Pinky sleeps in a caravan, has sipped beer in a Cooktown pub, and he's racked up more than 16,000 kilometres travelling around Australia.

But he's not so much a 'grey nomad' as a 'pink and grey nomad'.

The pink and grey galah has been travelling around the country for the past five years with Grenville Lownes and his partner Glenda Mayrhans.

"He's a well travelled bird," Ms Mayrhans said.

"He loves getting in the car. I put the window down at the back when we're travelling down the highway and he'll stick his head over towards the window and let the breeze blow."

Pinky travels in his cage on the back seat of the car. ( ABC Kimberley: Cecile O'Connor )

The couple has taken Pinky on their travels from Broome to the Cape York Peninsula, south to Coober Pedy and back to Broome via Uluru.

"It was an RSL place up in Cooktown and it got pretty hot outside so the proprietor asked if we wanted to bring him in. They brought him out a nip of beer," she said.

The galah, who was adopted by Mr Lownes as a chick 37 years ago, travels in a cage, strapped into the backseat, with a fan mounted above him.

He's been known to squawk when he sees cattle on the road.

"His eyes are on the road all the time," Mr Lownes said.

When they stop at caravan parks the couple take him out of the cage.

Crossing borders

Manager of Checkpoints and Surveillance at Quarantine WA, Louise Smith, said travellers with pet birds cross the border into Western Australia at Eucla about once or twice a week.

"A lot of the time they're the beloved mate especially when travelling solo and obviously galahs can live for quite a while, decades as such,' she said.

"Some birds are permitted, quite a lot in fact. The cockatiel, which is quite popular and the budgerigar which is even more popular, and certain types of galahs are also OK."

All travellers must throw out fresh fruit and vegetables at the border, and if they're transporting birds they need to discard all their seed and clean out its cage with a high pressure hose.

Ms Smith said quarantine staff gave people fresh, local seed.

"Any other straw or hay that might be on the bottom of cages occasionally is [also] not permitted," Ms Smith said.

Grenville Lownes and Glenda Mayrhans said they rarely saw other travellers with birds and while they were not allowed to take Pinky into national parks, they could not imagine leaving him behind.

"I've grown to love him and I don't know what we'd do without him if we didn't have him," Ms Mayrhans said.