Staying in Kalgoorlie by Campervan or Caravan

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is RV Friendly

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is one of only a handful of WA towns to hold official RV Friendly Town status. In practice, that means the Council wants self-contained vans and caravans here, and has set aside two free 72-hour parking areas inside the town to prove it. If you are coming up the Great Eastern Highway from Perth (600 km, around six hours, sealed all the way) or in from Norseman (187 km), Kalgoorlie is one of the easier places to roll into for a few nights without booking. Two free rest stops, five caravan parks, a year-round tip and a heated public pool covers most of what travellers actually need.

There are rules, though, and the Rangers walk through the rest areas every day. Read the conditions of stay before you park up.

Free 72-Hour Rest Stops

The City runs two free 72-hour rest areas, both for fully self-contained vehicles only. Both are listed on the council's 72 Hour Rest Stop Area page.

Centennial Park, Kalgoorlie

The main one sits in the middle of Kalgoorlie, on the corner of Patroni Street and Hannan Street. It is a big grassed reserve with a sound shell, a playground and shaded picnic shelters, and it doubles as a community park. On summer Sundays you'll often find concerts and family events here in the evenings. For van travellers, the draw is the location. You can walk to the pubs, cafes and supermarkets on Hannan Street, and you are a short drive from both Kalgoorlie and Boulder centres. There is a self-registration station near the entrance. Rangers patrol daily.

Lake Douglas Recreation Reserve, Yilkari

The quieter option is Lake Douglas, 13 km out of Kalgoorlie on Muncaster Road, Yilkari, off the Great Eastern Highway towards Coolgardie. It is another free 72-hour campground, this one set against a salt lake with a walking track around the edge. The catch is access. A 2 km unsealed descent off Muncaster Road, shared with mining trucks, turns slippery after rain. Drive to the conditions, especially the steep section into the camping area. There is no drinking water on site, so fill the tanks in town first. Both rest areas are pet friendly, as long as the dog stays on a lead at all times.

Conditions of Stay (City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder)

The Council publishes one set of conditions for both rest areas. They are short, sensible and actively enforced. Rangers can issue immediate move-on directions for non-compliance.

• 72 hours maximum in any 5-day period. The clock starts when you arrive, not when you self-register. Coming back next week is fine. Trying to stretch a stay past 72 hours is not.
• Fully self-contained vehicles only. You need an onboard toilet, water and grey-water storage. Tents, swags and vehicles without onboard facilities are not permitted at the free rest stops.
• All waste and grey water must stay on board for disposal at a proper dump point. Tipping tanks on the ground at Centennial Park or Lake Douglas is not allowed.
• No external clothes lines. Clothing is not to be hung outside the vehicle to dry. Council policy is clear on this; it is part of keeping the rest areas tidy.
• Leave no trace. Take all rubbish with you when you go and leave the site as you found it.
• Pets on a lead, restrained at all times. Pick up after them and dispose of waste at refuse areas, not on the grass.
• No portable generators. Generators are not permitted at either rest area, day or night.
• Follow Ranger directions. All campers must follow reasonable directions from City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Rangers.

Paid Caravan Parks in Kalgoorlie

If you are not self-contained, planning to stay longer than 72 hours, or you just want powered sites, hot showers and a camp kitchen, there are five caravan parks across Kalgoorlie-Boulder. They run a mix of cabins, powered sites and unpowered sites suitable for caravans and campers, and most do both short stays and longer.

Race Round (the Kalgoorlie Cup, mid-September) and the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum (early August) book out every site in town months ahead. Outside those two weeks, walk-up availability is generally fine. Off-peak weeknights you can usually negotiate a discount on stays of three nights or more.

Yarri Road Refuse Facility (Rubbish Disposal)

The Yarri Road Refuse Facility is the Council-run waste site at 33 Yarri Road, about 7 km north-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. It takes general household waste, recycling, batteries, e-waste, paint and asbestos. Travellers passing through can use it to drop a sensible amount of household-style rubbish from a long road trip. Council notes that there is no charge for domestic household waste from Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents, and that visitors should keep their loads small and obviously domestic. Commercial waste streams attract charges based on tonnage. Full details on the Council's Yarri Road Refuse Facility page.

• Hours: Monday to Sunday, 7:00 am to 4:30 pm. You need to be inside the gate by 4:15 pm. The gate closes at 4:30 pm sharp.
• Closed: Good Friday and Christmas Day.
• Phone: Yarri Road Refuse Facility (08) 9091 4308. City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (08) 9021 9600.
• Snake awareness: Council warns to take care moving around your vehicle in summer. The bins and stockpiles attract reptiles.
• Tyres: Up to four at a time, eight per year, no rims, proof of residence required. Travellers passing through should not bring tyres.
• Hazardous waste: Only asbestos and biomedical waste are accepted. Solvents, paints in volume, gases and other hazardous materials are not. Take them with you to a major centre.

