No caravan park, near fresh water, walking/bike tracks, reasonably private sites, bush style camping.
We aren't after much but we have decided being near a river in a bushy setting is ideally what we want as you are much more protected from the wild coastal wind that often occurs over here. We certainly don't want to spend Christmas Day getting sand blown into our champagne!
So after racking the brains of every local we know we began exploring Wellington National Park which has camping on the Collie River. We spent 2 nights to get a feel for the spot and this is the positive/negative run down.
Positives:
Camping spots right next to river with picnic tables
Shade from the lovely trees
Ducks to feed
Kayaking
Swimming
Heaps of walking tracks
Lots of logs to balance on (the kids latest craze)
Bike riding
Flushing toilets
Negatives:
Only a few sites could take our van, most are for tents only.
Could get really busy with day visitors as it's an awesome spot and there have been quite a few people here even though it is midweek.
Quite a bit of rubbish (cans & bottles)- is it a bogan weekend hangout??
You can still see other sites from your site.
From there we headed south to the Blackwood River, where there are a few dedicated camping spots within the National Park and we'd also been told of heaps of tracks down to the river and secluded camping spots.
On the way in to the national park, on long straight stretch of road, we saw a large dust cloud on the other side of the road and both wondered what it was. By the time we reached it 30 seconds later we were confronted with a totally smashed single cab work truck that had just run off the road and rolled to a stop on the edge. Tools, a air compressor, oxygen and acetylene bottles and several jerry cans of fuel were strewn across the road and the driver was wandering around, in a daze, but seemingly unhurt. He was more worried about tidying up and calling his boss than any injuries he might have. We had no phone reception so Daniel got on the UHF to try to contact someone whilst I tried to get some debris off the road. The driver wasn't sure how it happened and was, understandably, quite shaken. Thankfully some other people stopped and one drove off to get phone reception and get help. We helped for a while the left him in the capable hands of other helpers who didn't have toddlers in their cars. Hopefully his boss took him to get checked out as it was incredible to think he had no injuries from an accident like that.
After that drama we were keen to get settled. Unfortunately the spots in the national park camp grounds didn't take our fancy so we went off exploring some of the tracks. We found a steep track that took us to a cleared area on the riverbank, perfect. We spent several nights here and came to this conclusion:
Positives:
We were on our own
River was easy to get in to
Kayaking opportunities
It was free
Negatives:
Two different groups of people (one a group from a local school) came to the spot to launch their kayaks so it is obviously a spot known to locals.
At 12.30 on night a car came down, after much cursing they sped away. Daniel found a still warm campfire just upstream the next morning and we think they may have been illegally netting marron and we were camped where they normally stay.
We spent some of our time exploring more of the Blackwood River area and we both really like a place called Chapman Pool. It is a National Park camp area so for only $20 a night we get the luxuries of drop toilets, free gas bbq's, picnic tables, walking trails and a small 'beach' area to get in and out of the river and launch the kayak. The sites are also quite bushy so you have a bit of privacy. It is also only 20 min from Margaret River for supplies. We have decided this will suit us for Xmas now we just have to get a spot. Only a few sites will fit the van, as most are just for tents, so we plan to head down on Monday 14th with our fingers crossed and hopefully secure a site. If that fails we found a few other free camps that would be okay but I am sure we will manage to have a lovely and unique Christmas wherever we are.
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| Jackson perfecting his 'monkey' skills - not sure why he had to do it nude though (definitely like his father!) |
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| Admiring the serenity of the Collie River. |
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| A bush camp is what we are after. |
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| Kayaking on the Blackwood River. |
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