Welcome to Siesta Park Holiday Resort 

We promote and nurture a safe and peaceful environment which includes on the beach and ocean areas in front of our property. The following information includes some Department of Transport regulations plus some house rules/policies that have helped to maintain this environment for decades. For example activities such as jet skis, biscuiting and water skiing need to be undertaken at an appropriate location away from the beach at Siesta, with the closest DoT designated ski area is 800m east of our jetty, on the far side of the large rock groyne. 

Swimming and Safe Beach
Guests at Siesta Park have always enjoyed swimming in the calm and clear waters of the Bay in season. Please be aware of the seasonal presence of small jellyfish with trailing stings commonly known as ‘stingers’. If you are unaccustomed to them we can offer you some information at the Reception to help you avoid being stung and how best to deal with a sting.

Shark sightings in the region are becoming more common so please keep this in mind and swim close to shore and where people are looking out for each other. Please do not be alarmed by this, we merely want swimming to be a totally pleasant experience for you and we can offer more information and advice at the Reception.

For those wishing to erect a Beach Shelter or anchor/leave a boat on the beach please ensure that you are familiar with the relevant policy guidelines – see below. The guidelines need to be followed to ensure that our guests do not unnecessarily obstruct public access along the beach or create any dangerous hazards and this will help ensure that the City of Busselton do not have reason to remove the ability to leave beach shelters erected overnight for example (as they have sought to do in the past).

Jetty
The jetty is for swimming and fishing from only. There is a boat exclusion zone around the jetty and BOATS ARE NOT TO USE JETTY FOR ANY PURPOSE such as loading/unloading passengers or to tie up to. 
Note that the water depth around the jetty can be very shallow thus diving from jetty is not suitable.

Skiing and 8 Knot speed limit
Definitely no skiing or biscuiting etc from the beach in front of the resort which is reserved for passive and safe recreation. There is an 8 knot limit out to 300m and the closest designated ski area, where you can travel to/along the beach at higher speed, is 800m east of our jetty on the far side of the large rock groyne.

Jet Skiis
To help preserve the relatively passive, quiet and safe area in front of Siesta Park Holiday Resort, please note –

– Other than taking your jet ski away and then returning to the beach at the holiday resort a couple of time per day, jet skis are not to be used in the vicinity. This means no changeovers from the beach in front of the holiday resort, regardless of the speed and no ongoing passes up and back along the back of the 300m line which can be annoying to others. These are our “house rules” which reflect a now well established etiquette required by of guests who have jet skis.
– In Geographe Bay it is a DoT rule that all boats (including jet skis) must travel at under 8 knots within 300m of the beach (see 300m marker buoys out the front of resort).
– Our suggested area to take your jet ski to is the designated ski area which is only 800m towards Busselton, on the far side of the large rock groyne where changeovers/turns can be taken etc. Along this 500m strip of coast, higher speeds are permitted within 300m which makes this an ideal place to base a group of people to change over and take off from. Alternatively, you may wish to take your jet ski for a long solo run along the coast while staying out behind the 300m / 8 knots line.
– Unfortunately there are some, who are not guests staying here, who blatantly speed through the restricted area at times so please do not take this as an example of how to behave and be aware we are often communicating and promoting with DoT to patrol our area and help reduce this public nuisance and safety concern.

Thank you for your cooperation

Boat Ramp
– Our ramp consists of rubber mats laid over the sand down to the waters edge from approximately October to May (weather permitting).
– Boats up to 5.5 metres can usually be launched and retrieved with a 4 wheel drive while very small boats can be handled with a 2 wheel drive vehicle as long as wheels are kept on rubber mats.
– Cars and trailers cannot be parked at the boat ramp area and need to be taken back to your unit or suitable vacant back area to keep the beach and lawn areas around the boat ramp clear.
– Public boat ramps with finger jetties are at Abbey and Quindalup.
Please see us/call us at Reception for any advice and help if required.

