What seemed to take forever finally happened.  The big day finally arrived and we picked up our new caravan.  It was great to see what we had ordered in the flesh and seeing how it turned out after all the decision making on colours and extras.  We were vey happy with it but one disappointment was that they had put the wrong finish of leather on the seats.  After some discussion the replacement ones were ordered and we took the van while they got them made up.

We decided on a short one week trip away in the van that would cover around 50% gravel and 50% bitumen.  We thought this would allow us to see how “dust proof” the van was and also make sure that everything was working properly for both powered and non powered living.  The route we chose was the Wheatbelt Way that went east of Perth out towards Mukinbudin and around the wheat belt towns with a couple of small diversions on the way.  Also expect to see a lot of photos with the new van in it.

First stop was a two night stay at Petrudor Rocks not far from Kalannie.  We were the only ones at the rocks so had the pick of spots, not that there were many to chose from.  It wouldn’t take many campers here to fill the placed up.  It was nice all the same and the weather was excellent so that it even nicer.

 

 

 

The van performed very well for our first two nights free camping so we then decided that Koorda seemed like a good place for our next stop and make sure everything worked well being hooked up to power.  Happy to say that most things worked well.  The washing machine wouldn’t start when Kaye tried it.  After a bit of investigation we found that the power point wasn’t working so that started off the “warranty” list.

Not far from Marshall Rock we stopped at the Pergande Sheep Yards and Homestead.  The homestead is not much to look at now, just some rubble on the ground.  The sheep yards though were truly interesting.  They sheep yards are constructed entirely of granite slabs.  The way they made the slabs was to light a fire on the large granite rocks then cool it down quickly with water.  Granite slabs would then break away and these were then used to make the sheep yards.

 

 

 

 

The next spot after Koorda was some more free camping at Beringbooding Rock which was east of Mukinbudin.  The campground here is pretty good and even has a flushing toilet.  At the rock itself is a massive water tank that holds around 9 million litres.  The tank was built not long after the area was settled to assist the early farmers with water.  Around the rock they have built a granite wall to allow the water catchment for the tank.  The tank itself is starting to show signs of deterioration and it will be interesting to see if it will be repaired or let to slowly decay.

We also did a short drive to Elachbutting Rock.  This was an a very impressive rock to visit and has a spectacular wave section that would nearly rival Wave Rock at Hyden.  There were also caves, an old prospectors well and lots of camping areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Beringbooding Rock we then travelled to Minnivale for a night.  This is a very small little place that just has a wheat collection depot and a camp ground not far out of Dowerin.  It also looked like they were trying to establish a railway tourist ride here as well.  There wasn’t a lot of information around about it.  If they were relying on Royalties for Regions funding then it probably wont happen for a long time.  The campground was quite good and pretty quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it was great to get back in a van again and do some touring around.  Just a pity it was so short.  We had a small list of items we wanted attending to when we returned the van.  All in all though the van performed exceptionally well and there were no major concerns from us.  A great little week away.  While the van is in getting repaired we are off to Malaysia to see Renae who is over there for six months with Woodside.