WE CALL IT QUITS... 7 Day Family Swag Trip TAKES ITS TOLL

How's the size of that Namahal?

One.

That's got to be one of the biggest ones I've seen, eh?It's even like cascading, it's a bit of a waterfall down on it.

A waterfall in the rain.

Yeah.Hey, g'day guys.Cam and Tiff, Wild Touring.Welcome to this week's episode.This week, we are in the Greater Western Woodlands, the Goldfields type area, and we're heading out to a now abandoned station called Mount Elvia.

Yeah, it's got a little bit of a checkered history, this place, but we'll tell you more about it before we get there, when we get there.

Yeah, it's quite interesting.But before we get there, we've got about 200km, I think, of four -wheel drive stuff we're actually a couple hundred K's into the bush right now yeah we are literally out in the middle of nowhere we haven't seen a car a person for days and days and days almost a week now yeah there's just no one out here and there's just hundreds of kilometers of track yeah this is a enormous bushland it is huge and there is thousands of kilometers like just a network a maze of tracks yeah and a lot of interesting history too so much treasures to be found out here yeah a long history from like you know the mid 1800s when you know like settlement time and then the gold rush year a little bit later yeah heaps and heaps of history yeah anyway uh yeah we have got a couple hundred k's more to go to get to the station so we'll see what that brings us we are a little bit tight on fuel range yeah we've been doing a lot of calculations and recalculations yeah but i we i think we've got a fairly good buffer we should have 100k range buffer something like that so we should be sweet but the problem with this area is there's a lot of old mines and new mines as well and they have their own haulage roads and google maps often tries to take you on those haulage roads but they don't allow people to travel on those tracks yes so we've to map this route we've actually had to it's been quite difficult we're using combination of wikicamps, google maps, hema maps, paper maps and internet resources.

Yeah like people's own blogs they've written about their travels.

Track notes, yeah.So between all of those avenues, hopefully we've got it right.

Anyway, let's crack on, eh?

Yeah, hope we don't get lost.

We won't, we'll be all right.Doesn't the terrain change heaps out here right so much like yellow sand for red dirt yeah yeah and now we're on like real hard rocky stuff you get like real long flat dead flat plateaus and then all of a sudden you're climbing up a bit of a mountain keeps it really interesting uh i think it's gonna fork off just here yeah it looks like a makeshift sign what's that is that it's like an old what does it say i don't know burl bin.

Oh is it bullfinch?

No it's burl bin because that's what that Helena Aurora mountain was called.Let's double check and we're going the right way then I'll show you a little trick that I've only just learned for navigating this stuff.Yeah it says burl bin doesn't it whatever that range is called.

I don't know that hasn't come up.

I like how someone's traced it.B -N -A -G -A -L bungle bin.Yeah, it's bungle bin.They've got it wrong.

Oh, no, that's an N there.

It's bungle bin.That was what that mountain range was.That's in miles, Tiff.23 miles.And this is punched out.That is old.

And that's an old railway thing.

This sign tells you.

Manning Range.Also, Tiff, it's the Mount Manning area.This is wrong too.That's saying Jardie that way.

No, you can't go that way.You go over the top of Helena River.

You can see how easy it is to get confused.Let me quickly show you something.I want to show them how you've dropped the labels.Come do it in here.This is interesting.Were you doing that on our Big Lap trip as well?

The routes that we took on Google Maps were more well driven because we had the van.

yeah all right so check this out i have used hema maps to roughly navigate where i want to go but because you've only got so much detail like that zoomed in there's a 5k scale there if i zoom in further you'll lose the tracks right when you've got a range that big it's hard to actually when you're on the tracks it's hard to see the turnoffs isn't it?

Yeah so what I did yesterday was I got onto Google Maps satellite view and I literally like from our campground where we were in Helena Aurora I just followed the track.

Yeah so she zoomed in until you can see the track.

Like there.

