AN Irish couple travelling around Australia has been robbed of everything they own - just two days after arriving in Perth.

Aidan Phelan, 29 and girlfriend Claire Mullins, 27, were at Scarborough Beach on Thursday, when their white  Mitsubishi Verada station wagon was stolen between 2.30pm and 3pm from the main carpark overlooking the beach.

The 1995 model car has Victorian licence plates: WNS 762 and several distinctive stickers, including a Repco sticker, a South Sydney Rabbitohs sticker and a King Valley caravan park  sticker on the rear window.

Mr Phelan, a keen surfer, hit the water about 2.30pm, but when he returned to his car it was gone  -- along with all his and his girlfriend's belongings from nearly two years travel in Australia.

The couple lost irreplaceable photographs and travel diaries from their trip, a valuable digital camera and lenses, headphones, clothes, camping equipment, inlcuding their backpacks, a tent and cooking equipment.   

The couple reported the theft to Scarborough Police and are now staying in an East Perth backpacker's hostel hoping their car but, more importantly, their personal belongings turn up.

"It was a pretty quick job, we were at the car around 2.30pm and when Aidan went back up about 3pm it was gone,'' a frustrated Ms Mullins said.

"It was a beautiful day, the beach was busy, the carpark was busy, there were a lot of people around.''

Tired of constantly packing and unpacking their vehicle on their travels, the couple made the decision to leave their possessions in their car.

"We've lost everything, we've lost our business clothes, our shoes. We're down to about 10 T-shirts between us.''

Mr Phelan, a web-designer, was planning to work in WA and Ms Mullins, an English-German translator, have been working in Sydney and Melbourne and were planning to travel around the WA coast.

In a desperate attempt to recover his belongings Mr Phelan fired off an email to Perth's media:

"The car itself is an old white Mitsubishi Verada station wagon (Victorian licence plates WNS 762), about 14 years old, so not exactly worth a whole lot, but the unfortunate thing was that practically 95 per cent pf our belongings were in the back of the car, and so we are now left with little more than the clothes we were wearing at the time,'' he wrote.

"As a result of this theft, we lost our transport which was going to take us around the rest of Australia, the vast majority of our clothes, a camera, camping equipment, not to mention the numerous sentimental items that we had accumulated along the way, including travel diaries we had been keeping since leaving Ireland. 

Mr Phelan said  two large backpacks - one navy and one black - had been stolen.

"Any help at all that we can get with recovering any of our belongings would be amazing, as right now, we are left with nothing,'' he wrote.

"If we don't manage to recover anything, at least this story may remind people to be more cautious in particular around the Scarborough area, as incidents of theft may be higher with the Chill Pro Junior taking place at Trigg this weekend.''

If anyone sees the stolen vehicle or finds the couple's belongings they should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or contact Aidan Phelan on 0424 826 625.