Wednesday 31st January – Thursday 1st February, 2024
We left home on Wednesday at about 2.00 p.m. We are experiencing a heatwave and the temperature was about 41 degrees. We used the air conditioning for the last half hour of sorting things out in the Sherwood.
On the drive up to Hillarys the temperature gradually dropped until it was about 31C by the time we arrived. We went straight to the new Hillarys Beach Club for afternoon tea and chose to sit indoors to escape the heat. There were very few people there, we thought, but later when we walked upstairs we found that it was much busier and noisier, obviously more popular with a view of the ocean than downstairs. We were trying to decide where to eat, but both opted for downstairs. We were advised that we didn’t need to book a table.
Then it was time for a swim. There was a long line of seaweed just off shore, but enough fresh water for us to have a dip. We took our folding chairs to sit on and stayed there until we felt hungry enough to shower and dress for tea.
After showering and getting dressed we walked back to the beach to watch the sunset.
At the club we got an outdoor table on the end of a row of tables and enjoyed drinks and a pizza. It was such a lovely evening for being outside and the atmosphere and service made it quite relaxing. The two restaurants are quite ‘high end’ for being at the beach, but even on a Wednesday night it was quite busy, so they have a winner as far as attracting customers. I had been worried about the limited parking, but there is an extension behind the Club and it seems like enough.
On the way into the car park we saw a new sign saying that no camping or overnight parking was allowed. We had half expected it, so were not too disappointed. I had a low or zero alcohol wine, which tasted just as good as an alcoholic wine, so felt prepared to drive the 2-3kms to the Whiteford Nodes carpark.
When we felt ready to move we went to the front of the Club to see what it looks like at night. People were starting to head home and it was much less busy than earlier.
Whitfords Nodes already had about six campervans and even a roof tent camper when we arrived. More came in as we were getting ready for bed. It was a very humid night, but our little fan kept us comfortable enough.
We could hear the sound of drops on the roof and in the morning could see dirty marks. I ran the hose over the whole Sherwood this morning and it cleared them, thank goodness.
In the morning we had a cup of tea and then headed back to Pinaroo Point. We knew the kiosk would be open as we had checked the evening before. But before breakfast we went down to the beach for a dip. The water was a bit less inviting, the seaweed seemed to be spreading out a bit and was even smelly, I guess because the water was so calm and it hadn’t moved much. We still enjoyed being on the beach for a while before heading back for showers. Stephen used the public showers and I went in the Sherwood.
When we got over to the Club and we found the restaurant was open we decided to go in and sit in the outdoor section, as before. This time we were at the other end of the outdoor area. We had a shared breakfast of Italian baked eggs, followed by an almond Danish. The restaurant is Italian and in the evening we noticed the background music was Italian themed.
The food and coffee has been excellent for our three restaurant experiences, afternoon tea, evening meal and then breakfast. On a cooler morning we might have just had food from the kiosk, but actually the outdoor seating, which had good shade, was the perfect venue for sitting around after eating.
In the afternoon of Wednesday when we arrrived we had managed to find a parking spot with some shade, and coming back on Thursday morning we also had a shaded spot. By late morning the sun was starting to impact the Sherwood and we decided that it was time to head home. Stephen has choir on Thursday evenings so we couldn’t stay even though home was going to be a lot hotter than where we were. Yesterday the maximum in Victoria Park got up to 42.5C, which is 108.6 F.
So, the results of our research are:
- No overnighting at Pinaroo Point
- The downstairs restaurant is lovely, if fairly high end and the upstairs is just possibly more posh with it’s own menue and views.
- The kiosk operates from early until about 12.00 p.m.
- It could be extremely busy on the weekends, but the kiosk offers light breakfast food and in cooler weather we could bring our own outdoor seating and enjoy breakfast.
- Whitford Nodes still allows campervans to stay overnight and is only a short drive away. It’s beach isn’t as nice as Pinaroo Point, the toilets and showers are a fair way from the car park, and it normally doesn’t have any food options, apart from when there is some sort of event in the park. So, it can be the overnight venue, but it’s worthwhile to drive back to Pinaroo Point in the morning.
- We had a lovely time. We had taken a small amount of breakfast food and fruit with us, but simply relying on the Hillarys Beach Club for everything is going to be a good option.
