Cape Arid or Cape Le Grande ?

[Roley]

Heading down to Esperance in May,
Staying in town for a couple of nights then heading out to Cape Arid or Le Grande, the first i think, to get further away from people.

I know there are only a few sites down there, that are first in best dressed.

Will be taking my trailer down, what are the tracks like? and is it ok for trailers.
Can you camp on the beach if all spots are taken?

Suggestions welcome as i haven't been down there before.

Roley

[Nab]

Been to Cape Arid a few times. 2 campsites at Thomas River, the DEC one and the council one. We always stay at the DEC one. There are about 16 spots in the DEC camp, maybe 10-15 at the council camp. We much prefer the DEC one even those it costs a few $$$ more.

We usually get there about 10-11 January (peak season) and the most we have seen it is 3/4 full, usually 1/2.

We see people camping on the beach and some even just off the inland tracks a bit. Each time we got there all the good spots were taken, the rest was totally exposed to the wind etc. so we went back to the DEC site.

We have camped at Dunn Rocks too, we went there the second time and it was blowing a gale and wasn't letting up so we continued onto Thomas River.

We had a quick look at Poison Creek etc but with the kids (1,3 & 5 at the time) Thomas River was perfect for them.

If you go to Thomas River you can easily tow a trailer all the way to the end on the beach (29km of beautiful sand) at low tide, just a few soft spots around some rocks and some rocky inland tracks.

You will love it!!!!!

[Roley]

Thanks NAB.
Looking on google maps which one is the DEC one?
Is it the closest to the river or the one further away?

What is the river like, good for swimming , or is it the beach for the kids.

Thanks for the info.

I can't wait.

[Pajshomoneroguntero]

I recall the river being not so inviting but if it's just for kids splashing about the shore it seemed ok. The water is quite dark due to the tannins from memory.

[xflamedancer]

We just came back from a 10 day stay at Cape Arid and it was awesome. We stayed at a campsite called Thomas Fishery near Poison Creek, which has 3 campsites and we were lucky to snag two of them. We had enough room at the sites to put up our camper trailers and we were just back from the beach and sheltered by a line of trees. It also has a long drop and vehicle access to the beach. The track in is 9km of sand and some rock and easily doable with a little bit of clearance. There is also a random stretch about halfway along the track that you can get phone reception if you are with Telstra.

Downside: it is about 180ks from Esperence and the last fuel stop is Condlingup about 65km from Esperence, Diesel was around $1.54 p/lt. I had 3 X 10lt jerry cans so it wasn't a problem. There are definitely snakes as we saw one on the day we arrived, once we started using the genny though we didn't see any others. Its pot luck on the campsite at that spot, we got there at 10AM and got two spots, within an hour 3 other groups turned up.

There are two other campgrounds open at Poison Creek,the Poison Creek one and Jondee, Seal Bay was closed because of the bushfire damage. This is good base for exploring Isralite Bay as well as you are almost there.

Hope this helps

[Nab]

DEC one is furthest from the beach. River is for the kiddies, but there are plenty of spots on the beach to hang for the day.

[Roley]

Thanks for the info guys.

[paj whisperer]

We were down Esperance way in January and you won't be disappointed. The Lucky Bay campsite in Cape Le Grande was under construction and can't remember when the ranger said it was due to be completed. Not that many places to camp within Cape Le Grande but Hellfire Bay has a great BBQ and is perfect for watching the sunset. Frenchmans Peak is well worth the climb. There are more areas to camp within Cape Arid, people were camping in the sand dunes. Cape Arid, as already mentioned, is further away, so will need to be more self sufficient. Easy 4WD on the beach with only minor soft patches in certain areas. Worth the reward. Heaps to do and explore. Definitely on our list to go back again.

[Axis]

We had a few nights in Cape Aid at the end of last May. We towed the camper trailer to Seal creek and were the only ones there. The only person we saw over a few days was a guy picking up a boat that had come in at poison creek asking for directions. No issues towing the trailer in. Seal Creek is a donation campsite with drop toilets.

Seal Creek was amazing, just a bit of a walk to the beach. I went fishing at Poison Creek beach - watch out for the 2nd half of the beach towards the rocks. My advice is to take the track behind the beach as the end is coarse wet sand and I was down to the axles in no time - was an hour of repeated recovery to get back to the firmer sand.

Jorndee Creek (not Thomas fishery as I initially wrote) looked nice but with only a few sites you don't want to arrive late and find there are people there. Also if I recall you can't loop out so need to back out of the camp area.

We didn't stay at cape Le grand but drove through and we were glad we went to Cape Arid. We did need a lot longer to explore though.