Day 75. 18 July 2024. Leasingham. Bubbly.

It has been quite amazing to see the landscape change over the last 10+ weeks. We have gone from city, to farmland, to desert plain, to more desert plain, to ocean views, to more desert plain, forests, mining plants, mining ships, mining utes, industrial towns and then wheat farms today have turned into wineries. We are in Reisling country and not a bad way to spend the last night in our van. After a short drive around, we parked the car and found a winery within walking distance and indulged ourselves. Found a nice bottle of Claymore Sparkling and upped the luxury by buying two glass glasses to have it from. Moving from plastic and pewter tumblers to some of the finer things of life is a symbolic shift of moving from the caravanning world back into the real world. We had our fancy drinks in a two metre by four metre camp kitchen that had a heater, but was really only a heater by name.

It was cold. Very cold. Retiring to the van required full thermals, pants, jumper, a full contingent of five blankets, socks and there may have been a beanie involved. When the wind decided to pick up at 3am in the morning, it felt like that the van was going to take off. We weren’t worried about the rain so much, but there were a lot off gum trees around, and they have a reputation of dropping limbs if there is so much as a gentle breeze.

This evening will be remembered by the two of us as a celebration of the van life, and confirmation that this may indeed be the end of van life for us. Some creature comforts awaited us in Midura the next night, which we were very much looking forward to.

Facilities: New owners have taken over this place two years ago and have seemingly done a power of work to clean up the site. There is more work to be done, and it may not be fair to judge on a cold and windy winters day which doesn’t show it in the best light. However, if you haven’t had a look at those bloody shower curtains for those two years, as well as only having one toilet and two showers, then you WILL be marked down. 6/10.