For day-to-day rubbish during your stay at Centennial Park or Lake Douglas, use the public bins on Hannan Street, Maritana Street and inside the parks themselves. The Council notes there are plenty of bins around the central area. Do not leave bagged rubbish next to a full bin. The crows and ravens find it within minutes, and Rangers will fine for littering.

Firewood: The Rules Are Strict

This is the section international visitors miss most often, and it carries real fines. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) regulates firewood collection across WA, and the Council's Firewood Collection page sets out the local rules clearly:

• You must not cut or remove any wood within a 20-kilometre radius of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder town centre. This greenbelt protects the remnant woodland around the city. The 20 km zone covers everything within easy daytrip distance, including most lay-bys on the highways out of town.
• The same restriction applies inside a 7.5 km radius around the Kambalda and Coolgardie town centres.
• There are no DBCA-managed firewood collection areas in the Goldfields. The few legal public collection areas in WA are in the Perth Hills and South-West, hundreds of kilometres away.
• Collecting firewood from unallocated Crown land is generally prohibited under the Land Administration (Land Management) Regulations 2006. Small amounts of dead wood may be picked up for an immediate campfire only inside a designated camping or picnic area, and only where signage specifically states firewood collection is allowed. Taking firewood home is not permitted under any circumstances.
• Firewood may be collected from private land only with the written permission of the landowner, which you must carry and produce on request. Firewood collected this way cannot be sold, exchanged or traded.
• The lawful option for travellers is to buy firewood from a licensed supplier. The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage warns that illegal removal of firewood from State-managed land can lead to prosecution.

In practice, bring a small bag of bought firewood with you if you want a fire at Lake Douglas, or pick one up from a petrol station on the way in. Do not grab wood "from beside the road" within 20 km of town. Rangers do enforce this.

Dump Points and Water

The free rest stops do not have dump points. Council policy requires you to keep all grey and black water on board until you reach a proper dump facility. The closest dump points to Centennial Park are at the caravan parks listed above. Discovery, Prospector and Boulder Accommodation Village all run dump points that are free for registered guests and a small fee (typically A$5-10) for visitors who only need to empty tanks. Drinking water is available at all the caravan parks and at the Council Administration Building forecourt on Hannan Street. Fill up before you leave town, particularly if you are heading north to Menzies, east to Eucla or south to Norseman. Distances between water in the Goldfields are long.

Driving In and Out

From Perth, the Great Eastern Highway is sealed the whole way, easy driving for any van or caravan. The road climbs gently across the wheatbelt, then opens out into mulga and salmon gum country east of Southern Cross. There is no off-road work involved. From Norseman, the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway is similarly straightforward. Watch for road trains and oversize mining loads. Triple road trains carrying mine equipment travel both highways, and overtaking one safely requires a full kilometre of clear road. Pull over and let them past at any of the truck bays. The Council and Main Roads WA both publish unsealed road condition reports during the winter rainfall months. Check before you drive anywhere off-bitumen.

Summer (December to February) is hot. Days routinely sit at 40°C, and the bitumen radiates heat into the early evening. Plenty of travellers do not realise how hard this is on tyres, fridges and engine cooling on a heavily loaded caravan. April to October is the comfortable window. July nights drop close to zero, so bring a sleeping bag rated for a couple of degrees below freezing if you camp in winter.

What to Do From Centennial Park

The reason most travellers pick the central rest area over Lake Douglas is what is within walking distance. The Hannan Street heritage strip is two minutes away. The Museum of the Goldfields and the Mining Hall of Fame are short drives. The Goldfields Oasis Recreation Centre is the council-run pool complex, with heated indoor pools, kids pools, a spa and a sauna. After a long day on the road, it is worth the entry fee. The Super Pit Lookout on Outram Street, Boulder, is free, and gives you the unmissable view of the open-cut gold mine. The historic Town Halls in both Kalgoorlie and Boulder run guided heritage tours through the Council's heritage program. The Walk of Fame on Hannan Street is a self-guided five-minute stroll that links the gold-rush story to the modern city.

Useful Numbers

• City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder (general enquiries and Rangers): (08) 9021 9600
• Yarri Road Refuse Facility: (08) 9091 4308
• Kalgoorlie Visitor Centre: (08) 9021 1966
• Email: mailbag@ckb.wa.gov.au
• After-hours Ranger emergencies: call (08) 9021 9600 and follow the prompts

For the latest detail on conditions of stay, refuse facility hours and the firewood collection rules, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder website (ckb.wa.gov.au) is the authoritative source. The traveller information pages in particular are worth a five-minute read before you arrive.