Herron Point

We said farewell to Bunbury on Wednesday the 29th Feb and headed North to find our next free campsite - Lake Brockman (also known as Logue Brook Dam).  We knew that the Dam was low (because water skiing is no longer allowed on the dam) but we didn't realise how depressingly low it was!  Nonetheless, we found the campsite we were aiming for and setup the van to stay the night there.

A very low 'Lake Brockman'

Looking down on Lake Brockman from our Campsite

We walked down to the dam and had a little explore around the area before having lunch and getting into a lot of schoolwork for most of the afternoon - however the kids did get to ride their bikes around the campsite because there was noone else there for the whole time we stayed there.

Mike and the kids should really be underwater!!

"The Classroom"

The wind absolutely howled all afternoon and seemed to get stronger at night!  We were fine in the van, but it was very blowy outside.  When we woke up in the morning, the wind was still shaking the van around with big gusts, but the sun was shining brightly and there was hardly a cloud to be seen.

We left Lake Brockman at 9am on Thursday the 1st March and headed for a place called 'Herron Point' which we had found in our trusty "Camps 5" book.  We thought that we should get there on the Thursday becasue it was the Labour Day long weekend in WA that weekend and we knew that cheap places close to perth would get very busy - and we were right!

When we arrived at the Herron Point campground, there were only about 8 other campsites setup, so we paid our $10 per night and booked in for 5 nights.  We really enjoyed our stay at Herron Point.  It was a lovely area.  It had some basic toilets (but it did not have showers or a water supply).  Our caravan was only about 100m away from the water, and so we swam every day (sometimes multiple times a day as it was very hot when we were there).  Herron Point also had beautiful sunsets each night - they seemed to get better and better throughout our time there.

Heading for a swim

We found a 'thong tree' on one of our walks around Herron point
Natalie almost believed me when I said that's where thongs come from

A beautiful sunset over the water at Herron Point

 While we were at Herron Point, we did our schoolwork on the Friday and Monday (between breakfast and lunch time), we did lots of swimming and playing on the beach - digging holes and making sandcastles; we went for walks to explore the area; we ate Blue Swimmer crabs that our neighbour gave us because he caught more than he could comfortably eat (they were soo nice), we played lego, we played card games and board games, and just relaxed a little in a beautiful spot.

Lunchtime for the Masons

Everyone concentrating on a game of snap

Even Natalie joined in our big Lego session at Herron Point

Digging Holes and building Sandcastles on the beach at Herron Point

On Saturday, we decided we would go into Mandurah to have a look at the town and refill some of Water Jerry cans.  We had a drive around Mandurah and then had lunch by the beach followed by a lovely swim amongst the small waves.  The kids loved 'surfing' the waves so that they were washed up on the shore.  Sam (with his swimming bubble on) got swamped a couple of times by the waves, but loved it each time and would come up out of the water with a huge smile on his face.  After our swim at the beach, we took advantage of the beach showers (which were cold, but had freshwater) and we washed all the salt off from the last few days of swimming in very salty water at Herron Point.  Feeling nice and fresh, we headed back to Herron Point.

The Masons at Herron Point

Another Beautiful sunset at Herron Point

The long weekend was extremely busy at Herron Point, with every spot full and the 'overflow' jam packed with cars, vans and tents; however our site was tucked up the back of the campsite and we didn't feel crowded at all.

The Sunsets kept getting better

and better!

We thoroughly enjoyed Herron point, but once the 5 nights of our "long weekend stay" were over, we had a pile of washing that had to be done, an almost empty water tank, and we were all ready for a good (hot) freshwater shower.  We left Herron point on Tuesday and went into a Caravan Park in Mandurah for one night to clean up, wash up, and get ready for our next few days where we would be camping in a National Park.  When we got to the Mandurah caravan park, I cringed when I had to pay $53.20 for one night, when we'd just paid $50 for five nights at Herron Point - but that's the way that it works when you're travelling in a Caravan with 3 kids!   Most caravan parks will charge up to $10 per child (even Sam who's still only 4).  Nonetheless, we did have good showers, used the washing machines, swam in the pools, Jumped on the jumping pillows, used the camp kitchen and played in the playground - all things we could not do at Herron Point.  I guess each 'style' of camping ("free" vs caravan park) has it's advantages and disadvantages, and we always knew that we would have a mix of paid and cheap nights as we travelled around this beautiful country of ours.