Tozer's Bush Camp, Bremer Bay

Visited: spring

Recommendation: This is possibly one of the best bush camps in the country. It is so enmeshed with the environment that you have immediate and close access to a range of tricky birds to find. 

I left Ravensthorpe for Albany and decided to make a couple of stops on the way. On the western edge of the Fitzgerald National Park is Bremer Bay and just before you reach there is Tozer's Bush Camp. It is about 5km on unsealed road and as usual I hate the corrugations. But of course, the upside is that you have to go slow so you can keep an eye out for the wildlife. I knew it was going to be good when I saw a huge Emu running alongside the road and then a pair of Elegant Parrots flying past. 

The camp itself is a huge surprise. The owner is a modest farmer but the camp is amazing, one of the best I have stayed in. It is packed full of plants, trees and flowers. They line all the sites and there are bush walks around the main campsite. The whole place has such a wonderful feel about it and I immediately felt at home.

I tried another of the tracks later on and immediately thought I could hear emu-wren calling from the scrub. I have never seen any species of emu-wren so they are close to top of the wish list. I stood patiently and waited for them to call again. When they didn't, I moved only. Except that as soon as I turned my back, they called again. I waited again for them and they went quiet. We repeated this process a number of frustrating times. I sometimes wish I had an easier hobby. I used to collect stamps and absolutely never did I have to worry about venomous snakes or feel that the subject was mocking me. 

I returned to my van in a sulk and immediately found a pair of Western Whipbird in the bushes next to me along with a group of emu-wren. I spent the next few hours trying to get photographs of them. The whipbird move really fast and the emu-wren don't come up out of the bushes often so it was tricky but so worth it.

While the glamour awards were already filled, there were other interesting birds as runners up. I got the Western and Inland Thornbill here. There was an incredible array of birds in this small place. 

My other favourites of my couple of days here were a juvenile Red-capped Parrot and Blue-breasted Fairywren. The variety of species, colours and calls in such a small campground was phenomenal.