Ellendale Pool, Kidney Stones and a Cyclone: Our First Week on the Road
- Adventure Lifestyle
- Mar 25
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 11
We'd been planning this trip for years. Vehicles prepped, systems tested, itinerary mapped out. And then, approximately five days into our grand adventure north, Paul ended up in the emergency department of Geraldton Hospital at 11pm on a Tuesday night while a Category Two cyclone bore down on the coast. Adventure Lifestyle, living up to its name.
But let's start at the beginning.
Night One: Cameron's Lake
We pulled out of Perth on Friday afternoon with full tanks, full fridges, and the kind of cautious optimism that comes with finally being on the road after months of preparation. Our first stop was Cameron's Lake in the northern wheatbelt, and it set the tone for everything we'd hoped this trip would be.
Fresh water lakes are genuinely rare in the Western Australian wheatbelt, a region better known for its abundance of salt lakes and dry, flat horizons. Cameron's Lake is the exception. The water was a deep, vivid green, the birdlife was extraordinary, and we had the place entirely to ourselves.
We set up camp as the last of the afternoon light caught the surface of the lake, and for a few hours the looming fuel crisis and the early rumblings of Tropical Cyclone Narelle felt very far away. It was a magic first night.
Ellendale Pool: Worth the Drive, Skip the Main Camp
Saturday had us packing up and heading north to Ellendale Pool, roughly 30 kilometres east of Geraldton. If you haven't been, the pool itself is genuinely stunning. Layered sandstone cliffs drop straight to the water's edge, the reflections are something else, and the surrounding bush is thick and green. It belongs on every Western Australian bucket list.
The main campground, however, is a different story. It's poorly laid out, and even with relatively few campers it manages to feel cramped and a little chaotic. Our advice: don't bother with it. We drove a few hundred metres west of the main pool and found a quiet spot away from the crowds where we had the place entirely to ourselves.
We spent the next couple of days there doing very little of consequence. Swimming, playing grippy ball, conducting vehicle maintenance, sitting in camp chairs watching the cliffs change colour. Paul caught up on editing. We both slept well. It was exactly what the first days of a long trip should feel like.
Galena Bridge: A River Camp Worth Finding
From Ellendale Pool we pushed into Geraldton to top up on diesel. At nearly three dollars a litre it stung a little, but with fuel availability becoming a genuine concern further north we weren't taking any chances. An hour and a half later we pulled up at Galena Bridge, a popular spot on the Murchison River that sits about 90 minutes north of Geraldton.
Popular is an understatement. Most campers cluster around both sides of the bridge, and during peak times it can get seriously busy. But again, a short drive sorted us out. We crossed to the northern bank and headed upstream about 700 metres, and what we found was exactly why we do this. A wide, quiet stretch of the Murchison with a large flock of black swans drifting past the bank right next to our campsite, tall river gums overhead, and not another soul in sight.
We set up the awning, watched the swans, and for a moment forgot entirely about the cyclone tracking down the coast.
Enter: Cyclone Narelle
The forecasts had been shifting all week. When we first started monitoring Narelle, the modelling suggested Carnarvon would avoid the worst of it. We'd gone ahead and booked an Airbnb there for a few nights, figuring the cyclone-rated buildings would offer solid shelter if the track changed.
The track changed.
By the time we were sitting around camp at Galena Bridge, Narelle was being forecast to cross the coast directly over Carnarvon with gusts potentially reaching 230 kilometres per hour.
The conversation shifted quickly from trip planning to contingency planning, and we'd just started working through options to head inland when Paul went very quiet.
The Part We Didn't Plan For
It started as discomfort. Within a few minutes it was serious pain, concentrated on the right side of his abdomen, and intensifying fast. We were a long way from help, so we didn't wait around to see how things developed. Camp was packed up in short order and we headed straight back to Geraldton.
Fortunately, by the time we pulled into the Geraldton Hospital emergency department, the pain had begun to ease. After examination, the doctor was reasonably confident it was a kidney stone passing rather than anything more sinister. Just before midnight Paul was discharged, looking significantly more comfortable and slightly embarrassed about the whole thing.
We pulled up for the night at Fig Tree Crossing, a council-run roadside stop just outside Geraldton. It's a well set-up little spot, with a drop toilet, electric barbeque, bins, and a large flat grassed area. Not exactly the remote river camp we'd been enjoying, but after the evening we'd had, it felt perfect.
Bunkered Down
We took the whole situation as a fairly clear message from the universe. Between Paul's unexpected hospital visit and the cyclone's revised forecast, heading back south for a few days made every kind of sense.
We're currently bunkered down and keeping a close eye on Narelle's progress. Current modelling has her potentially crossing Geraldton as a Category Two system, which means things could get interesting in the next couple of days.
Week one of four months on the road: three new campsites we'd go back to in a heartbeat, one emergency department visit, and one very large cyclone. We'd say that's a solid start.
Watch it all unfold below!
Comments