Campervan supplies Kalgoorlie: stock up before the empty bits

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is a proper regional centre, not a one-shelf roadhouse with sad bananas. You’ll find full-size supermarkets and bottle-o options around the Hannan Street, Boulder Road and suburban shopping areas, plus bakeries, chemists and hardware-style stores for the bits a van somehow eats: hose fittings, pegs, fuses and gaffer tape.

The catch is parking. A 6–7.5 m campervan with a 2.7–3.2 m roof does not belong in tight undercover bays or cute little angled parks near shopfronts. For supermarkets Kalgoorlie campervan drivers should use the outer rows of open-air car parks, shop early before the ute invasion, and split a monster shop into two lighter runs if it saves blocking traffic like a mobile chicane.

• Do check height bars before committing; reversing out with an audience is character-building, not fun.
• Do buy heavy staples first: water, long-life milk, tins, rice, pasta, cereal, coffee, freezer meals and electrolyte sachets.
• Do restock fruit and salad here; roadhouse fresh food east of town can be limited and dearer.
• Don’t load the fridge so tightly that air cannot circulate. A camper fridge in 38°C heat needs breathing room.
• Don’t assume Sunday or public-holiday hours match Perth. Check current opening hours before you roll in dusty and hungry.

Kalgoorlie has multiple servos with diesel and unleaded, which makes it the sensible place to top up before the numbers get less friendly. From town it is about 188 km to Norseman, 226 km to Southern Cross, 391 km to Esperance and roughly 360 km to Laverton. Those are not panic distances, but a headwind, air-con, corrugations on side tracks and a heavy water tank can turn a relaxed fuel plan into a muttered prayer.

Most hired motorhomes use around 12–16 L/100 km on the highway, and more if you sit on 110 km/h into a hot easterly. A 75 L tank might give 450–600 km of practical range, but you should plan with a buffer rather than the brochure number. Across the Nullarbor, common roadhouse gaps are around 180–200 km; north of Laverton, services are much thinner and road conditions matter more.

• Do fill the main tank before leaving Kalgoorlie, even if it is still half full.
• Do check whether your hire agreement allows unsealed roads before considering the Great Central Road.
• Do keep your speed steady; sitting behind a road train at a safe distance is often calmer than leapfrogging it.
• Don’t rely on late-night fuel at every small town. Card machines, outages and closed counters happen.
• Don’t drive at dusk or night if you can avoid it. Roos, cattle and emus do not read your insurance excess.

A lpg refill Kalgoorlie stop is worth sorting before you make camp east of town. Campervans may use LPG bottles for cooking, hot water and sometimes the fridge, depending on the vehicle. Bottle sizes vary, commonly around 3.7 kg, 4.5 kg or 9 kg, and not every outlet swaps every size.

There is an important difference between vehicle autogas and a portable/camper gas bottle refill. Autogas pumps have become less common across Australia, while bottle exchange or refill points are usually found through servos, camping suppliers or hardware-style outlets. Check your bottle type before wandering into a counter with the confidence of a man who has not read the regulator label.

• Do refill or swap before the bottle is empty; one cold, windy dinner of uncooked pasta is enough.
• Do travel with the bottle turned off unless your vehicle manual says otherwise.
• Do keep the gas compartment clear; it is not a bonus cupboard for thongs and fly spray.
• Don’t use a damaged hose or regulator. Replace it in town, not 300 km later.
• Don’t assume your rental bottle can be exchanged for any random brand or fitting. Match the size and connector.

Out here, water is not just for tea. In hot weather, allow at least 5 L per person per day for drinking alone, then add washing-up, handwashing and the small luxury of not smelling like a mining boot. Many campervans carry 70–120 L of fresh water; that sounds generous until two people shower, cook and rinse red dust off plates.

For potable water, your most reliable option is usually your holiday park or an approved signed tap. Public taps can change status, be non-potable, or be locked due to misuse. The same goes for the public dump point Kalgoorlie travellers often use in the RV/visitor-information precinct or signed council facilities: check current signage, use only approved dump points, and never empty a toilet cassette into a pit toilet, drain or bushland.

• Do fill fresh water before leaving town, especially if heading to free camps or national-park sites with no taps.
• Do carry a food-grade hose and tap adaptor; a garden hose can make your tank taste like Bunnings aisle 12.
• Do empty the cassette before it is urgent. Urgent cassette work is how marriages are tested.
• Don’t wash dishes at drinking-water taps or dump-point rinse hoses.
• Don’t use creek, lake or bore water in the fresh tank unless it is clearly marked potable.

Kalgoorlie is a good reset town: wash clothes, clean the windscreen, shake out the red dirt and repack before the next long leg. A laundromat Kalgoorlie stop is especially useful if you have been free camping, because damp towels and a sealed van create the sort of atmosphere normally studied by fungi.

Think about your next direction before you shop. Norseman and the Nullarbor need long-life food, water and patience. The Goldfields north to Menzies, Leonora and Laverton needs fuel discipline and a sealed-road mindset unless your hire paperwork says otherwise. The Great Central Road is remote, largely unsealed, permit-controlled and not suitable for standard 2WD campervan hire unless explicitly allowed.

• Do pack 2–3 days of easy meals even if your route has roadhouses.
• Do carry sunscreen, insect repellent, electrolyte powder, basic first aid and a torch that is not your phone.
• Do download offline maps; reception fades quickly once the headframe disappears in the mirrors.
• Do check tyre pressures when cold and walk around the van before every long leg.
• Don’t take alcohol into restricted communities if heading remote; rules can apply beyond the Goldfields proper.
• Don’t leave food outside overnight. Crows, ants and dingoes are better organised than some tour groups.