AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Tried booking into the National Park at Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria, Australia unsuccessfully for years??? Well there is a very low cost alternative and almost just as good and without all the crowds. It really is a bit naughty writing about this place as it’s not in any guide or camping books so far and the people who come there have been doing so all their lives - so it is a pretty closely guarded secret. Some regulars have even planted trees which are now fully grown, and you can even pick passion fruit in the bush. One old timer who just appeared out of the gloom behind our campfire, told us he harvested ninety this year before Parks Victoria pulled them out as they aren't a native. However, there is another patch they don't know about yet! We were very lucky to have two A'van friends who had spent many years camping here to share their secret with us. They had travelled all the way down from Queensland to relive fond courting memories.
t was quite a surprise to find a resident ranger camped here - John quaintly calls himself the "Camp Host". A fantastic character. And what a wonderful job it is too. He spends six months each year at Innisfail in Far North Queensland and the rest at Bear Gully - also known as Maitland Beach. Pretty hard to take don't you think? On arrival, he gives you an armful of info on the area and takes you for a walk around the camp. The first surprise is flush toilets! Even a disabled one as well. Next is a water standpipe down by the beach with continuous running water. But the biggest surprise is the cost - a great big zilch at the moment! This was a bit of a shock after having recently paid $27 a night in the National Park at Trial Bay in NSW for which you received no power, plus had to put a coin in the slot for showers! If you want to use the BBQ you had to book and pay an EXTRA $22! Quite frankly we are most concerned at the direction National Parks are taking in NSW. They seem to have lost the plot completely on fees and day use charges. Pensioners, for instance, with whom we spoke and had been coming here over 20 years, can no longer afford to bring grand children camping for all the Christmas holidays as one week’s fees can exceed their pension! It is crazy to expect campers to pay a day use fee on top of their camp fee when NOTHING extra is usually provided. You can help by pointing these things out to your local member of Parliament. Remember - most of us end up on the pension one day.

Bear Gully is not on a long sandy beach, but consists of lots of enchanting little coves with a mixture of sand and rock. No problems swimming though as there are dozens of delightful rock pools near the camp and normal beaches if you walk a little. The views from the camp are absolutely stunning - you look across at the whole western shore of Wilson’s Promontory. Better than picture postcard! It is the newest part of the Cape Liptrap Coastal Park now run by Parks Victoria and we can only hope that it stays just the way it is now!.

This is almost true bush camping and so far the camp is not too regimented - there are some designated camping areas, but not fences all over the place etc. as happens to so many fantastic spots. It really is a credit to Parks Victoria. During Xmas 2000 there were 400 campers and 46 dogs. Were there problems? No sir! We arrived after the Xmas rush and numbers weren’t a problem. Sites are scattered around the access road, some are in clusters whilst others are totally hidden. Grass is a bit light on in some of these as the tree cover is quite dense, but open areas are fully grassed and mown. Trees are mainly melaleuca, eucalyptus and banksias with dense ground cover away from the sites. Some sites overlook the ocean, but most of these have little shade and are near the road in and you have campers walking past all day - just the thing you don’t want with an A'van as you get to do too many "demos"! It really is bush camping at its best and there are lots of sites where it is hard to see your neighbours. Our site was like this. We did have to push one A-Liner into position and nearly lost it into the bush trying to get it level as it popped over the end of a ramp under one wheel! Ouch!

This is a very friendly camp and nights are quiet as it is not a surfer type area being mainly families. Fires on the ground are allowed as long as you dig a pit. Wood collection quite rightly is not allowed, so bring your own. You can buy wood back in Fish Creek. There were fire bans on some days of our stay and these were enforced very strictly - not surprising when it was 40 degrees plus. There are very few camp rules, but most importantly no generators, and dogs must be on a leash at all times. You could just get a motor home in here, but there were none during our stay. There were quite a few camper trailers, two A'vans and seven normal vans. It is this type of camping where solar really comes into its own. We used it to charge up our little Revo laptop to write this story, charge the digital camera, power the hairdryer, and even had a fan blowing on us. Hmmm - is this really roughing it though? One young couple who visited us from town one day remarked "Wow this is a better set up than any 5 Star hotel".

