Perth to Karalee Dam

We're off!!! After a frantic two weeks in Perth trying to gather all our camping stuff, getting over jet lag and unsuccessfully trying to stay off the booze we managed to get it all together and set off on our big adventure. Notwithstanding the fact that Fi and I are about as green as an apple when it comes to big camping trips, we managed to fill our new ute and camper trailer with enough camping tat to keep the 9th battalion supplied for a year. My only regret is replacing my 2ltr bottle of bbq sauce for a 1ltr bottle which, even at half the size, was deemed "non-priority"…although 3 bags of makeup and face creams seems to make the "priority" list…..go figure…

First stop was supposed to be Kalgoorlie, a mining town famed for its street of prostitutes as well as a massive hole in the ground called the super-pit. Everyone we spoke to said we should see this massive hole, but we've lived close enough to Elephant & Castle in London and Peckham for 14 years, and nothing is a bigger hole that that. We may check it out on the way back.

Our first night was successful with it only taking 1 hour to put up our tent, which is supposed to take 10 minutes. No cross words were said, and no raised voices. The only angry retort came from Pam, the old lady in the gargantuan caravan 50 meters away when she saw our two little cherubs pulling up her intricately placed yabbie net about 5 minutes after she had set it in the water. Our boys learnt a lesson about touching other campers gear and we learnt a lesson that they are a good way to meet people. She ended up giving us a bag of cooked yabbies in the morning when she pulled the net…nice one boys.

The place we stayed was an old dam that had been innovatively created using a huge natural granite outcrop and some man made walls to funnel the rainwater into a huge flume that then sends the water to the dam. It was also the site of the famous "Emu Wars" in 1932. Yes, that's what I said. Emu Wars…. Bizarre… Karalee Dam was the place….

Waking up on our first morning we learnt that you don't leave your stuff out overnight as everything was wet. Also, it took us about 1.5 hours to pack up as we clearly hadn't packed the 9th Battalion's supplies correctly and needed to re-pack absolutely everything so it was easy to access next time around. The face creams and cleansers made it to the front again…hmmm..

The scenery and the drive have been brilliant. No traffic apart from Boeing 380 sized road trains travelling in both directions and old people in caravans. The scenery is better than I remember although the boys are a bit upset not to have seen any living creatures yet, despite seeing an Emu, Kangaroo, Echidna, Eagle and even a Camel in various stages of decomposition beside the road after being hit by the road trains or caravans…. At least it's giving the boys something to look for when we punish them for fighting in the back seat and ban their kindles…..

Road kill count:

Kangaroo - 15

Emu - 1

Camel - 1

Echidna - 1

Eagle - 1