Wooramel

And we’re off…

It was much easier to leave home this time around as we had moved from a house in Dongara back to Kalbarri where we had bought a lock-and-leave type of unit. So, on 9^th April 2026, we locked up and left. Easy!

John had booked us for two nights into Wooramel Station River Retreat about four hours from home and 120kms south of Carnarvon. We had decided that 400kms is the most we will drive in one day. It’s an easy drive from Kalbarri to Wooramel and we felt ourselves relaxing as we passed through the regions of the Gascoyne, Shark Bay and into the Carnarvon area. Some people find the Australian outback landscape boring because it is so vast. Not us, we enjoy how it subtly changes along the way. We called into the Billabong Roadhouse to replenish our coffees, and arrived at Wooramel around lunchtime.

I had no expectations of Wooramel. I knew it had no power, Wi-Fi or mobile range – a lovely way to wind down from everyday life. We were both pleasantly surprised by the campground. Yes, it is in the middle of nowhere, a couple of kms off the North West Coastal Highway but it is actually a family owned 356.000 acre working cattle and goat station, although I believe they have vastly reduced their stock due to the lack of rains. The property spans 1,430 square kilometres (including 60kms of Indian Ocean Coastline) and borders the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.

Although there were already quite a few caravans set up, we had a good choice of camping areas to choose from. We chose a nice long one where we did not have to unhitch, since there was nowhere to go. We camped right on the Wooramel River – which was almost completely dry. It was hard to imagine that it was full to overflowing just two weeks ago after Cyclone Narelle!

But the Station only received 6mm of rain from the cyclone!

Although we are self-contained, it was good to see that the campsite had flushing toilets, solar showers and camp kitchens. What was more of a surprise was that it had a lovely outdoor café/bar with live music in the evenings. An extra bonus were the four Artesian Baths available 24 hours a day for use by campers. I persuaded John that the magnesium and other minerals might just help his muscle cramps and aches and pains so we enjoyed half an hour of relaxation in one of the baths. It was the temperature of a very warm bath. Lovely!

We had terrific nights at Wooramel. It was peaceful and comfortable. The weather was a perfect 31 degrees with a slight breeze keeping the flies at bay. We took a walk across the dry river bed to look at what little bit of water was still there; we read, and in the evening enjoyed a drink listening to the country and western singer at the bar.

A nice caravan pulled in next to us and, as you do when you are camping, we got chatting to the owners, a young family travelling Australia for twelve months. They are running a YouTube channel on what it’s like to do the lap with a family. Not only were they pleasant to talk to but Tom helped us with a power issue and spent a lot of time explaining things to John. We really appreciated him making the effort. Do yourselves a favour and check out their YouTube channel about travelling the country in a van. To support them, please check them out on Facebook and Instagram https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fletsbeadventurersaustralia%2F%3Futm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio&e=AT5Xpo0Z_4bNvvA8_NPJydIUe6n4pCKHd39sN3zN6A4pWLzEztSotjHmwgwqWoxa3L1yQ1BLrf5dWbR28T5mnynQy3WkAg8fr6cUHWPD2xI_crY8XshxQsp-sg

One of the things we really loved about our stay at Wooramel was watching the children – no tablets or phones in sight – running around, climbing the River Gums, splashing in what was left of the river, and having a great time with kids from other parts of the country that they had only just met. When we were chatting to our neighbour, Tom, he said, although his ten year old son was doing home schooling, he was learning so much just from the experience of travelling – helping his dad fix the car and caravan, working out how far they could travel on a tank of petrol and keeping a journal on all the places they were visiting and experiences they were having.  What a great life!

And what better way to end the day than with a glass of wine and a campfire?