There are a couple of seats on the headland well away from the camp - ideal for a romantic early breakfast. Sunset lasts for ages in Victoria and this same spot is ideal for twilight dinners - when it gets dark you also get the flashing light from Cape Liptrap Lighthouse. Many campers bring boats as the fishing is great. The only beach launching spot is on a sand track 300 metres before the camp entrance. This is absolutely 4WD.
Believe it or not you can get TV reception here. One of our friends needed SBS for a sports show and using the Explorer C10 aerial amazingly we got a good colour picture. Using a normal aerial, bunny ears, we got interesting grey snow and zero sound. Before you throw your arms up in horror we didn't watch any other TV! That would have been sacrilege.

Flies are a bit of a problem and in particular the awful March flies - we solved this by using one of those $79 Stockmaster Weekender Shade house thingies from K Mart. It only took us three hours with four adults to put this up as we left the instructions in Brisbane! A bit harder than putting up an A'van! No sand flies or mossies, but lots of large biting ants with claws like crabs! You must take all rubbish back home with you. Whilst we agree in principle with this, it does put an unnecessary load on roadside bins in surrounding villages. Maybe Parks Victoria could think about putting dump bins near the entrances to parks. There was a minor problem with rubbish left behind at Bear Gully.

Walking opportunities are very good and you can wander for miles along the foreshores at low tide. There are extremely interesting rock formations about 4kms west towards the lighthouse. At low tide you can walk under a natural arch. The beaches in this section are completely deserted and one has a pristine fresh water creek and lagoon ideal for a very private bath. A shell collector’s paradise for us at least as there are so many different ones than those found in Queensland. Even the washed up seaweed is interesting to photograph due to the fascinating range of colours and textures. The shells are so prolific that you can even fossick at high tide. Unbelievably we found a very rare Paper/Nautilus shell. These are supposed to come ashore every seven years or so. Other than a hairline crack it was a perfect specimen. Getting it back home was a nightmare! We packed it in a chocolate box and put it in the battery compartment and prayed a lot.
A good local drive or bike ride is out to Cape Liptrap Lighthouse. As mentioned earlier this is a fully functioning lighthouse. The road is off the Bear Gully track. Another interesting outing is to Walkerville South and then a walk out to view the historic lime kilns. Take the Loop Road. The map supplied by Parks Victoria is excellent and details other walks we didn't have time to try, such as Waratah Bay - some of our days were in the forties!

Be sure to get a copy of Gippsland Has it All. This describes everything you want to know and most importantly shows the details for the various Tourist Drives. This is a large book and is free. Our copy came from the Fish Creek Mobil.

Keep your camp possum proof as there are lots around as well as several foxes and a resident wombat family whose burrow is to the right of the track going down to the beach. You do need to bring in drinking water and to rig up a bush shower, as the fresh water creek is really just a trickle. The bird and animal life is wonderful. On the bird front we found numerous species of honey eaters, Superb Blue Wren, the occasional Crimson Rosella and a Sooty Oyster Catcher. There is no erosion on the beach and the area has never been sand mined.

The nearest public phone is back in Walkerville at the caravan park there. Limited supplies are available at the kiosk. The Walkerville Park is ideal for those into bush walking, but not quite ready to rough it in the bush. Whilst we are on Walkerville, it is not a good idea to drive down to the end of the road with the A'van on unless you won the "2001 Backing Championships". There is no turning circle at all. Another option for supplies is Fish Creek. The Mobil servo has an excellent mini-mart with a good range of fruit kept in the fridges, as well as a small liquor barn. On our visit you could get strawberries, blueberries, cherries and all the basics - not bad for a remote country village. We recommend you try this shop and the fuel was a very competitive highway price as well.
On mobiles Optus was dead, Telstra GSM had bad drop outs except midway between the Rangers van and the beach tables and Telstra CDMA worked near the Rangers van and in some spots on the beach. During our stay no food or even ice vendors called at all. Sight seeing in the immediate area presents one with many options. A must is a few trips out to Wilson’s Promontory because you just can't see it all in one day. A day pass costs $9. The main gate is not always manned so a pass must be purchased at Tidal River - this is actively policed. A good introductory walk is about 15kms round trip from the main car park to Norman and Little Oberon Bay. This walk starts on the beach, then has a 1km climb, a fairly flat section followed by a descent into the Bay. The track is clearly marked and very scenic and can be walked anytime as you are under cover most of the time. There is NO water on this walk.

Rather oddly there are no shells or seaweed on any Prom beaches! On the way in by car a compulsory stop is Squeaky Beach on the right. A delightful 300 metre walk brings you out onto a pristine brilliantly white sandy beach. Pop off your shoes and listen for the "squeaks". For most, this is their first taste of the Prom and it makes you want more! Tidal River comes as a bit of a shock due to the huge number of people - packed in like sardines is definitely not an exaggeration.

