppa and a break.
Have a ball on your trip. The above are suggestions only. We are all different and enjoy different things. We pack differently to lots of others also, but that's another story. Cheers.
-- Edited by Gaylehere on Friday 14th of March 2025 01:45:05 AM
Thank you for sharing. We are not time limited, but I am a little worried about spending too long away becoming tiring for mum. At the moment, we will be away for 3 months. We are doing boat cruise along the Ord from Kununurra and another sunset one at Lake Argyle. I've booked 4 nights at Kununurra to slow the pace down. We love silo and watertank art, murals in general. When I was checking how to come home after Broken Hill, I checked out Hay and discovered Wheethalle online. Ching Ching, they ticked the cool surprise for mum and neat way to break up the drive.
To my surprise some of the budget motels include a small kitchenette (stove up). I joined g'day parks and it makes the cabins (in some places) similarly priced to motels. I'm looking at buying a car fridge, but it's expensive to setup. I like the idea of being able to have food onboard to make meals when we arrive at our destination. Tossing the cost over freezer bricks and having to hit the shops most days.
On your mum becoming tired - these days when we do some tripping I factor in "break days" where we do/go nowhere on the day. No packing up that morning, a lie in or afternoon nap, maybe read a book, do word puzzles, I crochet around face washers, just a lazy relaxing day. You may be able to tie this in with doing a load of washing. Just a thought. Cheers again.
I applaud you for undertaking such an adventure with your mother.
I was going to suggest that you could look at staying in accommodation in the Bungle Bungles, not cheap, but would give you the opportunity of doing a flight from within the park and also one or two ground walks but you seem to have decided to not drive in which could be a wise decision as it can be a challenging drive and you may not want to risk not being able to get in because of conditions early in the season.
We have done a flight in a plane over the Bungles from Kununurra and also a flight in a helicopter from within the park. It was a lot of years ago and I can't say which was better but I was not a fan of the flight in the helicopter with no doors.
Our neighbours had their tow vehicle stolen when they were staying in Fitzroy Crossing last year and they are very security conscious.
Whatever you decide I'm sure you will enjoy the adventure and stay safe.
Thank you everyone I appreciate learning about your experiences, it helps with my decision making/planning. I had almost decided to drive into the Bungle Bungles thinking mum may be able to do a little of the Domes Walk and she could decide if she wanted to do the Heli flight. This would allow me to do an early morning walk to Cathedral Gorge while she was sleeping. But, I've learnt it takes 6hrs from Kununurra and/or at least 3hrs to drive the road into Bungle Bungles. It would be way too selfish of me to subject mum to that especially knowing she cannot enjoy the walks. We will now do the helicopter ride from Warnum as it is almost half the price of the flight-helicopter combo tour from Kununurra.
Geike Gorge boat ride and all tours are closed, due to damages from the 2023 flood. I'm not sure if we will risk self-drive out there as mum may not be able to see anything from the road. I think we will have to skip all the gorges, like Tunnel Creek or Windjana Gorge as the walks will be too difficult and they are long detours for mum to have to wait at the car. I'm thinking El Questro will be an option to see a little more of the Kimberley.
I opted to stay at Halls Creek, but may switch and stay at Fitzroy Crossing. Both seem to have the same issues. I am always safety conscious and if I'm a little freaked out when we get there, I push the bed against the door (hahaha) and sleep well.
Thanks again. Wishing you all safe and wonderful travels and a lovely Sunday