Boat Trailers and Parking
Overnight parking of empty boat trailers needs to be in a suitable vacant back area away from the units to avoid creating a hazard and unnecessary congestion. See Park Plan or see us/call us at Reception to direct you to a suitable area. Boats on trailers can generally be kept at or near to your unit but they will take up one of the units allocated parking spaces.

Anchoring/Mooring of Boats
Boats are to be anchored/moored more than 50m away from the jetty (both sides) and well clear of boat ramp. It is important to keep the area around the jetty clear of boats and ropes for jetty fishers and swimmers. People who leave their boat in the ocean overnight generally do so by anchoring the bow pointing out to sea using a sand anchor out front and with a slightly slack rope back to the shore off the stern, allowing the boat to swing a little.

For our peak summer and autumn times we install back rope tie on points which when provided are to be used and thus avoid anchors, star pickets, rope hazards etc. This creates a standard and safe system of mooring boats in the interest of all beach goers. If you are unfamiliar with this system or have any questions at all including advice about the weather and the suitability to leave the boat in the ocean overnight, please see us/call us at Reception.

Vehicle and Boat Movements
Please avoid any unnecessary movement of vehicles and trailers, particularly in the early mornings as many guests at the resort don’t rise till after 8am. Plan early trips the afternoon before and preferably have boat in the water or on the beach ready for the morning. When leaving the beach in power boats go slowly keeping revs down low as noise off the water can easily cause disturbance. If your preference is to leave your boat on its trailer overnight and you are wanting to head out before 8am then please take to public boat ramp say at Abbey or Quindalup and launch there.

Boat Wash Down
Please do any washing down of boats and running of motors to flush in the vacant area up the Busselton end of the park where you will find a garden hose on a post for this purpose. Please do not do this at your unit to avoid the mess and chance of disturbing other nearby guests.

Fish Cleaning
No fish cleaning inside or around the units – all cleaning to be done at the beach or in your boat if applicable. Boat fishers please take your remains back out well off shore to dispose. Shore based fishers please do not leave remains to litter the beach or the shallow waters. Please wrap remains well in newspaper and place in our general rubbish bins.

Hire Row Boats
Rowing boats are available for hire at low rates. Please see us/call us at Reception for more information. You DO NOT require a fishing license to fish from a rowing boat.

Beach Shelter Guidelines
If you have a beach shelter and wish to leave it erected overnight during your stay it needs to be in accordance with the following –

• No star pickets or any other materials that may lead to an injury in day or night.
• Use adequate hold down method for guy ropes, such as material bags or buckets of sand buried to tie downs on at least each corner and bury well so there is no chance of any wire handles or pegs being uncovered and kicked. When dis-erecting remove any buried bags etc and leave so that there is no sign that the shelter was ever there.
• No tents (simple open sided shades only).
• Be mindful to locate your shelter so it does not impede the use of the beach by others or damage the environment. This would include placing it at least 5m above the highest tide line but not so high that it is in the dunes and vegetation, while also making sure that it does not obstruct any of the informal beach tracks linking the lawns to the beach. This leaves say a 10m strip in which beach shelters are best paced.
• Be modest in the size of your shelter and what you place in it, including no old lounges etc (as there have been a few of in the past) to be in keeping with this natural, low key and non-exclusive public area. The current policy that the City has adopted allows for a day shelter of up to 15 square meters (ie: a little less than 4mx4m).
• Not for bulk storage of your beach/boating gear (take back to your unit) and be mindful to not leave anything of much value overnight as this only encourages visitation by thieves and vandals.
• Check your structure regularly to ensure that it is in good safe condition and has not been damaged by wind or vandals for example.
• Keep tidy and remove all rubbish daily.

At present the City of Busselton are tolerating beach shelters left erected overnight and if in accordance with these guidelines but there is no assurance that this will continue.

Preferred Units

Some people have a preference for a particular unit. We will strongly consider y our preferences however please be aware that on occasions we may have to move you to a different unit in the same class at any time before arrival. We need to maintain this flexibility to avoid any potential problems and to maximise the use of our units – that in turn helps us to keep our costs reasonable and affordable.

