The plan seemed uncomplicated: head to nearby Phillip Island, Vic, with CW’s giveaway Goldstream RV Off Road to gauge our son’s interest in caravanning. If our two-year-old took to it, there’d be more. If not, we’d wait until he was older and try again.

The real test would be at night time. With the Off Road only having a queen-size bed, we figured he could just cuddle between us. But at the 11th hour, we thought better of it and Goldstream RV instead loaned us a second-hand A’van Aliner camper that happened to be in its yard. The Aliner didn’t have a bathroom, but it did have a dinette that converted to an extra bed.

So with a grinning Ethan buckled into his booster seat in the spacious rear cab of the Mitsubishi Triton – the same one reviewed by deputy editor Rob van Driesum in the previous issue of CW – we set off.

The Park

Anchor Belle Holiday Park just west of Cowes, Phillip Island’s main township, is set on five acres of bushland and is only 100m from the beach. Don footwear before hitting the beach, though: getting there involves a walk along a bushy, sandy track with a hill or two.

Set among eucalyptus trees and other natives, the park itself has a laid-back, tranquil air about it. Our visit wasn’t during peak season, but enough sites were occupied to provide a sense of the cheery atmosphere RVers could expect during spring and summer.

Upon our arrival, Ethan was immediately drawn to the two play areas. After tackling and soundly defeating the slide that comprises the rear playground, he turned his attention to the larger one at the front of the park, parts of which are suitable for a two-year-old, with other parts better suited to older children.

Such was his excitement that dinner cooked in the Aliner wouldn’t cut it. So we took to the larger of the two camp kitchens and made use of one of the two spotless, free barbecues while Ethan made use of the grassy areas nearby with his soccer ball.

This Top Tourist Park has a total of 135 sites, of which 35 are tourist sites. The remaining sites comprise annuals and cabins. Each site has power and sullage.

There are no ensuite sites available, but the park does have two well-maintained and well-appointed amenities blocks. On our visit, the facilities were clean and tidy.

The indoor pool is in a separate building adjacent to the reception area and includes a children’s pool, though the pool is closed between mid-July and mid-September for general servicing and maintenance. The nearby games room has only basic facilities for kids, such as table tennis. But as the park’s owner, Neil Wolfenden, says, “Being so close to the beach we find that we don’t need too many games to keep kids busy.”

The property on which Anchor Belle Holiday Park sits has been in the Wolfenden family since WWII. Neil’s father, Norm, established it as a tourist park in the 1960s, and its development has been somewhat “evolutionary”.

“We’ve just built on it over the years,” Neil says. “The caravan sites were originally quite small, but as caravans have grown in size over the years, the park has adapted.”

He says they reoriented the park from an east-west layout to north-south in order to create larger sites to accommodate larger RVs. This was about 18 years ago, and the Wolfendens took the opportunity to check and replace where necessary the underground power cables, sewer system and water lines to the sites. Even the main office was rebuilt.

The park is equipped to accommodate non-RV travellers, too, with deluxe cabins, townhouse units and standard park cabins available. The reception building is home to a kiosk that sells most of the essentials.

The Island

Phillip Island lies at the mouth of Western Port Bay, with the eastern tip of the island attached by a bridge to San Remo on the Bass Coast (named for the English navigator George Bass, who in 1798 discovered the bay).

The southern (Bass Strait) coast of the island is characterised by rocky cliffs and surf beaches, such as the one at Cape Woolamai (the highest point of the island), a short drive from the bridge connecting the island to the mainland. The northern coast, however, is made for the tourist. The main street of Cowes, which has a good selection of stores and restaurants, provides an excellent view of the bay, and the beach is divided from the roads and shops by a grassy embankment. It’s magic in the summer – we’ve spent many lazy afternoons here over the years, eating something quick and greasy from the nearby kiosk – but forget about it in winter, when the wind-chill factor can seem off the charts.

Wildlife

Penguin Parade, a reserve dedicated to the protection of the fairy penguins, is one of Phillip Island’s most popular attractions. It’s also the place to go to see these penguins emerge from the sea and waddle to their sand-dune burrows each night. During the viewing session, visitors are required to sit on concrete viewing ledges. The concrete can get cold and uncomfortable, so be prepared.

But there is more to the island’s wildlife: Penguin Parade is part of Phillip Island Nature Parks which include the Koala Conservation Centre, Seal Rocks and Churchill Island, a historic farm with heritage buildings, walking tracks and more.

The Koala Conservation Centre, a facility for koala research and preservation, provides a chance to see these marsupials in their natural habitat via numerous treetop boardwalks. This is a kid-friendly and generally fascinating experience – Ethan delighted many in an overseas group of tourists with his refrain: “Bear, bear!”

The Seal Rocks formation, meanwhile, is home to a colony of up to 16,000 fur seals, one of Australia’s largest. The Nobbies Centre at the far south-western tip of the island provides a couple of telescopes at a viewing platform for an excellent view of the frolicking seals.

A good boardwalk winds around the rocky, rugged terrain of the area and is well worth doing. On a previous visit, I saw a penguin – rather sadly – cowering under the boardwalk’s planks apparently waiting until nightfall when it could more safely find its way back to the ocean or a burrow.

Other Attractions

Also worth visiting is Rhyll, on the north-east tip of the island. It’s a pleasant town with a boating ‘theme’: jetties, a yacht club, boat hire services, boat ramp, angling club, etc. While in the area, explore the Rhyll Inlet and Conservation Hill to see migratory wading birds, and check out Rhyll Swamp, where you’ll see soldier crabs scuttling about from a boardwalk that dissects the mangroves.

For those with petrol in their veins, the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a must. Each year in October, tens of thousands of fans descend on the island for the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. This weekend of racing – along with the other motor-racing events that occur at the 4.5km circuit throughout the year – is a major contributor to the local economy.

The downside for RVers is finding somewhere to park their rig. Given the race’s popularity, accommodation is hard to come by unless you book well in advance.

Guided tours of the circuit are available. These take about 45 minutes, run twice a day, and provide access to areas such as the control tower, media centre and pit lane.

Home Time

Ethan’s expression as we packed up the A’van said it all. He didn’t want to leave, and told us so: “Van! Van!”

We’d put off caravanning with him in the belief that he was too young for it. But we misjudged him. And this change was indeed a holiday.

As we pulled out of Anchor Belle Holiday Park, he waved it goodbye with his little hand and it was only our promises to return that cheered him up.

Anchor Belle Holiday Park

Anchor Belle Holiday Park is a four-star Top Tourist Park at 272 Church Street, Cowes, Vic 3922, about two hours’ drive south-east of Melbourne along the South Gippsland and Bass highways. For information and bookings, phone (03) 5952 2258, or visit www.anchorbelle.com.au

For information about Phillip Island Nature Parks, visit www.penguins.org.au

For information about tours of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, visit www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au

By Max Taylor, as featured in Caravan World magazine, issue 470, October 2009.