And then when you get to the T intersections like show a T intersection up there she's dropped a label can you show it on this?

you can because i'm using my maps at the moment yeah i just dropped the label i just wrote t junction turn left here so we knew what to do um just show how to do that uh well you just click double you just hold it down and then you press add label yeah and then that'll stay on your maps but that was the only way i could so i had to do that the whole way alongI knew we wanted to go.So there's all the labels.

Yeah for every intersection.

And that was the only way I could get Google Maps to tell me to go that way because I actually typed in I want to go from label 1 to label 2 to label 3.

So you can actually set your route even though Google, because sometimes Google Maps when you say you want to go to somewhere it takes you the most.

Well it did, it told us to go back out to Southern Cross and then up and around.

Yeah, whereas this way we can navigate from point to point.Anyway, that might help you for tracks like this because it is a godsend for us, otherwise we'd be going the wrong way.

Yeah, it was quite convoluted to do, it took us a while.

Yeah, it's a challenge to navigate tracks out here.Anyway, let's push on, hey?That old sign's cool, hey?

Yeah.

Just spotted a curijong tree.Bizarre looking tree, just doesn't really suit the rest of the landscape here.and um quite an interesting uh like three -pronged leaf bit like an emu's foot anyway it's not in flower i can see some i can see an old dried nut on it right up there but yeah it's it's bush tucker stuff they have like a nut that you can eat as well shame it's not in fruit because it would have been cool to try oh or in nut i think probably it's more accurate yeah carry on tree Cool Tiff?

I'd probably much rather my mango slice.

Yeah, you're probably not native to the area.Let's keep going.A few minutes later.Another one and you can bet your bottom dollar she said you're not getting out the car again for a tree are you?I just think they're cool.This one's a ripper.

Much healthier looking actually.Must just be the wrong time of the year for them.seed.Which is a shame.Yeah, very cool.All right, I'll be in trouble for stopping again.

What's that say?P -T -A -D.Something else there.Hmm, interesting.Don't know what that's about.Strange to have graffiti out here.

Might be of some sort of significance, I don't know.Just thought we might stop for a spot of lunch.So Tiff's navigated us just a slight detour off the track.We've done a lot of slight detours the last week.But this is a nice little breakaway campground, I guess.Thought it might be a nice spot to stretch the legs and have some lunch.

We're probably 50 K's off camp this evening.But I'll show you this, it looks pretty cool.

You getting out, kiddies?Yeah.

This breakaway just goes for ages.We were driving along it for, I don't know, 500 meters or something.It just keeps going for K's, I think.Very cool.And there was tracks along a lot of it.You're starving, aren't you?

Let's have a feed.I'm just going to make pizzas, you keen?Yeah.Yeah, looks good.just spread it out a little bit.Good job cheeky!

And that's coming along.You might have noticed with the swags on the roof of the car, I've had to remove my solar panels that were up there.I originally had three 135 watt Allspark 24 volt solar panels.I've got them all off at the moment to fit the swags.It's only a temporary measure, I do want to get them back on.But I ask a lot of this battery system.

Even on this trip, we've been cooking with the induction cooker.We've got the cookmaster going on pizzas now.I've had the kettle going every single night, multiple times for showers.We're charging drones, cameras, phones, laptops.

iPads, headphones.

Yeah, lights, battery banks.Like, yeah, we really do ask a lot of our battery system.

It's been designed to work well.

Yeah, yeah.So off -road living are the ones that supply all the Allspark gear.So the Allspark solar panels and the Allspark lithium batteries.I've got 400 amp hour of lithium battery in there.And yeah, it's really, really good gear, hey?

Very good.

yeah anyway these pizzas only take a couple of minutes i think we might actually eat them in the car too we're gonna eat them in the car i'm gonna push on to camp out of the flies yeah get a fire going and uh i'm yeah excited to show you this station and tell you a little bit about the homestead because it does have an interesting history right let's get these in the car guys i wish i put a pool boy in my car pool bar a pool bar i'd love a pool i always knew soI always knew.Just funny stuff.Well, we're here, kiddies.We're here.Well, we're here to have a quick look at this.