Booking Accommodation in Peak Times

For our peak times (such as the summer, autumn and spring school holidays and Easter) our accommodation is let by the week or other relevant block. We have an Application and Offer system to allocate our accommodation for the following year. To explain:

• People who desire a booking in a peak time for the following

year make an APPLICATION with us, specifying the type/s of accommodation and the period/s that could suit.

• We do not take applications more than 12 months ahead and people who hold a regular booking* must also lodge an application on their departure if they desire a booking for the following year (we do not assume this).
• Based on the applications we receive we allocate our accommodation and send out OFFERS within 2 weeks of the conclusion of a peak period – for the same peak period in the following year.

For those who make an application but do not receive an offer within 3 weeks of the conclusion of a peak period, they can assume that we have unfortunately been unable to allocate them any accommodation at that time.

If we are unable to allocate a booking that person is welcome to call us to place their name on the Wait List in case there are any cancellations. We hold names on the Wait List for up to two months, we then cancel the name as usually the person has found something else by then. If after two months the person is still interested in leaving their name on the Wait List they can phone us so we can note that they are still interested and we hold the name for another two months.

* A regular booking – is one when the same person/couple has been occupying a unit in the same relative period for at least 3 consecutive years (excluding any “one off” bookings). People who re-apply for a regular booking are not guaranteed an offer, however if they leave a neat and clean unit on departure and have shown due regard for fellow guests, our establishment and management, we will normally be able to again offer them another booking. In essence this system is guided by the principle of mutual respect.

An event such as a redevelopment that removes a unit or the rearrangement of school holidays dates by the Education Department are other examples where we may not be able to offer accommodation to people.

Note also that ‘regular’ bookings are not transferable to other family members or friends, who need to make an application in their own right.

Siesta Park Holiday Resort is an ECO Nature Tourism accredited business. This has been achieved due to the property’s special natural features plus the efforts that management and guests have taken over many years to preserve and show due regard for our beautiful environment. Please help us continue this and also contribute towards reducing our carbon emissions. The following points may be of interest:

Siesta has a healthy population of environmentally ‘threatened’ Western Ringtail Possums living on the property. By day they sleep in their stick nests or ‘dreys’ so please do not disturb them. By night they come out to frolic and feed on the peppermint tree leaves. You are welcome to walk about the property to observe them by torchlight and you will find they are quite shy and rarely come close to humans.

Many native birds inhabit the property and nest here. Some of the more common species include wattle birds, butcher birds, magpies, blue wrens, bronze wing pigeons, multiple parrot species and the nocturnal tawny frogmouth owl. There is also a family of ducks which when not living on the wetland in winter/spring they spend time at Siesta paddling on the ocean and muzzling into the ground in search of food. Small bats also will often be seen flying in the floodlights at night catching insects and large native black skinks are quite common and often mistaken for a snake as its tail is seen disappearing into the woodpile or bush.

The abundant tall peppermint trees are very important in many ways including providing the main habitat for many bird species plus the leaves are the staple food for the ringtail possums. The significant tree canopy helps keep the units and grounds shaded and cool in summer plus buffer us from  winter storms and they provide  year round beauty and character. We plant numerous peppermint trees and coastal shrubs every  year to effectively replace the aging  ones which will eventually perish. Our lawns receive summer watering and annual fertilising  and this significantly assists the health of the peppermint trees within the vicinity.

By choosing to not have air conditioning on your holiday you are straight away having an important and positive impact on minimising emissions and our carbon footprint and similarly by choosing to not have a spa or bath on your holiday you are having an important and positive impact on conserving water and energy. Fortunately the naturally shady grounds, soothing sea breezes and calm and clear waters of Geographe Bay help make your environmentally responsible choice a pleasure. When a hot day is expected the following tips might help to keep your unit as cool as possible. While your unit is cool in the morning shut all windows, doors and curtains to keep the heat out. Perhaps spend more time outside in the shade, on the veranda or swimming in the ocean and then when the day is cooling and the sea breeze is in, open windows and let cooler air in. Similarly to keep heat inside in the winter, close the curtains at night and keep doors and windows shut to prevent heat from escaping so heaters can be operated at a modest setting.

