Go Camping Western Australia

Bird song heralds the dawn. In the distance we hear the rumble of the first of the day’s road trains on the highway. A flock of pink and grey galahs swoop down along the river as the sun sends its tendrils out across the red dirt and through the trees to our campsite on the bank of the Gascoyne River.

We are camped 958 kilometres north of Perth where the Gascoyne River crosses the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. This is a designated camping spot popular with travellers going north, and is just one of the free camping places outlined in Sue and Steve Collis’ book “The Guide to Free-Camping in the North of WA”, one of a set of three books that Sue and Steve have written detailing free camping places in Western Australia and Tasmania.

What advice do they have for someone who hasn’t camped before? Sue laughs, “Camp in the backyard first. It’s amazing, some people are just not built for camping, and they just don’t like it. People need to know that’s what they want to do. Take a short trip first would be good advice. A weekend trip to get the feel of it especially before you go north or anywhere like that”.

Steve agrees, “Rather than going out and spending thirty or fifty thousand dollars on a caravan, hire one and get a feel for it first. Some people get out there and they hate it, but on the other hand there are a lot of people that just love it”.

Sue says what she enjoys about camping is the space and getting back to basics. “Sitting around a camp fire, communicating and getting back to basics. How it makes you feel. It’s very relaxing sitting out under the stars. It’s lovely. There’s nothing nicer than getting out there and camping. Give us some space and we’re happy.”

These photos show some of our favourite camping spots around Western Australia. To read this complete article, please see Go Camping Australia magazine Summer 2006 edition.