Francois Peron National Park

When we arrived in Denham we went straight to the visitor information centre to ask about the national park. As it was school holidays we didn't want to go all the way out there & find it full. We were quickly assured that in the ladies 8 years at the centre she had never heard of it being full but to check with parks & wildlife next door. So we also checked with them & they said it was busy but there should be room. We also asked them about Steep Point while we were there. They said it is extremely busy & to call the ranger. We did that & was told they were fully booked out for the next 3 weeks except for one 2 night stay. It is a very long way out to Steep Point especially with the camper trailer on so we decided we wouldn't be able to go just for 2 nights. We were extremely disappointed as this was one of the places we really wanted to go in WA. Oh well hopefully next time. So be sure to book early if you want to go to Steep Point. 

We grabbed a loaf of bread from the bakery in Denham & headed out towards Francois Peron. You soon come to a tyre deflating & inflating station which is handy & they reckon you should go down to about 20 PSI. We aired down & hit the track. It was about 50km to the campground. The road was a single lane with lots of corrugations & patches of very soft sand. It was slow going but the views were amazing. We reached the first of the northern camping areas South Gregories. It had 2 areas one for generators that had 4 campers in it & one quiet area that was empty. That suited us & it even had a campsite tucked into the dunes a bit. We took that one, it didn't have as good of views as some of the others but we knew it was going to get windy. The site was really big so we set up camp with plenty of room & no neighbours, yeah!  It was getting late in the afternoon so we went down to the beach to check our area out. 

Area in front of quiet camp at South Gregories

South Gregories camp

On 1 side it had a small beach that was packed full of  birds on closer inspection they were black & white cormorants. We have never ever seen so many birds in one place. It was an amazing sight to see. Every afternoon they came in for hours, flock after flock in groups of 2-20, hundreds & hundreds of them, pretty cool except for the fishy smell they had! 

We walked up to the other end of the beach in front of the generator camp, it was a nice beach to &  some other campers were fishing, but with no luck. We headed back to camp for dinner, it had been a big day, so it was off to bed. 

Beach in front of South Gregories camp generator area

The next day we went further north. We called into Gregories campsite for a look, it was very similar to our area. We then went up to the next camping area Bottle Bay. It was lovely, a gorgeous bay, perfect if you had kids. We stopped in the day use area & went down to the beach. I went swimming, it was cold but refreshing. Mat went for a fish & soon had a couple of whiting. We stayed for a couple of hours fishing, enjoying the scenery & soaking it all in. By the time we left we had 7 good sized whiting for dinner. It was a popular spot & lots of people drove down on the beach to fish, swim & relax. A great spot. 

Bottle bay

Still further north & we came to Point Peron itself. Wow, I think I might have found almost my favourite view in WA so far. Big red sand dunes going down to white beaches & water all shades of green & blue. Truly a spectacular place. We walked to the top of one of the headlands & the view was stunning. We saw dolphins & dugongs swimming below us. We definitely wanted to come back for a fish at some stage as deep water currents swept along close to shore. 

Point Peron above & 2 photos below 

We dragged ourselves away & continued to Skipjack Point. Wow again. They have created a boardwalk out onto a point & you can see all sorts of marine life below. We saw sharks, dugong, turtles, rays & big schools of fish. Francois Peron National Park was really turning it on. 

Skipjack Point above & 2 below

Back to camp in the late afternoon for a few beers & to watch the sunset over the water. One of the best days of our trip so far. 

The next morning we headed back across the point to the eastern side out to Herald Bight. This area is way more protected from the wind & has beach camping. The water on this side is very shallow for a long way out. The camping is literally right on the beach with super soft sand. We are glad we ended up on the other side. We drove both ways on the beach & on one end found ourselves in the mangroves on a creek but the tide was out so we couldn't go fishing, the tide was also too far out to fish off the beach, so we left Herald Bight. It is definitely worth a look, but we much preferred the western side. There were plenty of people camped here though, mostly fisherman with little tinnies, the water was calm & you could see the reef a few hundred meters out so probably good fishing if you had a boat. 

Herald Bight above & 2 below

We decided to have a look at the Peron Homestead while we were close to it. It is a historic homestead that has free entry & also thermal bore water tank to swim in. We went in but it was very very hot, we could hardly get in & only stayed in for a few minutes, gave us a bath though ha ha! 

On the way back to camp we called into the first camping area on the western side Big Lagoon. It was a beautiful place but the camping was very average, apparently they are about to redevelop it to have 20 campsites. Usually we are against formalising it more, but this area really needs it. It will still leave the top of the point for the likes of us that want to get away from the crowds. Big Lagoon was just that a huge lagoon with fishing, canoeing & great for kids, a very pretty spot. 

Big Lagoon

Back to camp & it was another good day. During the night the wind started to get stronger & by morning the rain had started. It rained on & off all day, so we were confined to the tent for most of the day as the wind howled & it rained. The rain stopped in the afternoon but not the wind unfortunately & the tent flapped all night & we got hardly any sleep. The next day it was even windier so we stayed around camp & just went to our beach. It was way to windy to fish, so we didn't get to go back to Point Peron for a fish unfortunately. It ended up being our last night, we spent 5 nights & would of stayed longer but the weather forecast was still bad so we decided to head back to Denham the next day. 

Baby Pied Oyster catchers so cute

After packing up we left camp & just down the road we found a car & trailer bogged on the sand. After an hour & about 5 maxx trax recoveries we finally got them through. We ourselves then ploughed through where they had been stuck with no problems, god we love Ruby, she is a machine!!

So Francois Peron is definitely one of the harder to get to national parks, probably why we loved it so much. You need a decent 4WD to get in, especially if you are towing a trailer. Let you tyres down, so many people don't & wreck the tracks & get themselves bogged. There is an air compressor on the way out, no excuses not to "air down" ha ha. 

The cost for camping was $7.50 per adult per night. The campgrounds all had pit toilets. The camps on the western side are all individual bays, but a really good size. The camping area at Herald Bight is on the beach in soft sand with a very soft entry track to the beach. There is no water at all in the park, you need to buy it from a desalinisation plant in Denham on the Monkey Mia Road. 

We loved Francois Peron National Park. It has definitely reached our top 5 places to see in WA. If only the damn wind would let up!!