Where and what is Sandy Cape?

Last week a video went live of our adventure to Sandy Cape, right here in Western Australia. I’d heard about the place for years but never been! So in this blog post I’m gonna tell you what it’s like and how to get there.

But first, you might like to take a look at this video!

I guess I’ll start with the history of this place.

There are two of these buildings, at the time we were in the area I was unsure of what they were. But after a few comments from people on the YouTube channel and a bit of googling, I now believe the idea that they were to do with radar establishments in World War II.

Photo courtesy of the Australian War Memorial

There’s some awesome little bays around the Sandy Cape area, some a little more sheltered than others which is important because Sandy Cape is well known for being windy as hell! On the other hand, the place seemed to be fly blown as a sheeps backside when we were there; if there were a little more breeze the flies may not have been so annoying!

You can camp like….a 1 minute walk from this!

Here’s where our camp for the two day stay was:

That image of our campsite leads me to the second part of Sandy Cape’s history and its days as a community of fishermen shacks! There was maybe near 200 shacks in the Sandy Cape area used by commercial fisherman and holidaymakers alike. In fact, a couple in our crew used to have a shack there! Sadly, the government made everybody knock them down and burn them. At least we are still allowed to camp there! Here’s a few images I found on a blog called Sharkcavers which happen to be of the shacks which used to stand exactly where we were camping!

Image courtesy of sharkcavers.blogspot.com

Image courtesy of sharkcavers.blogspot.com

What you need to know:

• Fees: The shire of Dandaragan manages the campgrounds and at the time of writing this were charging $15 per site, per night for up to 2 adults and 2 children
• Dogs: They are allowed! There are on and off leash areas indicated by signs, and you gotta have them appropriately restrained around the campgrounds
• Duration of stay: You can camp at Sandy Cape for a maximum of 4 nights
• Campfires: Are permitted from the 1st June to 31st August. You must bring your own firewood along
• Facilities: The campground provides toilets, rubbish disposal is available at the information bay on Sandy Cape Road

Getting there:

Getting to Sandy Cape from Perth is gonna take you about 2 hours and 40 minutes from the CBD, according to Google Maps. Once you reach Jurien Bay, the turnoff to sandy cape is only about a 10 minute drive further on. The turnoff is well signposted.

Have fun out there!

Alex