Busy campers
We have been busy little campers, exploring the gorgeous coastline of Western Australia.
After our adventure with my sister and family down south we have been venturing a few hours north of Perth to Jurien Bay.
Our mission…to boldy, explore and traverse sands, paths, gravel tracks and roads we have not travelled before.
The process of unpacking our under-the-stairs-Potter-Suite of all our glamping gear doesn’t take long. Neither does throwing it all in the back of our trusty Jack.
Off adventuring we go
Our most recent forays forward and northward, we wagged work for a couple of long weekend camping getaways.
The drive itself is only three hours. Some may gasp at driving for that amount of time but for us, it’s a breeze. We always find heaps to talk about, look at and enjoy along the way.
I did some obligatory research before leaving home to find some adequate coffee watering holes to stop at. To my surprise my two faves are served in downtown Jurien Bay…yay!
Unexpectedly off-the-grid
A side note, I also looked up whether our telephone provider, whom shall remain nameless, has service in said Jurien.
According to the map provided on our providers’ website we will have patchy reception but some is better than none. Well, that’s what we thought! <insert wide-eyed emoji>
In fact, the reality was the further we travelled north the less signal bars we had on our phones. Effectively as soon as we got 10mins north of Lancelin we didn’t have any service whatsoever!!! How rude!
Finding our camping spot
We checked out Jurien Bay then kept heading north out of town to our camping spot.
We decided we didn’t want to do the ‘ole caravan park-style’ of camping.
No, no, we were going old school, off the grid, no showers for four days. Yep, stinky-town!!!
For our first camping trip, we headed to Sandy Cape Camping Site just north of Jurien, arriving mid-afternoon.
This time is worth noting because the place was packed with caravans, campervans and tents.
There must be some grey-nomad rule we didn’t know about because everyone was sitting back in their camping chairs, solar panels out to soak up the sunshine and it was just after 3pm.
Nonetheless we found a $15-a-night spot out of the way and set up our little home away from home. It was perfect!
As an organiser of most, okay all things, I prepared a meal plan for our adventures.
To tell the truth, I can get a bit cray-cray when I have to decide last minute about what we are eating.
Best to plan ahead, to avoid bloodshed. Plus, it really worked and the food we prepared beforehand was hearty and warmed us from the inside out as the sun set and the temperature started to fall.
We managed to capture some gorgeous shots of the sunset. Truly breathtaking!!
We explored the local beaches, literally walked around Jurien and checked out Cervantes and Green Head.
The Jurien Visitors Centre was a pleasant surprise, offering heaps of info about the local area and free wifi, which we took full advantage of to let relevant parties know we had zero-zip-zilch telephone service.
Crays, crays AND crays!
Cervantes offered ‘The Lobster Shack!’ which was a treat, check out the photo of Steve’s face.
He was VERY excited to;
- eat yummy crayfish and
- see how the processing centre worked
I must agree the crayfish was very tasty and very pricey. Did I mention it was tasty!
The processing centre tour was fascinating. From the video about its history and detailed information about how the crays are sized and sorted. To how many of the little tasty beasties are transported, alive to all sorts of places.
It’s a top spot to visit if you are in the area.
Yes, it’s a popular tourist attraction, so try to avoid the bus load of people but it’s definitely worth a look.
Camping adventure 2.0
For our second camping-vacation we intended to camp just out of Green Head at Milligan Island Camping Site.
We checked out the spot on our last trip and were impressed by the picturesque beaches and site set-up.
However, when we arrived and started unpacking Jack, the number of bees hovering around was rather disconcerting. We asked some nearby nomads and confirmed there are lots of bees in the area and they buzz around for most of the day.
This explained why the site was practically empty and despite wanting to stay, the thought of shoo-ing bees for days was not our cup of tea.
Disappointed, we headed back to the ‘old faithful’ Sandy Cape Camping Site a little later than 3pm this time.
Thankfully the cooler temperatures meant we easily found a spot.
Ridgy didge 4wd-ing
On our second trip, we went off-road. I got to do some ridgy-didge four-wheel driving on sandy tracks with the tyres let down.
Of course, my Special Friend had all the right gear for all the possible outcomes i.e. tyre deflaters, a shovel for digging us out if we got bogged, food, water and a scuba tank to quickly re-inflate our tyres. Love him!
The purpose of heading off-road was to visit a cave in Stockyard Gully National Park.
We did the gravel track thing and then the sandy track thing and even a bit of the rocky track thing too.
I was nervous to start with, unsure and I have previously had a challenging experience with an off-road motorbike on sand dunes. But this turned out to be great fun. Sooo glad I did it.
June WA weather
Lastly, I must say, now that it’s June the temperature is slightly cooler than it was during our first trip in early May.
Thankfully we came prepared with extra layers to stay warm.
What this looked like as the afternoon turned into evening and night was tracksuits pants over our shorts, thick socks over short socks, a jumper or two with hoodies, a beanie, fingerless gloves combined with warm food and drinks.
Hopping into bed involved keeping the socks on, matching PJ pants, a PJ top, jumper with hoodie, gloves for me and a long beanie that each of us pulled down over our faces so only our mouths and chin were air-borne.
It was a sight to see but at least we were warm.
All in all, we enjoyed our Jurien Bay glamping.
Stayed turned for stories about those hole in the ground camping toilets and a coffee camping drama.
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