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Thread: Bradburys Camping Straddie

  1. #1

    Bradburys Camping Straddie

    Off for a few nights camping with a good mate at Bradbury's on Straddie tomorrow.

    Heading over in our boat and carting our gear over...

    Was going to take the 4WD and boat over on the ferry - but cant justify almost $400 return in the ferry and beach permit for 2 nights camping.

    Looking forward to it.

    Any tips for camping with boat out the front?

    Plan to use two anchors with stern to beach.... or maybe just come up on beach and tie off on land somewhere...

    Lucky its a powered site... we just may be taking a fan heater lol.

    Brad :-)

  2. #2

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    Where is Bradurys?

  3. #3

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    Ask at the little ships club if you can tie up to their pontoon for a small donation.

  4. #4

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    Thanks guys;

    Ended up boating over uneventfully... Anchored in the sheltered little inlet there just near 1 mile jetty.

    Boat was safe and deployed two anchors just to be safe overnight.. The boat was high and dry at dead low tide...

    Carting all the gear out of the boat, across the mud flat (slippery, boggy), up the beach, over the dune and onto our camp ground was no easy task - and we just managed to set up camp by last light! Mental note to self - arrive at peak high tide next time!!!

    Not too impressed the toilets / showers etc are under lock and key - and you have to pick this up from the camp office about 25min walk into town... which shuts at 4pm... and even though a ranger was in the park at the time of our arrival - couldnt / wouldnt unlock the toots for us.

    The next day - we walked the 25mins into town, (thank God for iphone google map directions) to get the swipe card, only to walk back, swipe, and find they hadnt activated the swipe cards Grrrrr!~ This time we called them - and they were good enough to drive us two replacement cards out... Once inside - the toilet facilities were pretty good - dusty from no use - it felt like we were the first ones in there for many weeks - but plenty of hot showers and sinks with benches etc and natural light.

    We had camp site 25 which was closest to the water with good view of boat - but the marked area was INFESTED with green ant nests.... little sand hills everywhere... and resulted in several painful bites in quick succession while attempting to set up.

    The old caravan park come camp ground looks VERY tired - the concrete slabs are all cracked and uneven as they brake up with ground movement, grass long, gardens beds very over-grown...

    We had read that you were allowed to have "a small fire for cooking on the fore dune - but not on the beach"

    We dug a little hold just bigger than our camp oven... started a fire and when it was down to hot coals - put our roast pork and vegies in there - and went for a walk onto the beach... only to hear some shouting back at camp.

    The resident man in the caravan who lives there was shouting and demanding we extinguish our fire, as it was on his aboriginal land, and hurled all sorts of abuse at us... then told us we were in the wrong side of the camp site marking (we had the entire camp ground to ourselves this night, other than him)... and wanted us to move in the dark back onto site 25 with all the green ants.

    Ironically - the park ranger didnt have a problem with us being camped in front of our ant infested camp site.... but it really worried this man..

    About 50m away was a wood BBQ, which was in poor state of disrepair, badly rusted and a table and chairs beside it caked in bird droppings... and the area had tremendous piles of fallen branches and dead leaves etc... We oiled the old BBQ up, covered it in foil, and got it going the second night to cook our dinner on - but old mate wasnt happy about this either - despite us bringing our own fire wood and cleaning the table in the park and picking a heap of rubbish up and putting it in the bin!

    On Saturday, 2 more camps were set up, and we had a bit of a chin wag and made some new friends.. Turns out a few years ago - the camp grounds on Straddie were handed back to the traditional land owners - and since then - Bradburys hasnt had any maintenance... which is very obvious - but kind of sad - as its in a beautiful spot.

    Saturday night the annual Jazz festival was on at the little ships club about 800m walk away - which was nice.. We were in bed by 10, and then all through the wee hours we had drunks walking through our camp yelling, vomiting, urinating and yahooing... which wasnt too nice.

    Sunday we took the boat out and trolled around Peel for a nice snapper, a few tailor and a grinner all on slow trolled hard body lures.

    Its a great spot for boating based camping holidays - but is in desperate need of some maintenance. The guy who lives there wasnt too welcoming - but after the first night when we told him to go away or I'd involve the police if I heard from him again - we didnt hear from him.

    The yobbos on the saturday night were only as a result of the Jazz thing - which is an annual event - and could have happened anywhere.

    Hopefully the resident Winger with his shack crowded with junk is moved on, and the park is restored to what I hear it used to be. We are very lucky to have such amazing places within an hour of our CBD :-)

  5. #5

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    sounds like a great spot ...

  6. #6

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    Been going to amity for twenty plus years since the hand over it has had less maintenance seems they don't really want customers ... Prices have risen twice since the hand over for such a low level of service. If it was being run as a business it would be bankrupt.

  7. #7

    Re: Bradburys Camping Straddie

    I enjoyed and chuckled reading your account of the "carry on camping" type experience, maybe you should make a movie, or write a book. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to your documented frustrations, I certainly can. I've had many.
    I went to that camping ground once with a group, it did give off a sad feeling. I'd go back if I could take my dog but they don't allow that.

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