Tag: caravan

March 10, 2025

Lake Lonsdale Camping
We stayed at Lake Lonsdale a few weeks ago for a over night stop on our way to Melbourne. Besides the warning about blue/green algae which means don’t touch the water, even for our dog Shadow. It was a good, peaceful place with drop toilets, which surprisingly were clean and not smelly.
Website: Lake Lonsdale

Fee Category: Free

Booking: No

Dog Friendly: Yes

Amenities: Drop toilets

Dump point: No

Pool: No

Fire pits: Yes

Telstra: Good

Starlink: May have problems with trees
Lake Lonsdale lake view
Our Opinion

This campsite is massive and made up of smaller sections along the lake and all with drop toilets. We headed to section 2 and got ourselves a lakeside spot right under some trees which gave us some much needed shade as it was very hot.

3 hours from Melbourne and on the edge of The Grampians, I am sure it is a popular location for that weekend getaway. There is a ranger that comes round and he advised that we could have a fire only up to midnight as a total fire band was being put in place. Since it was 32 degrees, too hot for us.

Unfortunately for us at the time we were there, the lake level was low and algae had broken out in the lake. Normally you can swim in the lake however due to the algae it was not advisable. It looked nice from a distance. There were signs saying don’t touch, poisonous.

The drop toilets were a pleasant surprise, as any seasoned camper will tell you they are usually a ‘last resort’ however these ones did look reasonable new and were actually nice. Plenty of loo paper and a sink to wash your hands.

We would definitely stay here again and maybe in the cooler months. Be nice if the water level in the lake is a bit higher next time. The website link above will give you an indication of the current lake level.

Images from Lake Lonsdale campsite

Campground

Warning signs

Lake Lonsdale driveway

Lake Lonsdale amenities
November 20, 2024

Kirra Beach Tourist Park – Gold Coast
Website: Kirra Beach Tourist Park

Fee Catagory: Paid

Booking by phone/website

Dog Friendly: Yes

Amenities: Yes

Pool: Yes
Kirra Beach Tourist Park
Our Opinion

If you want/need a dog friendly park in this area of the Gold Coast, your options are limited, fortunately this park is an excellent place to stay. It is well laid out and run, and in a great location. Excellent clean facilities, which were cleaned daily.

Only a 5 minutes walk to Kirra beach, which has Cafes, Gym, tourist shops. The site size/cost is average for this type of location, with all of the sites we saw being reasonably level.

Being at the southern end of the Gold Coast means you are in the quieter area, with most activities being a 30 minutes drive north. Going south into NSW 45 Minutes drive to Byron Bay. Tambourine Mountain is another location worth checking out. Also the famous Surfers Paradise.

Only thing to be aware of is the close proximity to the airport, with planes starting to take off at 6AM and going through the day until about 10PM. Didn’t bother us, others may be more sensitive to the noise.

There are plenty of trees in the park, so depending on what site you get, solar may not work very well.

We were here for 2 weeks during November, we would stay again and also not hesitate to recommend this park to anyone else. The big trees give plenty of shelter from the wind, as we found out as a few storms came through in the evening. Also the trees provide plenty of shade.

Images from the Park and beach
November 6, 2024

Galaxy Caravan Park – Brisbane
Website: https://www.galaxycp.com.au/

Booking by phone/email

Dog Friendly: Yes

Pool: Yes

We’re a quaint holidaying destination located in Tanah Merah, Queensland. Nestled comfortably between Brisbane City and the Gold Coast, our caravan park boasts outstanding friendliness, a relaxed atmosphere and exceptional cleanliness. This is the perfect place to base yourself as you explore all that South-East Queensland has to offer
Shadow outside Galaxy Caravan Park
Our Opinion

This is a pretty good, well run park, with clean amenities, the park itself is quite, but warning here, the M1 motorway is noisy, so if peace and quite is your thing then this place is not for you.

Location is excellent, being only a few kilometres away from Brisbane CBD, not too far from the Gold Coast, A major shopping centre on the other side of the motor way. Location wise, it is close to everything.

Sites I would describe as sufficient for a caravan and car, with not much to spare, pretty typical for a caravan park this close to a city.

Access to the Galaxy caravan Park is not difficult, Google maps got us there no problems. wether you are coming from the north or south, you should not have any problems.

Directly opposite, on the other side of the motorway is the Hyperdome, here there are movies, restaurants, Cafes, Supermarkets etc. Also close by, there are the other useful stores, Supercheap, Repco, Bunnings etc.

We have been here twice now this year, and would not hesitate to book again.

Galaxy Caravan Park pool

Galaxy Caravan Park
August 27, 2024

From House to Highway
Embracing Full-Time Caravan Life with My Wife and Our Loyal Companion Across Australia

This has been a long time coming, close to 5 years of planning, saving, dreaming. Now we have started, it’s kind of scary.

The idea for this lifestyle, came up at the beginning from a trip we did 5 years ago to the Big Red Bash, we also added in Uluru, and Kings Canyon. 6 weeks on the road, in a camper trailer, and we loved it. Did not want to go back. When home, we discovered YouTube, and the various other people that were doing this lifestyle full time already, or starting to, that got us thinking, if they can, we can.

It takes courage and determination to go ahead with a change like this. Leaving your comfortable home, job, life, to completely upend it to living on the road in a tiny home, with limited income.

Catherine has managed to secure a part time role with her company working 3 days a week, I, on the other hand have left my job with nothing to look forward to work wise. Am I concerned? Yes and no.

“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” — Andrew Murphy

I don’t want to look back on my life and say to myself I should’ve, could’ve. We took a gamble moving from New Zealand to Australia 13 years ago, scary at the time, again leaving a good comfortable life behind heading into the unknown. Turned out the be a good decision, more doors opened, new experiences, and a better lifestyle emerged out of that decision.

Why Now?

Health, and tomorrow is never guaranteed. With various health issues creeping up on Catherine and I, we felt that if not now, then in the not too distant future it will quickly become a never.

We were looking for a change. Both of us, perhaps more me than Catherine, were becoming bored with our jobs and looking for a change.

World events, everything is going nuts, conflict everywhere, political distrust, cost of living, you name it, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that this lifestyle we have embarked on may not possible soon, or at least not so achievable.

Website Changes

This website has been about my photography, birding adventures, due to the above mentioned health issues, and Covid, that ended up on the back burner, so nothing happened here for a couple of years. So, the new focus will be –
- Our travel Blog, full of updates, hints, tips and experiences of our travels.
- A Diary of my (our) thoughts on this lifestyle.
- The highs, and lows of our experiences.
So come join us on the journey and if you are travelling yourself and wanna do something together, get in touch.