Camping at Lake Navarino

On the weekend we took the children camping to our favourite camping spot, Lake Navarino.

Lake Navarino, also known as Waroona Dam, was completed in 1966.  It covers an area of 145 hectares with its main use being for irrigation. The dam and surrounding areas are used extensively for recreational activities such as kayaking, skiing, jet skiing, bike riding among many other activities.  Dogs are permitted but need to be kept on a leash.

The children and I brought all the camping gear into the house on Thursday afternoon so we could pack the trailer. Once we pick Daniel up from the airport on Friday we will leave.

Friday morning came and we packed the trailer. All our normal camping gear (link the camp equipment post here) plus all seven bikes and the two kids kayaks we purchased recently. Once we were all packed up it was off to get our third kayak and three safety vests. We are now on our way to Lake Navarino.  Everyone is excited.

It’s a 70 kilometre drive from our place to the camping site.  We use the Waze app for directions even though we have been there a number of times and it says it will take one hour and one min to arrive. Once we pay at the shop for our nightly tarif we are on our way to find a good spot to set up camp. We are doing Lakeside Camping so the nightly rate is $10 per Adult and $5 per child.

For more information about other Accommodation types click here.

There is a lot of space at the lakeside camp. You can camp right by the lake which a lot of people who take boats there do. We chose to camp away from the lake in the bush area due to the fact we don’t want the children to wake up and go straight into the lake first thing in the morning while Daniel and I are still in bed. The main bush area at the lake side has a lot of gravel roads and camping areas.  As you go further away from the lake there are less roads and lots of bush to camp in.

Everyone helps set up camp, even.. Girls and Boys set up their own tents. They have pop up tents so it’s easy for them to set up. Once all the tents are set up everyone pitches in to set up the kitchen once all is set up we normally have a milo and a biscuit

THINGS TO DO WHILE CAMPING

Bike riding/ hiking

We take our bikes camping. This is the first time Daniel and I have taken ours. There are a lot of trails to explore and plenty of room to ride bikes. Both Saturday and Sunday we took Liam and whoever else wanted to come for a bike ride along the Lake road, this gives Liam the confidence to ride himself without being pushed. Some of the trails are more suited to walking as they are steep and hard to ride up. Make sure you take a bottle of water with you as it can be quite tiring bike riding or walking around all the steep slopes.  We walked for a lot longer than we first planned as we were enjoying the walk so just kept going.

Water Sports/ games

The children swam in the lake.

We brought our kayaks with us so we did a bit of kayaking.

Other people brought boats to water ski and to use a water biscuit or jet skis. A family also brought their large inflatable duck which they tied to a tree with a rope so it didn’t float away.

I didn’t see anyone fishing but on the flyer I got from the office it said you can fish in the lake as well.

The boys built a wall out of rocks about 30 cm high and 50cm wide. They got really excited when the waves from the boats came and they didn’t wash over the top of their wall.

Games

We took a box of 20 games with us and lots of chess was played. We played snakes and ladders with Liam but the other children joined in and liked it. Has noughts and crosses in there also. They are the main 3 we use.

Cricket set. We take extra balls just in case one gets lost.

Frisbee we took two and just as well as one got broken in half.

Hide and seek was a popular game also. Liam is getting so good at counting 1,2,3,4,8,10 here I come.

There are also two swings in different places.

Logan and Liam gathered some rocks, put them in a circle and said this is our base. To me it just looked like a fire circle but they were very happy with what they made.

We enjoyed ourselves a lot camping at the lakeside. Children get very dirty and everything comes back with red dust on it. There are eco toilets and fire restrictions are in place in summer so check the dates before you build your fire.

If you would like a little bit of luxury then check out the Lake Navarino Holiday Park. They have powered camping as well as un powered sites, Cabins, Cottages, park home, motel style units and Glamping. There is a small camp kitchen plus showers and flushing toilets. Also a laundry and clothesline for your convenience.