For the past 24 years, Warroora Station has offered a unique, personal and unforgettable outback coastal camping experience. Set on a 265,000-acre property close to the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo reef, you’ll find 50km of stunning turquoise beaches 200km north of Carnarvon, yet a world away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Gabi Mills spoke to owner Muriel Horak about the station, and how the business continues to thrive, despite the current challenges.
What makes Warroora Station so special in your opinion?
Camping is one of the purest forms of interacting with nature and we intend to build up our facilities, enjoying the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars. We offer a wide range of accommodation and low cost, un-powered camp sites, with low environmental impact and no light or noise pollution to clutter the customers surroundings.
Warroora Station is a family-run, working station located in the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, just one hour south of Coral Bay. The Ningaloo coastal region attracts a large number of interstate visitors, even with our remote location. Our intention is to provide facilities that will expand the interest of such visitors and attract others to see why this unspoilt west coast has so much more to offer than other built-up, over-populated areas.
We’ve also put together a new wedding package which we believe offers couples a one-of-a-kind special day. We can offer a number of accommodation options for the wedding party and with the backdrop of the beach for the ceremony, the occasion will be an unforgettable, full of character and rustic charm. Please get in touch to request a wedding brochure.
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How has Warroora Station adapted to the covid-19 pandemic? How are you ensuring your guests can visit and stay safe?
We want to reassure anybody considering a visit that we are doing what we can to look after the health and safety of all our staff and all customers. We are placing extra hand-washing stations near the reception, ablutions block and camp kitchen.
We are working to ensure our facilities remain sanitised and hygienic for your visit. During the school holidays, ablution block cleaning will be done daily using bleach and disinfectant, as well as bench tops, door handles, shower, basin, flushing toilets, taps, etc
In addition, only one family at a time will be allowed at reception and we have only four Stockman’s Rooms available instead the usual seven, to ensure adequate social distancing. We will reinforce the message to our guests to also keep their distance from other campers.
What is the best thing about camping/caravanning in the Gascoyne region in your opinion?
We offer a unique outback experience for our customers who want to escape the cold weather in winter and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. Warroora is a place where people feel they can escape from urban living.
We aim to attract local, intra and eventually interstate visitors again to experience the Australian outback with the pristine Ningaloo Reef on their door step.
At Warroora station, we prioritise authenticity as more and more tourists seek to immerse themselves in local culture and the surrounding environment. We have been living here for 24 years, caretaking the land and we are extremely passionate about the area.
If a first-time visitor is considering coming to Warroora, what do they need to bring – and what do you provide?
We offer a wide range of accommodation types which include an ocean view villa, self-contained cottages, stylishly renovated Stockmen rooms and an authentic shearing shed for events. Guests will have to bring their own supplies and alcohol.
If guests are staying at the Homestead campground, we invite them to bring drinking water and personal supplies. If they are staying in the Wilderness campsites, they will have to have their own chemical toilet.
These are the facilities around the Homestead campground;
- Homestead campground with camp kitchen, BBQ and camp fire area;
- There are more wilderness sites available for Grey Nomads in a ghost gum valley and the option to stay for longer than the National Parks allow (please bring own chemical toilets);
-ablution block with hot showers close by;
- laundry facilities; and
- we are pet friendly (which is a big plus point for many).
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What attractions do you recommend your visitors head to while they are staying at Warroora?
The World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef is Western Australia's largest and most spectacular coral reef. It is home to over 250 species of coral and 540 species of fish. Lying just a kilometre or two offshore, it is also Australia's most easily accessible coral reef.
Snorkelling, swimming, fishing and wilderness walking are all perfect pastimes along one of the largest fringing reefs in the world. Warroora boasts three awesome surf breaks – Stevens, Lagoon and Sandy Point. Constant swells from the Indian Ocean guarantees a great surf break on any occasion. You can reach Stevens from the beach, while Lagoon and Sandy Point surf breaks are accessible by boat.
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What makes camping/caravanning in the region so appealing to visitors in your opinion?
I would say that the primary attraction is the natural environment with the beauty of the night sky, the Indian Ocean and the native flora and fauna which is unencumbered by traffic or pollution and still in its purest, natural form. This, along with the fact that once you have arrived there are no other costs, so your holiday ends up being very inexpensive.
