Burners Beach Camping Area offers a great location for families to get off grid with great swimming nearby.
We’re always on the look out for good camping spots. With three young kids in tow these days, our criteria has changed a lot from the olden days. Where we’ve previously crave complete privacy and isolation, now we relish in having other kids nearby to play with. Where I’d want to be close to a big surging surf beach to target some bigger surf species, I know opt for a nice calm beach to paddle in.
Burners Beach camping area ticked the box in a number of ways for us, and we were lucky enough to score some perfect weather too.
Where to Camp at Burners Beach?
There’s actually two separate camping areas at Burners Beach. Two access both, turn off North Coast road on to the track that’s sign posted for both Burners Beach Camping Area, and the Point Souttar boat ramp. Taking a right turn soon after will take you out towards the Point Souttar side which has a flat area with no amenities. This is for self contained vehicles only as there are no toilets, and no where to go ‘bush poop’ either!
Keep following the track around to the left, which wraps around the point and finally opens up to a flat clearing where the camping area is situated. The area is loosely partitioned by bollards, but there isn’t really any designated camping spots. It’s first come first serve situation. Of course, you need to pay for your permits online prior to setting up. They do check!
Activities at Burners Beach
Burners Beach has an awesome beach for swimming. It is very calm and protected, so great for the little ones. We saw plenty of people kayaking and paddle boarding as well.
The rocky outcrop that you drive past on the way in also serves as a boat ramp. From afar, this looks a bit sketchy to me. However, I did witness a decently sized trailer boat coming in to be retrieved so it must be deep enough. The cars just stay parked on the rocks whilst the owners are out in their boats. I guess they did their homework on tides!
The rocks provide plenty of interest for the kids to poke around in. Our kids found lots of shells and sea sponges which kept them entertained for a long time. The campsite itself is a big loop, which had a few kids riding their bikes around and around. If you catch a theme here, this campsite is pretty good for families with kids!
I didn’t get a chance to get out the fishing rods here, but there were plenty of people fishing from kayaks and from the beach as well. The guys in kayaks sounded like they landed a few squid around the rocks.
It’s in a good location to visit other great beaches like Berry Bay (surfing and fishing) and Flaherty’s Beach (amazing shallow blue water) too. The drive around the coast past the lighthouse is worth a day trip as the coastline is beautiful.
Amenities
This campground provides two toilets, and a number of bins for rubbish disposal. There is also a recycling bin for cans (proceeds going to local hospital). The toilets don’t have toilet paper so its BYO there. The toilet at the western end of the campground seems newer and cleaner than the other.
There was a sign in the toilet warning of bees in the area – which can be an issue after long periods of no rain, but we didnt have any problems. There was one or two seeking out water from the tap in the toilet (which didn’t really work) but no swarms.
Being accustomed to taking out our rubbish with us, I found the bins quite a luxury!
Other Thoughts
As previously mentioned – we used to seek out isolation. I still like to, but we pick out sites with other families for the kid sake. That said – sometimes it can get a bit squeezy! When came around the corner to view the campsite, I was shocked at how many vans were in place. We still found a spot, but it was perhaps a little more cosy than I’m used to. This is circumstantial though, and the next morning a bunch of caravans left and it felt a lot more spacious.
Perhaps a result of it being a bit of a family hot spot, I was surprised how quiet it got at 8pm. Sani and I were too afraid to speak at normal volume in case we got told to hush! We had a laugh about this and went to bed at 9pm ourselves anyway. Things weren’t so quiet when our 3 year old had a tantrum at 1am – I did my best to calm the situation but it would have been deafeningly loud for other campers. Maybe that’s why so many people left the next day.
The campground sits right up next to Levens Beach Conservation Park – which means dogs are not allowed on the beach past the camp zone. This limited us to a small patch of beach at very end, but it was super nice there anyway so not a big deal, but worth noting.
Our neighbours said they saw a brown snake making a meal of a mouse right near camp which was a bit concerning. My view on snakes is they’re likely at all bush camps and we generally just don’t see them much. I did give the kids a re-briefing on snake safety though.
Would I Go Back?
I’d be a bit wary of visiting in peak times, as it might be full to the brim. Aside from that though, we’d absolutely head back here. It’s almost perfect little location for families with towns nearby for supplies, and surrounded in great beaches and fishing options.
Yorkes is blessed with a number of decent camping opportunities, and I run through my favourites in this article