We might camp somewhere else.

Is that the homestead there?

I don't know.Yeah.Yeah, we'll have a look at the treasure in here for sure.

God, that is a bloody cell tower.

The cell tower's bigger than the buildings.

It is.

Let's get out and have a little explore.

On the little picnic benches?

Yeah.

Yeah.Yeah.

bit old.

I know let's have a look.

I don't think we should go in.

Well we'll have a look and we'll have a look and sort it out.

We'll have a quick look around come on.

Pop your shoes on.So I've been trying to come out to Mount Elvia station for a long time now but every time I've planned to come out here we've had either bad weather come in or we've had fuel range issues with someone else in the crew so which is not too unlike ourselves at the moment we're very close on fuel as well but yeah stoked to actually finally get here While Tiff's getting the kids out of the car, I'll briefly tell you the history of the station that I know of anyway.It was a pastoral lease and I think they were running up to like 3 ,500 head of sheep out here.In 1989, an inspector from the Department of Agriculture went out to another station out near Kew called Kelly Sheep Station and he stumbled across a massive marijuana plantation.Police started investigating it and off the back of the investigation they found another plantation out near Jinjin.This was like Italian mafia stuff back in the late 80s early 90s.

And then they also raided this place and they found that the guys that were running this place were planning another third massive marijuana plantation.so they seized everything arrested a bunch of people and the department ended up taking this on and now it's a where you can camp out here it's a tourist destination sort of there's not a lot of information to actually come out here and camp so that one's all locked up there is a few asbestos warning signs they obviously don't want you in there anymore which is fair enough you can camp here picnic tables pit toilet over there fire pit It'd be nice if I can find a building we can go inside of.I'll have a look.I can hear Brody in the background.He's upset because I told him to have a look for treasure.We can't go inside any of the buildings to have a look.

Be careful under that roof, eh?You can go around the other side.There's a patio on the other side, I think.

It looks like there's something under it.

Yeah, that's right.It's all concrete.Yeah, you can come in here, Chip.Bit dingy, hey?I like that other station better, eh?Jardy.

Bit more interesting than this one.This one, you can't go inside any of the buildings.Which is just as well, though, because Tiff, I already asked her if she wanted to camp at the station, and she said no, because you didn't like camping at the last one, did you?

Camping at these ones?

Nah, they're a bit dingy, hey?Just as well, because I do have a camp or a potential campsite marked that's not too far from here, so we might go head out there.How far?Not far.

Like, what's not far?

I'll have to have a look on the maps, we are...

We only have, like, a 20 kilometre buffer.for fuel.

No, we've got a bit more than that, but we are fairly tight.Not much wiggle room.What's wrong with you, dude?Flies.

You know, you wouldn't believe that this child traveled to Australia last year.He's so sensitive to flies, to dust, to dirt.He's just so sensitive.

He's become a caravan kid.

Yeah.

Yeah.Righto, let's jump back in the car and find a campsite, eh?Yeah.Don't worry, babe.It's out here.Just around the corner somewhere.

Is it a trap or a riverbed?I'm not sure.

Brodie likes it.

Now do you understand why I've got it labelled camp with a question mark?Oh yeah.Now that might be it.

You have arrived.

Yeah, I think that was probably the best bit.

Yeah.I think it goes around in that little loop here.Yeah.Oh yeah.That's a pretty good spot.

You know what it might go.I want to see if there's anything better.

No, it just ends babe.Do you reckon?Yeah.

What if it ends at like a magnificent vista that you would regret not ever seeing?I reckon it might be specky up here.

Dad, I can't believe this isn't chocolate.

I know.

It's going to be a specky vista.My favourite chocolate queen is the big one full of chocolate.

Yeah, look girl.

It's not very level though.The other spot was probably better.I reckon?Yeah, in terms of being level, but this got a great view.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

Are we camping here?I don't know.Are we camping here?

