Far South Camping

Over the Christmas break we had our friends from the Netherlands over and went down South NSW for some camping. We visited 7 grounds in 10 days, so you can image we were also glad to be back home, which is the best thing about camping anyways as everybody knows. Below is a summary of the sites we visited.

Depot Beach

North of Batemans Bay (Kioloa State Forest) and close to Pebbly Beach. Nice sites, although a little bit dodgy. We had a site at the back that looked straight into/over a nice forest. Not all sites have their own fire-pit so request one when booking.  Just a short walk down to the beach (kangaroos at dusk) and a small rain-forest track. You can walk all the way to Pebbly Beach. Hot Showers ($1) although the Ladies' showers didn't give any hot water. The office sells bags of ice. There is no drinking water.

We took a look at Pebbly Beach also, but the smaller tent sites are on a slope where they made a sort of big 'stairs' (multiple levels) Not so handy when you need to find your way at night after a couple of beers. From Pebbly beach there are some nice walks along the coast too. We went to Snake Bay for some amazing snorkelling and spotted an Echidna.

North Head

Also North of Batemans Bay and not to be confused with the one near Manly, this is a very small (only 10 sites) first come first serve camp ground in the middle of nowhere (although Batemans Bay is actually around the corner). Very nice and quiet beach just a minute away. Beware not to drive by the exits that leads to this site, it's made for locals so it can be hard to find. No tourists here!



Also no facilities apart from possums cleaning up your garbage at night. We came after boxing day so all the sites were taken, but we pitched up our tent at dusk on a nice flat area anyway. Our friends parked their campervan at the parking next to it so all was good. It takes around 15 minutes on a dirt road from the main road to get to the ground.

More details of Depot, Pebbly and North Head (all in Kioloa State Forest) are found here
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkCamping.aspx?id=N0025

Brou Lake camping area

North of Narooma (Eurobodalla National Park). It's not that far north, but it's a bit of a ride through the forest (15-20 mins) so we decided to go to Mystery Bay instead. The sites are in the bush on the lake that is more like a wide river. A bit of a walk to the beach though. First come first serve, bring everything. If you see a small tent in a deplorable state... it might be ours...

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkCamping.aspx?id=N0095

Mystery Bay

As it was just after Christmas this ground was pretty full but we stayed on a grassy overflow area right at the entrance of the ground. A nice beach is close by and we were allowed to make a camp fire, which always adds to the joy. Definitely not as secluded as Brou Lake, but closer to Narooma and as we had a scuba dive on Montague Island (with Seals!) planned the next morning, we stayed here. The cars that drove by (very) early morning to go fishing were not very pleasant as we could smell their fumes in the tent. But I guess this problem does not exist on the official sites.

When we were there it was a bit 'hoony' with the low basses of house music and crying babies, but I hope/suppose this is not the case during the rest of the year. We drove off the next morning, did not see any ranger so at was a free stay again. This bay is called "Mysterious" because apparently some fisherman set out to sea and were never seen again.

Honeymoon Bay 

This ground in the North of Jervis Bay at the end of the road to Currarong and is actually on military terrain and they give you a pin code at the boom gates that you have to use driving out. Normally you can only camp here Friday and Saturday nights, but during the X-mas and Easter breaks they have a ballot system to assign you a site (not that you would want it in that time I guess). Really spacey sites for camper trailers but also some smaller tent sites. A very nice area to do some hiking to the lighthouse or stunning cliffs or take a plunge in the always sheltered honeymoon bay where you can see the sunset. We did a dive there, not the best ever, but enjoyable.  All in all a very nice ground but no fires allowed, bummer. 

When we got there all sites where of course booked out, but the nice man at the boom gate pointed us to a secret spot (a bit of a dump actually) one minute away. You drive back and take a right hair spin on a dirt road leading to an open space. There is a path to the ocean beach side, takes 2 minutes. Apart from broken TVs, discarded Tyres and some hoony fishermen (there was one other car) you have to put up with some 100,000 mosquitoes that like to take a bite. But hey, it's a free stay. The picture shows the boom gates and the dump.

Bendeela Campground

This campground is located 8kms from Kangaroo Valley village, along Bendeela Rd. Bookings are not required, and sites are on a "first in, best dressed" basis. The camp sites are set in lush green fields beside the Kangaroo River. Amenities are basic (toilets but no showers). Pets are not permitted. Guests are encouraged to bring their own gas BBQ's which may be used except during a total fire ban. Campfires and charcoal BBQ's are prohibited. So there is no beach (just a muddy river), hardly no amenities and it is not allowed to make a fire.

So, WHY would you go there? There is one reason: Wombats! If you have never seen one in the wild (we had not), you will see them here for sure. They are all over the place and make this funny noise like Guinea Pigs when they are eating. And they eat and eat, all night long preferably just next to your head when you are asleep in your tent. But you forgive them, they are soooo cute. Although the guy we rented kayaks from and had been living in the valley all is life, was talking about wombats that killed little boys that were curious (and stupid) enough to go into the wombat's den. Killer Wombats? Seems like an old wife's story to me.

Bittangabee Bay

To save best for last: this ground in the far South of NSW (near the VIC border) lies in Ben Boyd National Park and has is all: spacey sites (you can actually book one site for max. 6 people), nice big camp fires allowed, compost toilet (what else do you need!), filtered (drinkable) rain water and vast amounts of unspoilt nature. OK, it's not a drive you can do in one go from Sydney (I wouldn't), to get to the camp ground from the main road only, takes around 40 minutes. But then you are in a far place indeed. The rugged cliffs reminded us of remote parts of WA, very nice. 

We came down there on the day before Christmas and had some trouble making a booking over the phone. Before we drove into the National Park we called the reservation line and they told us it was full but we could try to drive up as they might put us on an overflow area. When we got there, we found that at least one third of the sites were not occupied at all and the elderly volunteering couple looking after the ground said it was not fully booked until after Boxing Day. We had to drive back up the hill (to get reception!) and then call the reservation line again. And again the lady said: "Nope sorry full". Then we explained we were actually AT the ground and that there was plenty of space... it was quiet for a moment on the other side and then with a cheerful voice she said: "OK, which site number are you after?". Now breaks my wooden shoe!