A big reason behind our love of caravanning, is the experiences you have on the road. New places to discover, interesting people to meet, so many stories to hear, and of course the funny things that happen.

One thing I’ve learnt through blogging is also how much the caravanning community has in common, even in some cases, when we live and travel in different parts of the world.

Take for instance a blog I follow called World Wide Walkies, which is written by Jackie Lambert from the UK.

Jackie and Mark travel through Europe in a converted ex–army truck with their four dogs and she always has really entertaining and interesting stories to read. Her blog ’10 things I’ve learned from life on the road’, inspired me to look at some of the quirkier and funny things that have happened to us while caravanning in Australia.

The wildlife may differ, but other than that, I bet there are similar stories that everyone has experienced.

Beware of dropping nuts (and other wandering hazards)

When we travelled in Queensland we stayed at a beachfront caravan park, which was full of lush greenery which caused a unique problem. We noticed patrons cars draped in rubber matting and we soon learned they were used to prevent hailstone like dings being made in the cars, from tree nuts that dropped randomly. We hurriedly borrowed one from the park office too when we realised.

Wildlife wandering through caravan parks in Australia is another quirky thing to be aware of. There are plenty of places around the country where emus stroll through sites and even kangaroos come to graze nearby, but the one animal that causes the most concern is the Cassowary.

These huge flightless birds can be up to 1.8 metres tall and weigh up to 76 kilograms and to top that off, they have sharp claws an intimidating stare and a hard bony type helmet (casque) on their heads.

If you’re staying in a park with cassowaries around it pays to drape your car with a cover or towels to prevent them from seeing their reflection and causing harm to it, mistaking their reflection for another cassowary. This was best demonstrated to us and other visitors in some hilarious (but effective) signage in Etty Bay, Queensland.

Another hazard we’ve had to outsmart on holidays, were semi wild horses on Cape York. These clever creatures knew that camps meant people and people meant food. To keep them out of our sheltered tent space, we came up with a plan which involved blocking their access with our car and roping off other entrances to stop them from trampling through and running amok.

Thankfully it worked and no humans or horses were harmed in the process. Others weren’t so lucky and we witnessed a few campsites decimated by hungry horses.

Off course being Australia, there’s many camping areas that have warning signs to watch out for snakes, but luckily we’ve not encountered them up to now.

The people (and pets) you meet

We’ve met kindred spirits in other travellers who we’ve clicked with, some who are now considered great friends that we catch up with from time to time. There have been others who’ve given us a laugh and we’ve put it down to just another funny thing that’s happened on the road.

They have included being congratulated by the wife in a neighbouring caravan for getting onto site so quickly and efficiently with little fuss. Obviously it wasn’t her experience, as she praised our effort saying that it was nearly a cause for divorce at their site.

We’ve also met people who’ve brought their pets along for the trip. Nothing unusual in this with dogs and cats and even birds quite common to see now when we travel, but being Australia well there’s always going to be something a little different.

This year we also met a couple who take their bearded dragon (lizard) with them on holidays too. It would get supervised walks outdoors every day and then return to its safe caravan home afterwards.

The welcomes and not so welcomes

We stayed at one sheep station this year where we were told to ‘help yourself to any fallen timber for firewood’ which is normally not encouraged and were even told if we had a chainsaw we could cut some of the bigger pieces up, providing it was used at the station and not taken away. Wonderful!

On the flipside we’ve met some grumpy, unhelpful types in charge of parks that make you wonder why. People who aren’t people types should look for another line of work perhaps. They certainly don’t do the businesses any favours, and leave a bad impression that can spread quickly by word of mouth amongst travellers.

That wasn’t there last night

Have you ever stayed somewhere off grid and secluded only to find it’s not quite that way you pictured it in the morning?

We’ve found ourselves with unexpected visitors a number of times that have moved in as neighbours overnight and early morning, including sheep, ducks and rabbits that have made us have a double take to believe our eyes.

Then there have been times when we’ve parked with a beach view only to find the next morning that the water has gone way out and we’re looking at rocks or reef and not quite the breathtaking water view we started with.

Do any of these ring true for you? Let me know what other funny experiences you’ve had while caravanning.

Cheers & Happy Travels,

Glenys

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