Like I said, stunning vista.

Have a look at this.

I wish I had my drone.This is going to look unreal at sunset, but panoramic views, just like I planned and just enough room, just enough level room to roll out.A couple of swags there.A couple of swags there.Perfect day.Yeah.

Yeah.And um, campfire over there.So we can look over this for sunset.We can walk up there and have a look, I think we should.

Honestly I feel like we couldn't be any more in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah so I might quickly show you on Google Maps but we are as far as you can pretty much go now.on this massive like greater western woodlands because we're sort of landlocked now by salt lakes the whole way around us aren't we?

Yeah this station is definitely like the whole way around.

Yeah I thoroughly enjoyed the day's driving from Helena Aurora to here.The driving was epic.

A couple hundred k's of like easy going like i'm in two wheel drive the whole time but just really pretty full drive tracks but i must say and you said it before in the car yeah the homestead itself was very underwhelming yeah not much to see or do and considering the state government acquired it as a tourist destination there's no information from them about it being a tourist destination there's no information there on site either no whereas at least like the homestead that we visited uh last episode jardi station yeah at least they'd made an effort to put signs out there were signs on the way there there were signs at the station with like you know about the flora and fauna in the area yeah there was like minimal effort there's zero effort here stunning view and it's what we love it's remote

Yeah, it's cool.Hey, Chloe, the plan is fire there, overlooking the stunning vista, and probably a couple of marshmallows on the fire tonight, I think.

Hey, speaking of stunning vistas, last night, as I'm falling asleep, I hop into bed, look up, my fly's open on my swag, shooting star straight across.And Chloe saw a shooting star a few days ago too, didn't she?

Yeah, she saw one last night.and you and I saw one the other night.So everyone but Brodie's seen one.Yeah.That is one thing I love about this area because it is very, very, very remote and there's no light pollution and it's like relatively flat country.You just get massive light show all night, like just the best stars you'll ever see.

Righto, swags out, let's get set up.

It is next level.The flies on you, it's gross.The sun's not even up yet and I have never ever seen so many flies.I think we're going to have coffees and breakfast in the swag and then get straight into the car Tiff.This is terrible.

Don't have any flies in there.

Do the shake.

It's like that isn't it.Well it's only 6 .45.

Is it really?Yeah.Wow.

I know.We've literally never been on the road this early, like ever.As a family.

Maybe once.

Yeah, Udnadatta probably.Which is where we had a fly plague as well.I think the flies here, they're as bad as that day, maybe worse, I don't know.

Well, last time we had the luxury of a caravan.When you don't have the luxury of a caravan to escape them, bad.

Yeah.It's starting to get warm this time of the year and we've had some recent rain so the flies are all hatched.and they're just out of control.So, cold brew coffees in the car.Thank you, babe.

Cereal and milk in the car.

And we're off.

Are we still going to stop at the relics on the way out?

Yeah, I'll jump out and have a quick look actually.Good point.There's some homestead relics here.We'll go have a look at that now and then we've got a big push to the next spot.Hopefully, three of them, these flies can fly.

I'll get out this junk if you want to come.

I'm just going to have a quick look.I won't be long.You can stay in the car if you want.Truck's pretty cool.Bit of asbestos on the floor, Tiff.I think so.

66 sheeting.It's old enough to be.The old Metas stove.Wowee.I reckon there was a few tins drunk on the station, Tiff.That is outrageous.

This is like my recycling bin on a Tuesday morning, hey?Ah, roller skates, Tiff.I said I wanted to get back into it.They're proper old ones.This one's got a wooden tray on it, Tiff.Proper farm hack.

Tiff said this isn't relics this is just someone's tip.

I mean the cars are pretty cool because they're old but the rest of it like there's a whole lot of like fresh beer bottles.

Heineken bottles and Corona bottles.

Yeah people are just using it as their own personal tip as well.

Yeah that looks like an old still.

Anyway.

