Over the Easter Long Weekend, Henry and his rambunctious family of four stepped foot in Western Australia for the first time with a single mission – lap up the glory of Lucky Bay Beach and Campground.

I can’t remember where I first saw the picture. It must have been when I first arrived in Australia in 2011.

 

 

The white sand made me wince at my laptop. The water had me salivating. Wrapped around this coastal delight was an undisturbed landscape and at one end of the beach was what looked like the campground dreams are made of. Lucky Bay Campground, Western Australia. It was officially on my list.

I settled into life on the East Coast – where there most certainly isn’t a shortage of adventure treats to indulge in – and began to realise just how ludicrously large this country is. Lucky Bay, sadly, was pushed further down the hit list.

Starting a business, travelling, marriage, kids, mortgage… before I knew it it was 2023 and I STILL hadn’t gone. I’m ashamed to admit, I still hadn’t even stepped foot on WA soil.

Like many of you reading, I crawled out of a global pandemic with an invisible ‘carpe diem’ tattoo. Time is precious and I ain’t the sucker to waste it. It was time to camp at Lucky Bay.

 

 

Now, it turns out Lucky Bay is well over 1,000km from Perth if you take the coastal route. And it just so happens that this part of WA – called the South West Edge – has a menagerie of natural wonders to explore along the way. If Lucky Bay was the dessert, then this road trip was set to be one of the most delicious long lunch degustation menus known to mankind.

Did I just hear a quokka say bon appetit?

Introducing Camplify

It’s hard to beat a campervan as a road trip adventure wagon – they contain all you need in one convenient box on wheels. They’re easy to drive around, no mucking about with tow hitches, no tents. Drive, park, sleep. Simples.

 

 

Trouble is I don’t own one.

Thanks to some clever folks from Newcastle though, Camplify saved my proverbial bacon. For those who have been hiding under a rock, Camplify is a sharing platform for van owners wanting to make a little extra moolah from their unused vehicles and travellers looking to find their perfect adventure wagon.

Despite a fairly last-minute Easter school holiday enquiry, I was able to score a Toyota Hiace courtesy of Roy, who seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate our needs, namely getting additional fixture points for the kid seats fitted in the truck, prior to our arrival. Legend.

Fast forward a few weeks and we get to meet the ledgebag and his missus in person as they showed us around our home for the next 2.5 weeks, before waving us off as I sped out of Perth with Google Maps set for Lucky Bay Campground.

 

Photo by Tourism WA

The Road Trip

As with every road trip, picking a route is harder than putting a sock on an emu. Short trips especially mean you just can’t do it all, and given just how much there is to experience along the South West Edge, we had to zero in on a handful of spots.

We kicked off with a few days exploring the magnificent Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Eagle Bay, Yallingup….it’s bloody beautiful there.

Finding a rhythm with kids takes a few days and we began to find our groove after taking a few leaves out of our own book.

The highlight for me here was the infamous Easter egg hunt that took place at our campground in Dunsborough. Utter madness. The owner of the campground (who turned up in a Lamborghini) organised an egg hunt with an ungodly amount of chocolate bunnies.

Every child came away with plastic bags full of chocolate and within hours the campground was full of demonic oompa loompas spinning out on swing sets.

We ventured south through Margaret River, went trail running around Conto, explored limestone caves, marvelled at the towering beauty of the Karri forests, and spent a few days braving biblical weather in Denmark (somehow the beaches were still insanely beautiful).

Cutting inland to the Stirling Ranges, we summited mountains and crossed endless plains of wheat and cereal farms as we began to find our road trip rhythm.

We were reacquainted with the Southern Ocean at Hopetoun, a small coastal town within the Fitzgerald River National Park. To give a sense of just how ecologically bonkers this park is, it has 20% of WA’s plant species in it!

Gold at the End of the Rainbow

I’ll never forget the approach to Lucky Bay. We turned onto Cape Le Grand Road as the sun was in the final stages of her horizon plunge, splashing the sky with the kind of colour that makes driving in a straight line immensely difficult. Frenchmans Peak – a giant granite dome – appeared in the distance containing what looked to be a penthouse cave. This stirred the faint remains of my neanderthal lineage before the road dropped us down towards Lucky Bay.

 

Photo by Tourism WA

Despite generally doing my best to curb foul language for the sake of the kids, I couldn’t contain the ‘F&CK ME!!’ when I saw the beach. Epic spots stir something in us and I felt immense gratitude that this was going to be our hood for the next three days.

The Campground

With 56 unpowered sites, it’s actually quite a large campground. However the sites are very spacious and as the campground is set on gradient, most of the spots provide campers with an exceptional view across the bay.

 

 

The facilities in the national parks here are next level. Gas cooking hobs, kettles, and solar-powered hot showers! I mean…not bad for $15.

Of course, the beach is the main attraction thanks to caster-sugar sand and water so clear you’re tempted to drink the damn stuff.

We snorkelled and saw a peculiar animal that my wife initially thought was a pair of undies (upon investigation it was a Sea hare). Kangaroos roam the beaches here and hiking trails burst out from the campground offering plenty of options for those not wanting to wallow on the sand.

A Family Holiday for the Ages

So there we have it. A 2,000km adventure to experience Lucky Bay. Bucket list item ticked. What a trip. Big ups to Camplify for making it possible for travellers to explore locations they thought were unattainable.

I’ve been fortunate enough to explore a lot of Australia in the past ten years and I make no exaggeration when I say that the South West of this country is right up there as one of my favourite areas.

Whilst I’d always recommend visiting the places that call you as soon as possible – there’s no time to waste after all – there was something in the wait that made this experience all the sweeter for me in the end.

Since the trip, Lucky Bay has been voted the number one beach in the world – an accolade that when I hear I can now smugly grin and head nod to.

 

 

Hot tip! If you’re a parent, get a cheap dad-cam and ask your kids to make a documentary of the trip. My six-year-old went full Louis Theroux and the result is a hilarious collection of memories from the joyous perspective of a child, a film we edited together with their choice of pop music’s latest bangers. It’s a beautiful memory of a truly wonderful adventure.

 

Henry travelled courtesy of Camplify, Australia’s No. 1 van-sharing platform.

 

Feature photo thanks to Tourism Western Australia