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Visited: all year round
Recommendation: The campsite might be small but there are great opportunities to get close to some interesting birds and animals.
The access road for the Waychinicup National Park campsite is a few kilometres before you reach Cheynes Beach. It is a gravel track and runs away from the settlement and down to the coast alongside a river inlet. It was stunning. There are only a few sites for vehicles and some are reserved for people with tents. I was lucky to pull straight into a spot and I stayed there for a couple of days. You can explore the bush around the camp and along the road, as well as around the shoreline. There was lots of activity and I found it a really good place to get close to reptiles, mammals and birds.
The first thing I noticed was a number of black lizards. It seemed like every step you took, there would be a rustling as they darted from their sunny post into the safety of the bush. They were rather cool. It was only when researching later that I could identify them.
King's Skink (Egernia kingii)
I chose a camping spot and settled in. There was so much wildlife here, I was overloaded. Next to my van was a dead tree and a robin sat on it regularly and called. The White-breasted Robin is a small, unassuming bird native to southwestern Australia. Unlike many other Australian robins known for their vibrant colors, this species boasts a more muted palette of grey and white.
It is easily identified by the grey upperparts and a clean white underbelly, with a distinctive pale eyebrow. A relatively small robin, it measures around 14-17 cm in length.
They prefer dense vegetation near water bodies, such as creeks and wetlands and are sedentary and territorial, often seen in pairs or small groups. All this can mak them quite difficult to spot!
White-breasted Robin (Eopsaltria georgiana)
I spent the afternoon just sitting and seeing what came by. There were Silvereye everywhere and their cheerful chirping was a lovely soundtrack. As ever, the New Holland Honeyeaters were busy and zipped around. A thornbill landed conveniently on the bush right opposite me.
Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis)
Such a beautifully marked little bird.
In the afternoon a White-bellied Sea Eagle circled above me. I had already seen a Little Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle and Spotted Harrier between the campsite and Cheynes Beach so this was a real bonus. Not for the tiny swallow though as it tried to scare the eagle away!
White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
In the afternoon, I was sitting in the campervan with the doors open working on my laptop when movement caught my eye. I looked up and just about fell over. A bandicoot was wandering around outside. Turns out, that is a common event at the campsite. You share the place with the locally named Quenda. It came and went for a while and answered the question about what on earth was digging holes everywhere!
Quenda Southwestern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus)
In the mornings sometimes dolphins come into the inlet, presumably to hunt. I caught sight of a small group of them just as they were heading back out to sea. Worth looking out for if you stay here.
Visiting in the early autumn proved a very different experience. The whole area was incredibly dry, which meant birds and animals were thin on the ground. At the campsite, I did still see skinks and monitor but the birds were absent. I ventured out at night and remarkably found a Quokka. It was not as friendly as those on Rottnest Island and all I got was a photo of its tail. Along the road I found a Tawny Frogmouth and this Wood Scorpion. It was a little disappointing but the whole coast line has been more challenging in these drought conditions.
Wood Scorpion (Cercophonius squama)
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