Yes anyway fuel.just up through the township of southern cross to get a bit of fuel and we end up having um i think i had 60 litres left in my tank so we ended up with heaps of range left realistically um one thing of interest is that i for we've been off road for the last six days, we've done over 600km off -road, full drive tracks and whatnot, and I've been using on average about 16 litres per 100km.I changed my throttle controller over to Eco mode, I changed the car drive setting to Eco mode as well, and I was a little bit more cautious about, you know, accelerating and stop starting too much and that kind of stuff, and my fuel consumption went from 16 down to 14 .5, and that might seem a little bitbut that gives me about 100km extra range which is quite amazing and also we'd factored in to make sure that we left enough fuel in case that we did take any wrong turns or got stuck on any of those mine roads that had no access or anything for us.So realistically, I've got 164 litres of usable diesel.I was using about 16 litres per 100.

We had about 1000 Ks range, but I always factor in about a 20 % safety margin.So when I plan a trip, I'll say I've only got 800 Ks range just in case.

But also, I kept looking at that little thing that says how many K's until you're empty.

Oh, the distance to empty.

Yeah, and I thought we had much less than what we actually had.

Oh yeah, my distance to empty doesn't work because I've got the long -range tank.Anyway, we've just pulled into Ellick Budding Rock.We might camp here, we might not, but I want to have a look around and show Tiff and the kids anyway.

Yeah, this place looks cool.I think you can drive up to the top and there's a wave rock little formation too, but we'll have a look around and show you when we get there.

Yeah, let's do it.We might as well suss out the campsites.

One -way vehicle track.

Camping area and picnic area.It's cool though, you were saying it's like a mini Uluru.

I'm the type of person that always compares something to something else.

Same.

But I like that there's like a scenic loop around the whole thing, it's like 5km.But yeah, you just drive the whole way around.

Or you could walk around.

Yeah, walk around, ride your bike like you're doing Uluru.

Yeah.Hell of a view, hey?

Yeah.

We just looked at the forecast and we're in for like 40km winds tonight.We've jagged some weather, can't have it all.Yeah, it's pretty cool, eh?That was really cool.

I wasn't even expecting that.

No, I've been here before and I never even saw that.All right, now are we seriously going to go find a camp?

Now we're going.

Come on, kiddies.Yes, for realsies, for actuals.Well, we never made it to another campsite.

No, here we are at home.

Yeah, we cut it short.What happened was, as we were driving a little bit closer to home to try and find the last camp for the evening, we just ended up driving into a massive weather system.There was rain coming in sideways.And we just didn't fancy our last night being in the rain and then coming home and have to dry out all the gear.So yeah, we decided to just push on the whole way home.

Yeah.Not to mention you would have seen, I mean, we don't really film a lot of it.We make a point of not filming the kids having tantrums and stuff.Chloe absolutely loved it.She had a ball.But Brodie, he was a terror that trip.

What's she so stompy about?Someone messaged me the other day and said, how do you get on travel with your kids?I've done one night with my kids and they're driving me nuts already.and i think i said back to him while you're messaging me i'm listening to my two kids in a swag having a full -blown argument full -blown fight over sharing some colored pencils doesn't matter where you areyour kids are gonna act poorly at times.

Kids will be kids no matter where you are, home or traveling.

Might as well do it somewhere beautiful, hey?

He was not into it.He was like, I hate the flies, I hate the weather, I'm hot, I'm cold, I want to go home, I'm bored.

Typical toddler stuff.It's the same stuff we have at home.Yeah, he's a good kid.He's generally an easy travel companion, but like something about this trip just, he didn't agree with it and he wasn't all about it.He wasn't happy.

He's a caravan baby, not a swag baby.

Well, he spent like a third of his life in a caravan, I guess.Did you enjoy it?

But you know what?It's so funny because literally when we decided we were going home.We said to him, bro, we're gonna go home instead.And we were expecting him to say, yay.And he said, oh, I wanna go camping.

