Little did we know that our rather chaotic stay at the Midland Caravan Park (picking up my new CPAP mask, Michael's glasses, an adapter for our Dune fridge and attempting to reorganise the van and car for the very first time) was actually in a rather agreeable location.
We had been hoping to spend a couple of nights within an hour of Joondalup, but all the caravan parks in three locations did not accept dogs. In addition, we were absolutely exhausted with the mad flurry of leaving home and were incapable of travelling further than Midland.
Three days later, we set off full of enthusiasm for Dalwallinu. We remembered an attractive caravan park just out of the town with clean facilities. Perhaps we should have left straight after arriving at the Dalwallinu caravan park.
Firstly, they had lost our booking. Then, they offered us an uneven site next to the waste dump, Eventually, Michael asked for on a site that was right on the end of a row with a scrap of neglected weed ridden grass next to the van,
And the ground was littered with rubbish, broken glass and other detritus. I kept picking up and disposing of offending items in the nearest bin, until that disappeared a day into our stay and never returned.
The amenities blocks ware not cleaned at all over two days.The camp kitchen was truly disgusting. Water continually seeped from the floors of the block of individual toilets. The bin outside of the camp kitchen was overflowing, The lighting to the toilet block at night was abysmal.
After two nights we fled. Then began my useless quest to obtain a refund for this horrid experience. There was huge confusion who actually owned the Dalwallinu caravan park. We thought the park was Shire owned, with the on site manager. Then we were told by the Shire that the park was actually owned AND managed by those at the park. Then I discovered that the receipt listed another name, Apparently, he had been the previous lessee, finishing up in 2024. So, the Dalwallinu caravan park was still using the name of the previous lessee on the official receipts nearly two years later.
I had no luck attempting to get the Dalwallinu Shire or the Dalwallinu caravan park to take responsibility and issue us with a refund. Neither would negotiate and the Shire keep insisting that the manager had contacted me. Which he hadn't.
My considered comment about the Dalwallinu caravan park is don't ever go there, unless you have full facilities - kitchen, shower and toilet, only stay one night and never venture outside.
Our experience was so bad that we will never visit Dalwallinu again. I think I would give the caravan park zero out of 5 stars. As for the Shire claiming they make periodic inspections, I very much doubt that. The staff on our arrival were, in my opinion, completely inept, had no concept of cleanliness whatsoever and had little if any interest in service. The last straw for me, which caused us to leave a night early, was finding pooh on the seat of a toilet in the Ladies, after I stood up. I kid you not. Not a spider, pooh...
We arrived in Yalgoo with intense relief. The caravan park was pleasant, even if the bathrooms were somewhat dated, At least they were clean. We had hoped to enjoy days and days of fossicking in our favourite spots. The weather was pleasantly sunny for the first two days, although the boggy tracks cramped our ability to fully explore. Then the rain arrived, for five very long days.
We were unable to move on due to a lack of funds for nine days. We did have clearing weather for the last two days, but by this stage, I was covered with sandfly bites or their wee or whatever they did to me. I out spotted even "Harry the Dirty Dog". The only upside was taking advantage of any break in the rain and exercise the dogs at the excellent Core Stadium oval.
Finally, we were able to leave Yalgoo. The sandflies caused me such a severe reaction that I shall hesitate before returning to Yalgoo again. Plus, I tripped over a rock on a town track and am still sporting a large bruise on my upper left arm.
We are currently on our last night here in Northampton. The town is quite pretty although all traffic, including the thundering road trains make their way down the main street. And we have had a beautiful leafy site with grass and sun for the dogs We have really done stuff all. We have been on a couple of walks, sampled a cake and tart in the bakery, revelled in an IGA open seven days a week, discovered the golf course was the official dog exercise area and taken a few photos of the Northampton ewes display. Michael was fortunate to meet a lovely lady named Marlo who provided him with very rusty and desirable plough discs!
And we have come alive in glorious sun and warm temperatures that have seen us in teeshirts, jeans and thongs, We still use our little fan heater at night but we have been buoyed by waking up to the birds and the gentle movement of the leafy outlook. And the bathrooms are utterly divine.Another source of wonder has been the complete absence of sandflies.
We leave for Carnarvon in the morning, just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Today, I packed away most of our warm clothes in our of the van's hatches and looking forward to mild to warm days and only cool instead of frigid nights.
Until next time.
And here are some random photographs of our Northern Break Time so far.
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