Woombah Woods Caravan Park
Wayne Kampe

HOLIDAYING at a seaside camping ground over the Christmas/New Year break impressed upon me just how busy camping grounds can be. Like most parks in the Northern New South Wales area, the one I stayed in was chockers.

This was OK though, because there is nothing wrong with camping alongside like-minded folk. We exhausted practically every fishing and camping topic whenever we had the chance! But the down side of the busy camp grounds was simply that sleep - big patches of it - was a bit hard to come by. Kids ran around playing 'spotlight' with big torches, some having re-chargeable hand-held spot lights by the look of things, until 11pm. Then, at 5am DST (4am in Queensland), the first of the boaties arrived to launch for a daylight fish.

GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL

By way of complete contrast, I lucked onto the Woombah Woods Caravan Park not far from where we were staying, and the difference was refreshing. Being handy to a lot of places is a big feature of this caravan park. In essence it is situated quite centrally in respect to major fishing and tourist centres like Iluka, McLean, Yamba, and Woodburn, and visitors to Woombah Woods find it to be a very laid back sort of place. Although it can be busy at times, the pace is much, much, slower than some of the nearby packed-to-the-gills camping grounds.

As an aside, but to get things into exact perspective, a lot of camping grounds I see have signs up displaying in exact terms just what visitors can and cannot do. No This/No That, Park On Designated Areas Only, No Washing Cars Or Boats Here, and so on. We've all seen it, eh? But there are only welcome signs at Woombah Woods, and even pets are welcome if one makes arrangements with Andy and Lynne Gibson, the managers.

Infrastructure at Woombah Woods involves the towns of Iluka (tackle stores, outboard and boat dealers, and several shops including the fish co-op) McLean (the lot - including hospital and specialist medical centres), Yamba, and Woodburn. None are far away, although a kiosk at the caravan park will provide many daily necessities. The nearby Woombah Bakery and Coffee Plantation just up from the bakers are popular local attractions (I can personally attest to the quality of the pies and coffee).

LOCAL FISHING HOT SPOTS

Woombah Woods is situated on the road leading to Iluka just a few hundred metres east of the junction of Pacific Highway and Iluka Road. It's far enough from the busy highway to prevent traffic noise from filtering through, and a peaceful night's sleep is absolutely assured. That said, it is still only mere minutes of driving time from the beaches of Shark Bay, Woody Heads, and the main Iluka beaches. And the Clarence - who could forget this huge waterway?

For those that like to take a run up the beach in a four-wheel-drive to do some fishing, worming, or pipi gathering in the nearby Bundjalung National Park, the caravan park is only minutes away from the Shark Bay beach entry area to the National Park. And then, when the morning or afternoon's run up the beach is over, it's a simple matter to give the car a hose down and clean the fish up at the cleaning table at the back of the caravan park. Nobody minds, hence their motto: 'The park with heart'.

Fishing areas that can be visited within minutes are those the visitor will come onto as he or she travels into Iluka, which is a major fishing port for the entire area. In addition to Shark Bay, these fishing localities include the top rock fishing areas of Woody Head, Fraser's Reef, the Bluff, and the main beach and giant sea wall at Iluka. Boaties can simply trail the boat to Iluka and launch at one of the several excellent ramps to fish the mighty Clarence River, the largest on the east coast of Australia.

For the Adventurous

There is one other option for the more adventurous boatie, and that's to launch at the 'boat ramp' at Woody Heads and head out to sea in pursuit of quality reef fish or pelagics such mackerel, tuna, and the like. The fishing can certainly be worthwhile but the ramp is a dicey proposition. The concrete slope leading onto a wide expanse of sand at low tide and then a steep concrete slope at full tide is certainly not for the faint of heart.

Launching is not usually a real problem except when it's right on low water, but high tide retrieval is another matter. In truth, when a bit of swell is slopping up onto the concrete, it requires a well set up trailer and the help of a mate to get the boat onto the rollers and loaded fairly quickly. Once the boat is snugged down onto the trailer it is a great blessing to have a four-wheel-drive as a towing vehicle. That low range is a handy thing, and will prevent rear tyres spinning and smoking like those at the flag fall of the Indy race.

Rock Fishing

Rock fishing at the places I've mentioned is dependent on sea conditions, but lighter easterly and northerly weather will see good access to most locations. Woody Heads is a respected locality for catching snapper off the rocks during calm weather, but because you need to get right to some lower ledges to fish, it's strictly a flat seas venture. Tailor are mostly sought on the rock formations in this area, but bream, groper, drummer, and blackfish are good standby fish as well. Specialists fish for jew with large baits or big lures such as the largest Rapalas or Nilsmasters. Many jew are caught at night by switched on anglers using large lures.

For those interested in a protracted fight from a dogged fish, the Iluka sea wall is the place to sign on for it. There are usually mobs of tuna travelling the ocean side of the sea wall during the summer months, and these fellows come along the wall at quite regular intervals to stir the angler's blood. That said, the fisho will need heavy tackle and a long gaff to bring one of these blokes to the scales from this location. I'd opt for 15kg line, and that's that. The good thing about these tuna is that they are usually suckers for a popper when they are feeding on the surface.

The Clarence River

The Clarence River is famous as a fishery, although seasonal conditions can either make or break the fishing here. Floods are good, pushing a lot of fish down river where anglers can get at them. The Clarence's river walls and huge sand banks are natural places for boating anglers to gravitate. One thing about the big Clarence is that launching is very easy and there are plenty of sheltered places to fish if a bit of a blow is on.

FINAL RATING

To sum up what this camping ground and caravan park offers, I 'd rate a great deal of peace and quiet, ease of access, and friendliness of occupants and management as among its more important attributes. Not to be forgotten is the vital central location to beaches and the rock fishing areas, as well as the National Park, the huge Clarence River, and nearby towns that provide everything from matches to motor cars.

So if you are tired of having sand between the toes and would rather walk on mown grass and enjoy a good night's sleep instead of watching kids run around with lights big enough to land an aircraft, Woombah Woods might be the place for you. For more information, they can be contacted on (02) 6645 9047.