He can't win.That's typical.But yeah, I threw you and the kids into the deep end with this one.A week out of Swags in, the weather was really nice, but unfavorable conditions with the flies.

The flies were shocking.

Yeah, I'm sure we talked about it 9 million times through those couple of videos.But other than that, did you enjoy it?

I really did.I loved the adventure of it.of it, like you were saying, it was not so much the destinations that we went to, but it was the venture along the way, like those four drive tracks were awesome.I feel like when you're in a swag, you're really camping, like in a caravan, you get stuck in that trap where it's so comfortable inside, you have your dinner inside, you sit inside, you watch TV, and you're always inside, but we spent so much time outside, like we were looking at the stars, we saw shooting stars, you fall asleep at night looking at the stars, like I feel like it's more, camping.

I totally agree with you.

But to live on the road full -time, no way I'd be in a caravan.

Yeah, for the kind of trip that we did, those six days out there was enough for me. I really wouldn't have wanted to go for too much longer.Even when Ido longer swag trips without the family, I've done two or three, oh, and I've done three weeks, I think, at most in a swag.But even then, I still normally have a little reset.I'll stay at a caravan park after a week or two to have a proper long shower and all the rest of it.

Yeah, you do need a bit of a reset.Chloe really loved it.

Yeah.

But we all loved it, except for Brodie.

Yeah, she'd have cracked on and stayed out longer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But yeah, you were saying how impressed you were that the four of us were able to live out of that car.Yeah.We used barely any water.Yeah.I was quite surprised at just how well we did, despite the challenges.

Yeah, we came home with heaps of clothes we hadn't worn, heaps of water left, heaps of food and meals left.We could have easily gone out if we wanted to for another four or five nights.

But yeah, it was nice.It was something different.

yeah i wouldn't want to do it all the time but it was it was good that is a seriously underrated place though the goldfields area that greater western woodlands area i highly highly recommend going out there and having a look around because like you said those four wheel drive tracks not challenging very very remote we didn't see anyone out there for the whole week like literally didn't see anyone and we did uh just over 600 kilometers of four wheel drive tracks uh and didn't see a soul but Yes, beautiful spot.Those salmon gums, you know, like you said, the big horizons, the stars at night.It's a stunning spot.I urge you to go out there and have a look.

Yeah.And on that note, we are packing right now for our next family trip.

Yeah.

You've decided to combine swagging with my least favorite hobby, which is boating.

Yeah.So I've caught her at a bit of a weak moment.She enjoyed that last trip and she's, um, She's decided she'll let me organize another one so yeah you'll see this series coming up very shortly.I don't think it'll be back to back with the end of this one there might be something in between but yeah very shortly you'll see this next series.

Boating, swagging and we are staying at a chalet for a bit too.

Yeah as a home base and then we're going to go camping.off the boat from there in the Shark Bay region.It'll be pretty fun, I reckon.Cheers guys, thank you for watching, and we'll see you in the next one.

Yeah, I'm sorry if this episode was a little bit short, whatever, but...

I don't think it will be, because we talk a lot.

Sorry, we talk so much.Okay, see you next week.

Cheers guys, see ya.See these piles of poo on the road?I don't know if you saw that one.There's another one up here.See the pile of poo there?Yeah, I reckon... you get camels out here.

Tiff reckons you don't.We've had a look at the population density map that says where you get camels and apparently it's very, very unlikely to get them this far south.But I reckon that's camel poop.So Tiff's just taken a photo of it.We're using Google Lens to identify it.We use that all the time.

We've been using it with old bottles and stuff we've found to date them.It's so accurate, it's crazy.What kind of poo is it?

Horse, it says.

Horse?Horse.Oh, I knew it was either.I'm changing my story now, aren't I?

Well, to be fair, AI actually says it could be a kangaroo or wallaby.No, because it's too big.But you can't tell the size of it with a photo.A wombat, no.A camel or horse.Oh, okay.

And I said camel, horse or um donkey.So all right we're still still unsure then hey?

I think it's a horse.

I reckon it's camel.