Lucky Bay to Boat Harbour Bay

26-30 April 2018

Travellers planning on staying at Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park should pre-book their campsites or risk missing out. The park is a popular destination for outdoor-loving tourists and we were happy to snare one of the few prize spots along the foreshore.

We were less fortunate with the weather, which blew a gale for most of our two-day stay. I didn’t get any of those iconic kangaroo on the beach shots I’d hoped for – no self respecting kangaroos left their shelters to venture down to the sand in that weather! We did manage a little beach ride or two around the bay on the squeaky, hard packed sand.

I was disappointed by Lucky Bay after all the hype we'd heard. A big storm had washed in tonnes of seaweed, leaving the pale white sand quite dirty, and the water was still too rough for the children to swim safely. Tourists won't necessarily get good weather while staying here, but you have to make the most of it.

We decided to ignore the winds and climb Frenchman's Peak. Oliver proved that you can never keep a good kid down, by reaching the summit with his leg brace on. He found it frightening at times but refused to give in and let his brother get to the top without him.

There are several hikes throughout the park and under normal circumstances we would have done more of them, but we were limited by Oliver's injury.

We checked out the Cape Le Grand beach campground as we left the park. It was much more spacious and sheltered than the Lucky Bay area. On hindsight I wished we'd camped here and I recommend it to other travellers.

The next night we stayed at Munglinup Beach, which after 40km of dirt roads, was almost deserted. It was my favourite beach so far and Chase managed a swim, despite the continued blustery conditions.

Shell collectors who walk around the bay will pick up some beautiful shells and children will love disturbing the crabs.

We reluctantly moved on the next day, and headed to a free campsite we'd found in wikicamps called Boat Harbour Bay. People who tow large caravans will be challenged by the roads into this site, especially the last few kilometres of track.

This campsite was completely remote and apart from Trevor the caretaker and another caravaner around the other side of the bay, we were completely alone.

We were a bit nervous about our personal safety here due to the isolation, but the beach was beautiful and Trevor turned out to be a real character. He told us that wikicamps had increased the number of campers per year from a handful to around 400. If we had arrived a couple of days earlier we would have struggled to find a site.

Lovers of reptiles may enjoy the local tiger snake population. Apparently they are not big on hibernation. Trevor told us he found one in his car recently, enjoying the warmth. He also showed us their favourite crossing points over the pathways. We were very careful where we put our feet!

Despite the snakes, this would be a nice place to stay for a few days.