After leaving the Northcliffe area we decided to drive straight to our next camp spot, then we would day trip the surrounds. We drove to Boat Harbour Camp, which is pretty much halfway between Walpole & Denmark. This campsite was chosen by one of our Patreons Trent and it turned out to be a ripper.
With grey skies predicted for the next few days, we decided to get a powered site for only $25 a night (unpowered was $20). We found a nice spot to set up and settled in. On first impressions, the campsite seemed a bit rustic, but we ended up staying 3 nights as we loved it. Most sites had fire pits and we were able to break our campfire drought of 4 months and have our first campfire here! They stock the drums with kindling and fire-starters, all you have to do is find some wood to keep it going.
The amenities were dated but the showers were HOT, clean and spacious! They had a brilliant camp kitchen as well with bbqs, grills, microwave and a wood fired pizza oven. There was plenty of space around the campground to sprawl out which was nice.
Whilst here, we explored the surrounds, with all that it had on offer. First stop was up to Mt Frankland, a short 600m hike from the carpark to the summit. It was quite steep so definitely got our heart rates up. It was surprising to see a little fire lookout tower up the top with a man inside. Talk about epic office views.
We then headed off to check out the ‘Swarbrick Art Walk’. A dozen art pieces combined together in a small walk which is meant to represent each artists impressions of the deforesting in the area. The art pieces were interesting, we had a bit of fun with the large mirrored wall.
From here we drove back down into Walpole, a small town, if you blink you’d miss it.Driving around having a look at the inlet. It was tempting to stop and fish but the weather wasn’t very inviting, so we stayed in the Nav. Next stop was up to see the ‘Giant Tingle Tree’. This tree was HUGE! Only a short circuit walk from the carpark and it was well worth the effort to see. We think its probably the biggest base/trunk of a tree we have seen all trip!
Kurt had this thing where he wanted to have a fish at this river we had passed the previous day. Its the Frankland River. We pulled up and he marched down with his rod. About 20 minutes later i hear this tap on my window, its Kurt with this massive crab🦀 hanging off his fish rod. He had flukely foul hooked a large blue swimmer crab! We then spent the next 5 minutes deciding what to do with it, as we weren’t prepared for this haha.
After some talks we kept it and put it in the freezer. We had one more stop before heading back to camp. We headed out to the Valley of the giants. Now we had heard mixed reviews about the tree top walk, some saying it was good, others saying save your money. We decided to save our money and not to do the tree top walk and simply do the free walk along the base. Amz a few days earlier had climbed the 3 fire lookout trees and Kurt was feeling a bit ‘tree’d out’.
The base walk was still nice and we got to see some more giant trees which was cool. After a super busy morning we made it back to boat harbour and just relaxed the afternoon away. The following day we had planned to visit William Bay national Park, but the weather was terrible and we really wanted sunshine to see Green Pools & Elephant Rocks. We made the decision to just stay around camp.
About 2 oclock the sun popped out, so we decided to take a drive to Boat Harbour beach. I mean we can’t stay here and not see the actual Boat Harbour Beach right? The track down to the beach was quite sandy and corrugated but we managed to get there without deflating our tyres. We packed the fishing rods, in the hope of catching something.
The beach was absolutely stunning and the best part was not another soul in sight. We tried our luck fishing off the rocks and then off the beach but the fish must of kept dodging our hooks as we didn’t catch anything. We ventured around the sandy tracks and we found a little hidden cove. It was so pretty. We popped the drone up and it seemed even more stunning from the air.
Well the bad weather unfortunately returned the next day, so we decided to pack up and head onto our next campsite and come back to visit William Bay National Park another day.
Next stop Cosy corner / Albany!