Round Hill

Round Hill is just outside of Newman township near the Cappy (If your a local you will know this location if not its the capricorn road house). For a safe location close to town with mobile range this is it! Its a great location to start camping if you have never done it before. Round hill is close to the Fortescue River, I would not camp in the river bed as it does flow sometimes and the fortescue does have a large catchment area, the bottom of the hill is great and out of the river. We had a camp fire and it was lovely, there were a few flies but not as many as Silent Gorge and the mozzies were not too bad. The site is very very easy to get to so a 2 wheel drive could get out there.

Our kids loved Round hill they got to play with rocks in the dirt and the camp fire was a hit as always. the biggest hit and probably the biggest bug bear was it was near the airplane flight path which meant that the kids could watch the planes (all different sorts) landing and taking off, where as we found the noise less then appealing.

camprite camper solar and lighting

So my man made more adjustments to the camper lets see it has Solar Power and Lighting now.

So Solar Power and because we like to do it on the cheap wanting to Save lots of money for the camping fees petrol etc we brought the basic unit and built our own stand wired it in and I will be sewing the travel case for it over the next little while. The solar Panel was a 80w Jobie and seemed to be sufficient for what we needed it for which was the internal and external lights and water pump. We intend to get a second Solar panel and run the Angle fridge off of it as well but that's not for a while.

We also added the internal lights and lights for the camper storage areas at the front with a double on/off switch so you can turne on the lights from either side of the storage area. The lights are simple super LED lights and really are bright I'm talking a row of ten lighting up the whole internal Camper area wow. I would like a reading light so we are going to destroy an old lamp and clamp it to my side of the bed cant wait I miss my reading while the kids are settling in for the night.

Are Solar Panels hot property?? only my husband insisted on chaining the sucker to the caravan and locking it on.........

On the way to Mill Stream

The Trip
Mill Stream is a bit of a trip to get to from where we are located I honestly thought it would be a fairly rough trip as this wet season has been very wet, with lots of flooding but we were wrong. Basically we went down the highway to Auski Road house and then through the infamous Wittenoom the pariah of towns due to its long association with mining blue asbestos. then past a heap of train lines, stations, swamps and windmills to get to Millstream. With the stops it took about 5 hours in the car with the trailer so we got there getting on to late afternoon and set up. We stayed at the main camp grounds'The Old Homestead' which is nice if you don't mind the generator going 24-7 I needed ear plugs to sleep but I don't like generator noise. If I had a choice I would have stayed at star gazers camp ground instead, however this is a overflow ground and was closed.

What Ya need to know before going
Millstream has two main types of camp sites, ones with kitchen and toilet facilities and ones without. IF you have a chemical toilet don't dump your chemical toilet stuff in the the toiltes as then they stink as you have just killed all the bacteria that was eating the poo. There is water available but you need to boil it if your consuming it. You can access the water via taps dotted around the camp grounds or from the camp kitchen.

Be aware there are ants, little argentinian ants, they were introducted to Australia in the 1930's they bite and get everywhere. There are also mozzies and as with all areas in the Pilbara you dont want to be bitten as they can carry some fairly nasty desieases re Ross River Kimerbly Fever and Encephalitis. Due to the existance of these diseases in mozzy populations long pants and shirts are a good idea for the morning, late arvo and night also invest in mozzy netting and repalent if your camper is not mozzy proof. Flyes are a normal part of camping and that is no different in Millstream, if you dont like them then use a fly net and food net.

My sons thoughts on Mill stream (He's three)
at sunrise i was up and I liked the river and the holes with water in them. I liked my caravan (the camper trailer) and driving in the car. I didnt like the toilets as they were smelly. I saw lots of trains and went over the train line, I saw the mountains. I went to the toilet in the bush. played cars in the dirt, I did washing, I slept outside in the camper I woke up and then had weetbix, I woke up and xanny waked up and we had breakfast. We didnt eat cannalony. I want to go camping again.

camprite camper

Purchased a second hand Camprite camper this year. After much adjustment by husband we FINALLY took it out for its first trip. WE are in the Pillbara (an area within WA Australia) which is hot and red due to the iron ore deposits found. Our intention of the trailer is to travel Australia and generally not be at home.

The photo above is our first trip to Silent Gorge. We loved it as its close to a random town and therefore has mobile coverage so if anytihng went to the shit we could get assistance. Husband has rewired and neatened the whole system added a battery bit led lighting all or which he felt was very very important to the camper before we took it out. personally I would have gone with mozzy proffing it before we headed out but thats my job for the next time I'm in a town that has shops say like Melbourne or Perth or morelikely Headland.


Silent gorge is stunning rarely gets rain and so you can camp in the creek bed best time for camping is Autumn, Winter as Spring and Summer is just a little too warm. you can have a camp fire out there as its not in a National Park and there are a few other non creek bed camping spots along the egdges of th gorge. I could get a two wheel car out there however this may change if the washout in one section gets any worse after which I dont think I could get out there in my 4WD.

enjoy