SOUTH WEST CAMPING
by Graeme Olsen
Camping in the south west is as
easy as heading out your door. With the right things
in hand of course.
| It was school holidays and
I'd managed to arrange some time off to spend
with the family. I felt like being a bit of
a democratic dad at the time, and told the
kids we would decide as a family what we would
do over the holidays. The kids yelled "Camping!",
and I wholeheartedly concurred. I noticed
that my wife wasn't quite as enthusiastic,
but still responded with "hmmm....yes,
that would be....nice!". Anyone who has
been camping with two (or more) energetic
children would perhaps know what she was thinking. |
|
 |
But there was no time for that now,
we had things to do. We got out the maps and decided
where we wanted to go. On this particular occasion
we decided to try a little spot on the Blackwood
river between Balingup and Nannup. We packed the
car to it's absolute limit with all our required
gear and set off. Even the dog was excited.
There are countless places to camp
in the south west. And where you go depends on many
factors including what time of year it is, what
kind of scenery you want, how far you want to travel,
and your budget.
At one end of the scale you've got
the established caravan parks where you can have
a nice shady grassed area, with power if you don't
mind, where you can camp along side all the other
people and you have hot running water, flushing
toilets, and a laundry. This kind of camping has
it's moments, and is often good when you're camping
with friends, or have young children, or are staying
for more than a day or two.
At the other end of the scale is the
type of camping my dad used to teach me. Find a
nice forest somewhere, preferably near a river,
and set up camp in the bush for a night or two.
This kind of camping will leave you dirty, and without
the creature comforts of home, but gee it's fun.
The kids will love the campfire, the bush, the wildlife,
and jumping in the river. To me there's just something
really peaceful about sitting around a campfire
at night, maybe with marshmallows, and spotting
the local possums and kangaroos.
The season will also often dictate
where you go camping. In the hot summer you'll want
to be near water, and there are plenty of camping
areas right on the beach, or perhaps in the forest
near a freshwater river. In the winter, the deep
green forest tends to be more attractive to most
people.
So where can you go? There are literally
hundreds of places. If you want the established
camping parks, you'll find one in every major town
in the south west. The price will depend on the
season and whether you want power or not. Or if
you're after something a little less formal, we've
found a couple of resources that offer loads of
information. First, get yourself some maps of the
south west either from CALM (www.calm.wa.gov.au
- click on "Bookshop") or the RAC (www.rac.com.au
- click on "Travel"). On most of these
maps you'll find all the camping spots. The second
resource is a fantastic book by Steve and Sue Collis
(see our story on Solarfruit) called "The Guide
To Free-Camping in the South West of WA". It
contains over 115 spots to camp or picnic around
the south west. You can find out more information
by visiting www.free-camping-australia.com.
Camping is something that people always
remember. Especially the kids. Here's some advice
though - particularly for parents. You WILL forget
things and have some minor dramas during your trip.
If you don't accept that from the beginning, you're
likely to get frustrated. You need to go camping
with the expectation that you will run into minor
"challenges" during your trip. That way,
when you realise that you forgot the can opener,
or you find that your daughter has used all the
bandaids within 10 minutes of arriving, you can
take it all in your stride without blowing a fuse.
For us on our recent trip, it was realising that
what we thought was my son's air mattress was actually
a blow up sofa chair. We spent about 5 minutes working
out how we could still all have a comfortable sleep,
and then it was discussed no more.
So what are you waiting for? Clean
air, wildlife and relaxing times all await you.
A misty Blackwood River
November 2002
