Cape Arid National Park

Cape Arid National Park

After having a great time in Cape Le Grand national park it was time to move onto Cape Arid. Cape Arid is further east & much larger. It looked more remote & we were hoping a bit quieter as well, as school holidays had started. We had decided to bypass the big closest campsite to Esperance at Thomas River & aim for one of the more further out sites at Jorndee Creek or Seal Creek. There are a couple of roads in & we chose to go in via Merivale Road. The dirt road was quite good & we travelled in pretty quickly, until we came across a sign saying road ends in 200 meters?? What, damn we hoped we didn't have to back track, but we saw a 4WD track ahead & thought we would give it a go, it didn't seem to far on the HEMA. What followed was a tight track with very close shrubs, sandy in some places and the biggest corrugations we had ever seen in some places. There was no option to turn around so we kept enduring, getting many bush pinstripes on the car & hoped for it to hurry up & end. 

Finally we reached the start of the national park. The road was better as it was an actual dirt road, but the corrugations persisted. We made it to the turn off to the Jorndee creek site & decided to check it out. The road in was pretty soft sand but was mostly down hill into the campsite, so we made it in relatively easily considering we hadn't yet taken any air out of our tyres. When we arrived we parked on the flat gravel turn around & walked in for a look at the campsites. Two other campers were just leaving, yes!! We had a chat to one of them & they said it was a great campsite & they hadn't seen the ranger or anyone for 4 days. At Jorndee creek there are only 3 campsites, that doesn't really seem to be advertised anywhere for some reason. They weren't huge sites, but easily big enough for us. We had the choice of the 3 sites & chose one of the shadier ones. 

We set up camp & were all done by lunchtime. So we set off to explore. There are two pathways at Jorndee, one to the beach & one to the creek. We went down to the creek & it was lovely. It wasn't very deep, but had some lovely swimming holes protected by large rocks at its entrance to the beach. It would be perfect for kids. We worked our way around to the mouth of the creek & the little beach that we found was perfect. White sand & blue water once again. Lots of rocks for fishing too made Mat happy. We found the beach track back up to the campsite, they have even installed a wooden walkway up from the beach, we followed the track along & back to camp. It was only a couple of minute walk. The campsites are tucked into the dunes & scrub, offering pretty good protection from the wind. The campsite also had a toilet & water tank. The tank was empty though at the time of our visit. 

Jorndee creek beach

Jorndee creek towards the mouth

Jorndee creek

We had a very relaxing afternoon and no one else turned up at the campsite, so we had the place to ourselves. The first campsite we have had to ourself since we camped on the Murrumbidgee. The next day we explored the creek & beach, fished & just took in the beautiful scenery. What a great day, we didn't see another sole. It was time for some dinner, so we cooked up some yummy spiced chicken strips & veggies and thought we were doing well, as we still didn't have any neighbours. 

Looking back towards Jorndee creek

We were just finishing dinner when we heard the sound of a car, surely not! But yes, the next thing a car & trailer pulled in.  It was dark so we couldn't see, but it all sounded very rushed & we heard "is there room for John", oh no more! A trailer was very hurriedly unhooked & the car took off again. We just looked at each other & thought this will be interesting, especially with people arriving in the dark, had something happened to delay them or were they just "those" people? (anyone who has camped extensively will not what I am hinting at!). About 10 minutes later the first car same back with another car & trailer. Things sounded a little tense as they set up, but they were relatively quiet considering, and we went off to bed, intrigued at what tomorrow would bring.  

The next morning John came into our camp early as we were having a cuppa, apologising for turning up late & explaining they had got bogged on the way in. It turns out they were two farming families, down for a quick holiday before Easter. They were lovely & turned out to be the best neighbours we have had so far on our trip!! 

Our beach at Jorndee creek campsite

That day we decided to go for a drive to explore more of Cape Arid. We headed across the telegraph track to Point Malcolm, then up to Israelite Bay for a look & then back on Fisheries Road back to camp. The tracks were all proper 4WD tracks, ranging from very soft deep sand, to tight shrub, to lots of washouts & ripped up track from a previous rain event. You would not want to get stuck in there when it rains, as was evident from the deep wheel ruts of old bog holes. The going was slow, we didn't get out of 3rd gear for most of the day except for the 5km stretch or so on the edge of Lake Daringdella. Israelite bay is very popular for camping, fishing & 4WDing & we could see why, it was lovely & pretty remote, only serious travellers would make that much effort to get in there, especially towing a boat or trailer. It was definitely worth a look & we checked out the old telegraph station while we were there too. We travelled about 180km for the day, so it was a big day.  

Along the track between Jorndee creek & Israelite Bay

Israelite Bay

Telegraph station

Daringdella salt lake

We got back to camp at about 4pm & were invited over for a beer with our neighbours that night. It turned out to be a great night. I am not sure if they could sense we could do with some company or if they were just good country people, probably both, but they all made us feel very welcome. John, Felicity & their girls Sophie & Issy and Rich & Cindy & their son Fraser kept us all entertained with great stories, it reminded us both a lot of growing up & our own family get togethers. The kids had been snorkelling & got a great catch of Abalone, which they kindly shared with us, twice! it was delicious!! We also caught up for a drink again & over that time, many a topic was discussed from how rude the ranger had been to them (luckily we missed his visit), farming, mining, CSG, 4WDs, trailers, nuclear fusion, fishing and a range of other things!! It was a great few days & they have even been kind enough to invite us to stay at their farms when we are back down that way. We hope you guys looked up the blog & are having a read! We wanted to say thanks again for your great company at Cape Arid!!

After our big day at Israelite Bay, the next day we decided to have a quieter day & explored some more of the coastline, scrambling over the rocks. We then went for a fish & Mat caught a Black Drummer, & we then had a swim at the mouth of the creek & ate our fish for lunch. More relaxing & beers on the beach followed to finish off the day. 

The next day we had a look down at the next campsite at Seal Creek just down the road. You could drive on the beach here, so we went for a quick drive, it was a lovely beach. The campsite was good too.  It had a dirt road all the way in, so caravans could also get in.  There were about 10 or so sites, a toilet & rainwater tank as well. The access to the beach was longer than Jorndee & it didn't have a creek right there either. Just a short drive or walk down the road though was Poison Creek, it was lovely to & apparently the beach up from it has some great salmon fishing. We preferred Jorndee creek campsite, but Seal Creek is lovely too & the track in is much easier making it popular. Both campsites are free camping, there is a donation box that you can make a contribution to if you would like. We were going to, but after the way our fellow campers were treated by the ranger we decided against it. You do have to pay your vehicle access though & once again that was covered by our annual pass. 

Seal creek beach

Seal creek camping

Poison creek 

We then headed into the nearest town Condingup & went to the tavern for a great lunch. By that time it was time to head back to camp to start packing up, as it was our last night. So we packed up what we could, went for one more trek down to the beach, had dinner & another drink with the neighbours & the day was over. The next morning it was raining (oh the joys of a wet pack up!) so we got everything packed, said goodbye & thanks to our new found friends & hit the road back towards Esperance to do a quick resupply before heading further West to try to find a campsite for Easter before the rush. More on that in our next post.....

Overall Cape Arid was a great place to visit. It feels a bit like the poorer country cousin of Cape Le Grand, but it is beautiful in its own right & we loved it because it was quieter & more remote.