You have to book in here for holiday season yonks in advance and then you go into a ballot. If possible try to time your visit outside school holidays for an even better back to nature experience. Another alternative is to stay at the caravan park at Yanakie and day trip into the park. There is only a servo and general store there though and the fruit and veggies were awful when we checked it out.

Tidal River has a modern information centre (above) with extremely helpful staff and it has a theatrette showing all sorts of audio visuals on the park. Some nights it shows first release movies - on our visit Charlie's Angels! The mini supermarket has an excellent range including stacks of fresh fruit and veggies. Prices are not cheap, but the quality is excellent so it is a good move to stock up on your visit. There is a basic dining room with meals around $20 for two. They have an excellent green salad take away for $3. Service in this section is dreadfully slow. Fuel is a whopping 23 cents dearer than Fish Creek! The camping area is well laid out and very leafy BUT due to high usage a lot of sites are bare sand. Roads are all tarred reducing the dust considerably. No sites are right on the ocean and you can’t even see the camp from the beach - a real credit to Parks Victoria. There are delightful bush cabins on leafy grassed sites all finished in natural timbers. We did get a few sand fly bites at Tidal River.

The beach at Tidal River is so wide and hard you could land six planes abreast! Fantastic for bike riding and this is a very popular activity. The No Bikes signs everywhere only apply to walking tracks - a bit confusing. Tidal River also is excellent for canoeing. As we said before - one visit is not enough and to visit the spots mentioned takes three quarters of a day and a whole day if you continue on and climb Mount Oberon. It was a dull day on our visit so some of the photos aren’t as good as real life.

Bear Gully also has some delightful hill top cottages. These are just before Bear Gully proper. Costs are from $250 a night or $1000 a week. These are truly lovely, but it makes you glad you invested $20,000 in your trusty A'van and then pay absolutely NOTHING to stay in the same place much closer to the water!

Finding Bear Gully is a trifle hard as no mention is made of it on the RACV Gippsland map, nothing in our touring bible the Hema Road Atlas and nothing in Camping in Victoria! Even the Parks Victoria map above doesn't show it yet! So here we go! Wherever you are coming from head for Walkerville, but don't actually go in there. Instead head for Walkerville South and watch for a dirt road to the right saying Bear Gully Cottages. Stay on this road to the end. Don’t turn right to the cottages as you pass the turnoff, but keep going. If you are just visiting with an A'van in tow you may have troubles turning around in busy times. You have passed the turnoff on the main road if you come to a diamond shaped sign saying No caravans past this point. They aren't joking either! If you go down here you must go down the launching ramp and turn around on the beach. Now if you haven’t got 4WD or it’s high tide you have had it!

Sorry, we can’t give you any extra reading material. Bear Gully is not mentioned in any search engine that we could research prior to visiting on the internet, but there is a little bit about Cape Liptrap Coastal Park if you follow this link. There is only a couple of paragraphs on Bear Gully, BUT it does list most of the walks in the area. Cape Liptrap Coastal Park (4175 hectares) is situated 160 km north east of Melbourne. It is accessed via the South Gippsland Highway at Leongatha or the Bass Highway from Inverloch.

We absolutely, positively recommend Bear Gully to all who enjoy pristine scenery and are prepared to rough it just a teensy weensy bit. Please don’t tell your friends about it though!

Acknowledgements: Special thanks Siggy and Heather Nowak for sharing this very special place with us, to Karen Mabey for use of some of the Wilson's Promontory photos - ours were taken on a fairly dull day! The map came from Parks Victoria.

Thank you for your report on Bear Gully. I am always amazed at the effort you put into your reports of the various camping spots. They are great and very helpful. We had a farm between Toora and Welshpool near Agnes Falls, about 30 years ago. So we had views of Wilson's Prom every time we went out. You could visit Tidal River and the penguin parade at Phillip Island in those days without any crowds and it was all free. I must admit that although we visited Fish Creek often to play badminton, I can't remember Bear Gully. I suppose we weren't looking for anywhere to camp. We'll have
to go back and give it a try.


Fantastically secluded campsites	A'vans are right at home here!


Rocky foreshore at Bear Gully	Bug proof happy hour at Bear Gully


A track somewhere	Misty Mountains