Waking up in Margaret River to a curious emu, on a swag camping adventure in Western Australia.

Swag Camping Tours vs Self Drive

September 6, 2019

 

Everything you need to know about swag camping in Australia – a Q & A with the owner of Nullarbor Traveller tours, Hassie.

Q.  Hassie, your tours from Adelaide and Perth are quite unique in that they are swag camping adventures. A lot of people don’t even know what a swag is before they come to Australia! What’s so good about it? And do you also sleep a swag?

To be honest when I first started swag camping I struggled to sleep in it because I’m a bit of a wriggler. It took me a while to figure out I can’t sleep in sleeping bags. So, what I do now is just have a sheet inside my swag and a doona (duvet) if it’s cold, and then I sleep really comfortably. I think what makes an outback swag camping experience really enjoyable is when you fall asleep under the stars or wake up in the morning with nature all around you.

Swag camping is a great experience that everyone should try at some stage in their lifetime. Some passengers are naturally a bit nervous when they first think about it, worrying about snakes and spiders and other Aussie critters getting into their swags, but then they realise it is all in their head, and once they have tried it they love it.

At the end of the tours some passengers are genuinely sad to get back into a normal bed! The one tip we give is to roll up your swag when you get up in the morning as something will only get in it if you are not in it.  If you do that you know you can unroll it the next night and be safe and sound.

Q.  What is it that you think passengers love most about the Nullarbor Traveller swag camping adventures?

I think it’s a lot of things. It’s the places we go and what people have the opportunity to do when they are there. It’s off the beaten track and there are not a lot of other people. We’ve got views that rival the Great Ocean Road in Victoria but when you go there you’ll also be with hundreds of other tourist buses, with people all fighting for that same photo. We go to places such as the Eyre Peninsula and Esperance and we are the only ones there. We can take our time and let the passengers get those best shots.

I think our tours are a photographer’s dream. To come and see and shoot what we’ve got around us, whether that’s a close up of Australian wildlife, a photo of the outback or the great coastline. It’s all there. And to actually go to a beach where your footprints are the only ones on that beach, that’s something that’s really special about Australia.

Cape Le Grand National Park hike near Esperance Western Australia

Q. Putting bias aside, do you think people should jump on a tour when visiting the remote regions in South Australia, the Nullarbor and Western Australia? Or should they go it alone and self-drive?

To be honest I think both have merits. I think self-drive is a good thing if you have lots of time, know what you are doing, where you are travelling and the amount of time it takes to get places. But there is a lot you have to focus on. Where you are going to stop for the night, what places to visit, oh no it’s going to be dark.  Do you have a satellite phone because there is no reception. All of those questions come into play and most people don’t quite have a grasp of the remoteness of these regions we cover.

When you are travelling on a tour you can see the best parts of the regions with no stress involved. You have an expert guide who will share their knowledge and passion, and of course you are going to meet like-minded travellers that often become friends for life. We get a lot of people that come to our accommodation property on the Eyre Peninsula, Coodlie Park, and when we have a chat to them about where they have come from and where they have been, so many of them have actually missed the best parts!

Really discovering Australia is about getting off the beaten track!

And to be honest some of the best parts are not signposted. It’s all about getting off the beaten track and going out and knowing with confidence you can get to the end of that road and turn around. People in caravans or camper-vans don’t know if they can turn around or will have to reverse back 4 km down a dirt road. All those things come into play when you self-drive.

We have over 15 years experience of being the only tour operator driving back and forward across the mighty Nullarbor. When you go on our 10 day Adelaide to Perth tour, or in reverse on our 9 Day Perth to Adelaide tour, you can have complete confidence. We know the south coast of Australia like the back of our hands and we are going to show our passengers the most incredible places at the best times. Once they are on board, everything is included – food, transport, a guide sharing local knowledge, swags, activities, equipment – all they have to do is bring a their sense of adventure and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!

If you’d like to know more about Nullarbor Travellers swag camping tours and experiences you can check out some past passenger blogs. Two of our favourites are – Marley’s Blog and Sandra’s Swag Camp Across Australia.

Discover our new Margaret River Tours from Perth.

 

 

 

Nullarbor Traveller passengers getting another perspective on a camping tour