Beauchamp Falls Campground; amazing, free camping
The Great Otways National Park has blown us away on so many occasions, and after two unbelievable nights at Aire Crossing Campground, we hooked up and headed out, towards another free camp just up the road called Beauchamp Falls.
Pulling onto the gravel road in, and seeing the logs down everywhere, and lack of scenery I couldn’t help but wonder if it’d be just another bland free camp that you experience from time to time.
My mind was put at rest as soon as we pulled into the campground though, and snagged ourselves a campsite with a pretty incredible view!
Where is Beauchamp Falls Campground?
This campground is roughly 22km East of Lavers Hill (which you drive through on the Great Ocean Road), and its almost directly north of Apollo Bay (but you have to drive around to get to it).
What’s the road like to access it?
There’s a couple of ways you can get to Beauchamp Falls, and not all are suitable for Caravans or Buses, so listen up. The actual road from Beech Forest is bitumen to start off with, and then you have a short gravel section that is a little corrugated, but not too bad.
If you are planning on coming from the East though, with anything bigger than a normal 4WD, don’t. This road is the windiest, and slowest bitumen road I’ve ever driven in my life, and it actually made me feel a bit queasy.
It’s incredibly scenic, but 12km that takes about 25 minutes is not much fun at all, and we did it twice in one day to visit Lake Elizabeth. Instead, head up the Great Ocean Road through Lavers Hill, and come in this way, as its a decent, and easy enough road.
Is Beauchamp Falls Campground free?
Yep, completely and utterly free, which is awesome. It’s managed by the State Forest guys and girls, and we saw them come in one day and do a thorough clean, plus stock everything up and depart again.
I can’t believe that there’s so many options for free camping in Victoria which cost absolutely nothing, but have decent amenities and great things to see nearby.
What is the campground like?
This campground is split into two. One side is for vehicle camping (like caravans, camper trailers and RV’s, and the other side is for tent camping. The tent camping area is right next to the day use area, and is spread out over a nice grassy section. All camps have views down the hill, but if you get a vehicle camp site on the edge like we did they are absolutely magnificent.
If you are game, you can walk down a little and find yourself some Black Berries, but make sure they haven’t recently been sprayed. We had a good feed with some ice cream, and saw a huge number that would have gone to waste.
Watch our Great Ocean Road vlog
If you’re keen on doing the Great Ocean Road, our vlog covers all of the places we went in heaps of detail:
It gets busy
Being one of the few Great Otways National Park Camping options that are completely free, this campground gets busy. We specifically went during the week to avoid the crowds, but the vehicle camping section was full each day by about 1PM. We did notice quite a few people parked on one side of the camp sites, and there were often 2 (or even 3) vehicles in the one site, which helped quite a few people out.
We let two groups of people camp on the unused part of our camp site, as they came in late and were looking for somewhere to stay, so do what you can to help out.
What amenities are at Beauchamp Falls Campground?
You’ll find two sets of toilets here, as well as a number of fire pits, picnic tables and a lot of lawn for those camping in tents.
It can get windy
Its worth knowing that this campground is on the top of a hill, and it can get awfully windy. We had a 24 hour period where it blew quite a lot, and when the temperature was sub 20 degrees, it got pretty cold. Make sure things are tied down well, and you are prepared for the wind to pick up if you camp here, or you might find it rather unpleasant!
What’s worth doing nearby?
Beauchamp Falls itself is absolutely worth the walk, with the views at the bottom nothing short of stunning. It’s a bit of a trek back up the hill, but its completely worth doing and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
The California Redwood Forest was one of my favourite places near the Great Ocean Road, with a pristine creek running through the centre of it, and views that were absolutely astounding.
We loved Aire Crossing as well, and thought that was worth a look, and if you are into 4WDing, then you can do Halls Ridge 4WD track.
We also headed out to Lake Elizabeth, which is stunning, but you need to walk 30 minutes to get to the lake, and then a lot longer if you want to go around it, and you can’t see a huge amount of the lake from the first point that you see it. (3.5 hour return trip).
Would we recommend Beauchamp Falls Campground?
This place is a ripper, and we’d have happily paid to camp here. The views are great, its close to some awesome spots, and Beauchamp Falls itself is completely worth a visit. I’d get here as early in the day as you can though, as its popular even during the week and we saw a lot of people come in and leave as they couldn’t get a spot.
