![]() Upon our return to the campsite, we decided to discover the neighbouring townships Ballingup, Bridgetown and Nannup. The landscape down here is quite hilly compared to being closer to Perth, and we could see emus running away from us across the meadows and into the woods. A few houses were dotted left and right, one of them housing an entire flock of lamas. We spent the day walking around the area, following the path along the creek before venturing outside of the campsite to walk across the bridge and along the road. I started the day with the little morning yoga down by the creek and couldn’t have been happier. Birds were chirping in the trees and we spotted black cockatoo bathing in the stream. Wildflowers of all sizes and colours covered the lush green shores of the creek the grass was high and the vegetation vast. Down by the river, everything was in bloom. We camped in and amongst high gum trees, and a little trail leads to the Hegarty Creek looping around the campsite. Depending on where you are in Western Australia, the landscape can be quite dry – but down here, only a couple of hours away, it was so lush that it felt almost like we entered the land of the giants. It was only in the morning that I began to comprehend what a little piece of paradise we had entered unknowingly the night before. It was beautiful to hear so many so close by, and after a while, they stopped again and we got some more sleep (I also had earplugs handy, which is never a bad idea when camping anyway). Kookaburras have a very distinct cry, which sounds like a monkey laughing. The early night was actually a blessing because little did we know that bang on 5 am, our deep sleep would come to an abrupt end as the kookaburras started their wake up call to the world. After a quick cheese and cold meat platter, we called it a night – neither of us could be bothered to cook that evening. The trailer also provided lots of storage space underneath as well as a foldaway sink at the rear. After some tentative unpacking of the canvas that was neatly folded into the trailer and a bit of trial and error, we found some instructions that helped so that finally, at almost 10 pm, our new home was finally ready to move into: A spacious tent with an elevated mattress that rested on the trailer surface. Our home in Wright’s BridgeĪs we started unpacking our trailer, it quickly became apparent that none of us had the slightest clue how to set up the accommodation. By that time though, I was just grateful that we found a spot. I have yet to find out why the sat nav sent us this way because the campsite is in fact close enough to a main road. Lots of downhill caused our breaks to smoke and stink by the time we finally got to the campsite at just after 8 pm. Google Maps took us via an adventurous dirt track through the midst of a forest. That isn’t ideal in Australia as it increases the risk of colliding with a kangaroo. This campsite is set in a forested area, and because of our fashionably late leaving, we had to drive quite a way in the darkness. Our first destination was Wrights Bridge campsite, 240 km from Perth and just about 2.5 hours’ drive down south. Since both of those worked on a first-come-first-serve basis, we were a bit nervous, hoping that they’d actually have space for us. Since we had decided to take the dog along, our choice of campsites was instantly a lot more limited, but we ended up finding a couple of dog friendly camping spots. We rented a much smaller version than Ed used at the time, a Lightweight Camping Trailer from Camping Culture for 65 AUD (35 GBP / 40 EUR) per night and made our way down south, as usual later than planned, on a Thursday just after work. Camping at Wright’s BridgeĪs we were truly impressed by a camping trailer that we saw in use by a fellow camper on a r ecent trip up north, we decided that this time, we too would ditch the tent and upgrade to a trailer. Thus, on one lovely weekend in October, we decided it was time to go down south for camping. The south of Western Australia reminds me of home, with the wineries and so much green, and I just couldn’t wait to get back there again. I had been down south more than a decade ago, on a brief weekend to the beautiful wine region of Margaret River and I still remember how we drove into the lush, forested area in awe. When travelling in Western Australia, people often describe their destination by the compass – you often go either “up north” or “down south”. ![]()
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