Dan & Dan in a Van

Dan & Dan in a Van 2 Dan’s in a van doing a tour of Australia. Sharing our journey on our travels!!

Way out in the middle of the Western Australian outback, not to far from each other are Big Bell and Walga Rock. Big Bel...
07/06/2026

Way out in the middle of the Western Australian outback, not to far from each other are Big Bell and Walga Rock.

Big Bell was a mining town established in the 30’s for the Big Bell mine, and abandoned in the 50’s when the mine shut down. Most of the building have been relocated, but the hotel and the church remain. It reminded me a lot of Mary Kathleen. Absolutely stunning architecture in the hotel. Such a shame it wasn’t preserved. But it makes for a pretty cool explore.

About 20 minutes away from Big Bell is Walga rock. WA’s “uluru” the second biggest monolith in Australia, and home to WA’s largest aboriginal rock painting collection. Was pretty cool to see and to climb to the top of the rock!!
Located about 7 hours inland north east of Perth it was all pretty remote with not much but mines and trucks out there.

So we spent a quick over night in Gwalia ghost town, right on the edge of the sons of Gwalia open cut mine (that might c...
04/06/2026

So we spent a quick over night in Gwalia ghost town, right on the edge of the sons of Gwalia open cut mine (that might come later in a different post).

The Majority of the Ghost town of Gwalia is a free, open air museum, displaying homes from the very early 1900’s all the way up to when occupants moved out in the 80’s.
The difference in social classes in the early days was very evident, but one thing that ran true throughout all the homes was they all had similar kitchens. Nothing like what we have today, but rich or poor, guest house or 2 room shanty, they all had the same type of kitchen.

Highly recommend a visit if you are in the area at all!!

Today saw us venture out to Wave Rock and hippos yawn. They were pretty cool to see!!
28/05/2026

Today saw us venture out to Wave Rock and hippos yawn.
They were pretty cool to see!!

26/05/2026

Some interesting facts for you weirdos to go with the video!!

The first camera was invented in 1816 in France, but photography (the process of permenantly recording an image on medium) wasn’t invented until 1826, 10 years after the camera was invented.

This museum in Meckering has a camera that was made in 1818, predating photography by 8 years.

The Big Camera is the only museum of photography in Western Australia and possibly the largest collection of working cameras in the southern hemisphere.

https://www.cunderdin.wa.gov.au/explore/what-to-see/meckering-the-big-camera.aspx

In 1968 a 6.9 magnitude earthquake decimated the small town of Meckering 114km east of Perth. Today were we able to trac...
26/05/2026

In 1968 a 6.9 magnitude earthquake decimated the small town of Meckering 114km east of Perth.

Today were we able to trace where the earth ruptured and split and raised 1.3m high and slid 2.2m across.
It doesn’t look like much today, just a small rise in a paddock, but it was different.

We also checked out what was left of a 1904 built stone homestead just out of town that was flattened by the quake. All the rest of the ruins of the town have been cleared, but these ones remain.
It was a lovely old house before it was crumbled.

Oh, there’s also “the big camera” in town too. I will try and get Dan to do a video, otherwise you might get one done by me. Lookout!!! 🤣🤣🤣

As promised, here is a selection of historic Fremantle architecture. It is absolutely stunning. Dan said it felt like he...
25/05/2026

As promised, here is a selection of historic Fremantle architecture. It is absolutely stunning. Dan said it felt like he was walking through a movie set.

Saturday saw us at Fremantle convict establishment which later became the Fremantle prison for most of the day!Built ent...
25/05/2026

Saturday saw us at Fremantle convict establishment which later became the Fremantle prison for most of the day!

Built entirely by convicts as a prison for convicts sent over from England, is was the convict establishment from 1855 to 1867 before the end of the convict deportation, in 1867 it officially became the Fremantle prison.

The sheer scale of the buildings built without modern tools is epic and the conditions of the prison and the prisoners right up until its closure in 1991 is mind blowing.

It was absolutely fascinating to see the escape proof cell, the cell with the drawings on the walls, the solitary confinement, the building and the history and the 2, yes 2, still consecrated churches within the main building.

Here is a link for anyone that wants to check it out. https://www.australianconvictsites.au/fremantleprison

We did a 2 and a half hour tour of the prisoner built (dug out) tunnels that run below the prison that were used to store and extract water from the aquifer below the prison. Sadly no photos allowed in the tunnels, but we were in 2 person dinghy’s floating through the tunnels, it was pretty cool!

We did a walk around Freo after the prison tour, so I will do a separate post with all the old architecture soon!!

Check out the rays on this stunning sunset!! ❤️❤️❤️
23/05/2026

Check out the rays on this stunning sunset!! ❤️❤️❤️

The Giants of Mandurah was a fun way to fill in the afternoon. Fascinating and fun, we saw 4 out of 5 before it got late...
21/05/2026

The Giants of Mandurah was a fun way to fill in the afternoon.
Fascinating and fun, we saw 4 out of 5 before it got late, but we might go find the 5th one today.
Created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo on 2022, the seasons of the Giants has been extended until at least the end of 2026!!!

After the morning at the museum, we took a drive out to Wellington dam near Collie. Wellington Dam is home to the bigges...
17/05/2026

After the morning at the museum, we took a drive out to Wellington dam near Collie.

Wellington Dam is home to the biggest dam mural in the world. It takes up the entire dam wall at 34m high and 367m wide with a total area of 8000 square meters.

It was quite impressive!!!

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