Western Australia – The South Part 1

Kia Ora from Wanaka

The first month of the new year 2024 has already passed and we have February, our last month in New Zealand. Currently, we’re in the central region of the South Island…

But for now it‘s time to catch up with our Western Australia adventures. Let’s go back to the start of December and right to the start of our southern WA roadtrip with a new campervan. Enjoy reading!

Cheers
Alicia & Marco

Monday Moning, back to work…

Today is December 4th, and we are starting our next adventure by using public transportation. We have picked up our camper van and plan to explore the southwest region of Western Australia.

Preston Beach

We went to Preston Beach to a free campsite to work a little on the blog. We were surprised by how big our little camper van really was. It was no problem to fit three persons sleeping in here, and we also were delighted that we didn’t have to set up the rooftop tent every night. Still, as it was only a two-wheel drive, we sadly looked at all the Toyota Land Cruiser, Hilux and and all the other 4WD who let down their tires and went for a beach drive. That 4WD times, sadly, were over for us now.

Adventist Campground

During our trip, we decided to visit the Adventist campground near Busselton. At first, we were unsure about what to expect since we found out that alcohol was prohibited on the premises. However, we decided to give it a try and booked a two-night stay. Also it wasn’t quite that hard for us after our night out at the Pub with Nigel… To our surprise, the campground was exceptional. The kitchen and BBQ area were perfect and the beach was beautiful. While walking along the beach, Alicia even spotted some dolphins. Overall, it was a wonderful experience. We even got a visit from St Nicholas on the 6th of December at the campsite.

Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

We took a stroll at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the Indian Ocean. On a fortunate day, you might even get a chance to see whales from this spot.

Bunker Bay

After our little walk, we planned a snack stop at Bunker Bay, but alas, there were too many flies to even think about putting out something to eat. So back into the van and back on the road.

Aquarium and Canal Rocks

The next stop on our way was the aquarium, a small bay sheltered by big rocks. We hiked a little on the Cape to Cape track, which is leading 120 kilometers from Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse all the way down south to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse.

Boranup Campground

The Boranup Campsite is a little campground in the middle of huge eucalyptus trees. The forest looks magical if the sun is setting and shining through the winded trees. We even got some Emu visitors the next morning.

Pemberton Area

While in the Pemberton area, Marco was eager to visit the famous Glucose tree. Standing tall at approximately 60 meters, the tree offers a climb of up to 40 meters. In the past, steel poles were installed into the tree to serve as stairs to climb up to the lookout point, which was used to spot bushfires. However, the tree climbing activity was closed in November 2023, and we were unable to take part in it. 2 weeks too late… Nonetheless, we enjoyed other scenic walks in the area and were amazed by the impressive wineries. Additionally, we also watched the beautiful parrots flying around everywhere.

Mount Frankland National Park

After leaving Pemberton, we hit the road again and were surprised by the long stretch ahead of us. In the Margaret River area we were used to cities and villages around 50 kilometers apart from each other. However, once we left Pemberton, the distances between towns and villages increased dramatically, distances of 150 to 200 kilometers between each stop again. As it started getting late, we began searching for a place to sleep for the night, not wanting to drive in the dark. That’s when we stumbled upon a charming little bush camp inside Mount Franklin National Park. Despite not expecting much, we were blown away by the impressive trees with diameters bigger than our car. Because of our amount of books we accumulated over the last few book boxes, we decided to spend two nights there and even made our first camping flatbread for breakfast on the 2nd advent. Preparing the dough in the evening and cooking it in the morning in a pan resulted in the perfect meal.

Fernhook Falls

Using the Wiki camp’s offline map, we were able to locate a nearby waterfall and decided to hike there. The waterfall itself wasn’t that impressive, and we could only imagine the strength of the water streams during rainy seasons. But it was a nice walk in the Mount Frankland NP and we just saw one car the whole day.

Planned Bushfires

Around Walpole, we found some road signs we hadn’t seen so far. It told us to drive slowly because of planned bushfires. As it turned out, the firefighters laid out controlled fires to burn down the small bushes in the forest to protect them from bigger Bush and forest fires.

Valley of the Giants

As we traveled towards the Valley of the Giants, we navigated a narrow gravel road to reach the colossal tingle tree. This unique eucalyptus tree once allowed early Western tourists to park their cars inside of it.

In the Valley of the Giants, we purchased some honey beside the road and some wine and olive oil from Andreas, who left Switzerland in his 20s. The way up to his farm was quite impressive. A lot of parrots crossed our way while driving towards the farm.

Green Pools – Denmark

On our way to the green pools near Denmark, we suddenly spotted some big birds sitting beside a little river. As we wanted to take a closer look, we turned around and looked again at the birds, who turned out to be big Pelicans. What a feeling to see an animal just in the wilderness of Western Australia. The green pools itself were nice, but also crowded.

Manypeaks Bushcamp with a View

We ventured towards the Ocean Woo Camps, taking a small gravel road that led us towards the ocean and the many peaks surrounding it. According to the signs, we were informed that there were two free campsites available right beside the ocean, which seemed quite promising from the pictures we had seen. As it was already late, we decided to give it a try. However, upon arrival, we were disappointed to find out that all the campsites were already occupied. Nevertheless, we made the most of our situation and set up a small bush camp, which had a breathtaking view of the ocean. To make our experience even better, we baked some delicious Australia-shaped flatbread.

The next day we tried our luck with the East Bay Campground again. And we could easily say, that one made it’s way to our Top 5 WA Campsites real quick. More in the next blog post.