Camping review! The Yarra Valley has always been a favourite for this Achtung Camping pair pre-baby. Camping in Healesville included late nights at the beautiful eating and drinking establishments and wonderful long hikes. Now with a child, things have changed slightly. Undoubtedly one of the best attractions of the Yarra Valley is the wineries – from which we were only able to visit one this time with a toddler in the toe and spend the rest of our time in Healesville camping. But we chose well, TarraWarra Estate had the most beautiful grounds and architectural buildings we have ever seen. It doesn’t matter if you are a beer drinker, the grounds here and the amazing restaurant plus a modern art gallery have more than something for everyone.
Healesville itself has become a bit of a foodie’s hotspot and we were impressed when walking into the Healesville Hotel or Giant Steps however the high price tags that accompanied the not-so-impressive meals left us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouth at the end. All in all, we think $7.50 as the going rate for a pot of beer in all places we visited to be a bit stiff. Yes, the amazing beer garden and décor at the Healesville Hotel made up for the stiff drink prices but we still couldn’t stomach a second night eating here after paying $35 for average mains the night before.
The campground:
Big 4 Badgers Creek is about 5 minute’s drive out of Healesville and unfortunately, the 45-minute walk with no footpath along a busy dark road was too much for us to brave on foot. As per the majority of Big 4 Campgrounds, the facilities were abundant and so was the price tag – we paid $55 a night in an off-peak period, for a non-powered site. I do not want to know what a powered site costs over Christmas. If you are going to make use of the tennis courts, games room, small pool, brand new showers and toilet block, kitchen with massive flat-screen TV and playground then maybe it’s worth it. We cook in around our van and didn’t make sure of anything other than the toilets and playground so it wasn’t worth the money for us.
Please note also that there was an outdoor WEDDING hosted IN the campground the Saturday night we stayed, complete with MC and 50-odd drunk guests. When I complained about the noise the next day and the ridiculousness of hosting a wedding next to people with kids sleeping in tents the staff member said the owners were trialling it as it was something they wanted to do ongoing in future. This was enough for us to say, never again Big 4 Badgers Creek!
Location – As most know, the Yarra Vally is amazingly close to Melbourne and even from Geelong the 2-hour drive was worth it. We’ll be back, but next time we’ll be checking out some bush camping!
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