There are further simple things that you can do while you are here on holidays that will help minimise emissions and waste probably like you do at home. Things like taking modest length showers, by separating your recyclables and placing them in special collection bins provided, by not burning firewood unnecessarily or excessively, by turning lights and heaters off/ down when not required.

From our side we are working on a number initiatives in our office and about the property to continue to help improve environmental conditions and to reduce our carbon emissions and waste. This includes investment in PV (photovoltaic) electric power generation that provides us with some of our electricity requirement when the sun is shining and any excess generated electricity is pumped into the community/Western Power grid for free. Other initiatives include the installation of 4 x EV charge stations in 2023 and we have now nearly converted all lights to highly efficient led. For hot water, heat pumps are the main type of hot water system for our accommodation and this has dramatically reduced our power demand. We hope you can notice some of the things we do because we certainly appreciate that you have already shown your appreciation of the environment and your ability to keep things simple and sustainable just by choosing to stay with us.

The Siesta Park property was purchased by the late Ivan and Dulcie Tickle in 1946 and was named by Ivan after his launch, Siesta, which caught fire and was lost during a rescue operation involving a downed aircraft in a training exercise over Cockburn Sound off Fremantle during WW II.  The Siesta was part of the Naval Auxiliary Patrol and following the war the government reimbursed Ivan for his loss. These funds largely financed the purchase of the property in Busselton, so while the loss of his launch was a sad and personal loss, what more appropriate name for the newly acquired property than Siesta Park.

The property faces due north looking across Geographe Bay and is nearly 400m wide. The current area of the property on the beach side of Caves Road, is around 6 hectares (15 acres) but it is interesting  to note that it was twice this size as per the original 1892 high water mark title which illustrates the severe erosion that the property has experienced since it was first surveyed.

Prior to the Tickles there were three owners of the property that began in 1892 when a very large area of land, Location 5, was granted to a Mr Richard Gale by the Government. Mr Gale did not develop any part of the land but subdivided it into 400 metre ‘strips’, giving arable land to the south, progressing to swamp and finally beach. The second owner of the particular Siesta Park strip, in 1915 was Angus Gilchrist who had six very basic cottages built on it and who named the property Peppermint Park. The third owner was Ron Tough who had an engineering business in Perth. However, with extra demands on his business during World War II he was pleased to be relieved of the erosion and other issues associated with owning  this property ‘down south’ and sold to Ivan Tickle soon after the war ended in 1946.

Ivan and Dulcie’s 16 year old son Phil was the first family member to permanently reside on the park with the caretakers and he was apprenticed under the guidance of Ivan’s gun carpenter and foreman, Alf Smith. Together they undertook the many of the first tasks of setting up Ivan’s vision for Siesta Park, including building a caretakers residence, a workshop and setting up ex-Army tents on board floors. Other projects in the early years included building a number of small caravan-like cabins and moving the original six unlined beach shacks back about 50 meters from the encroaching shoreline. These were rebuilt, lined and a bathroom added. Electricity came to the area in 1960 and allowed for fridges to replace the ice chests and electric stoves to replace the kerosene burners plus relieve the use of the parks own diesel powered 24vdc system that was run in peak periods to provided light.

Caves Road was a dirt road then and carried only a few cars each day. Phil rode his bike leisurely along it, gun over the handlebars for perhaps the odd rabbit with his faithful collie dog Darkie following behind.

The severe winter storms and erosion problems in the early years were of great concern to the family and a major challenge to Ivan and Phil as they waged an ongoing battle to develop successful methods to combat it.  There were many experiments with sleeper walls and alike that did not stand up but the wooden style groynes were by far their most effective and lasting method . The large rock groyne 800m to the east of the property was built in two stages by the-then Public Works Department in 1965/1967 and this has proved to be a major factor in stabilising the beachfront to the west, and up to and including this property.

Ivan sadly passed away at aged 54 in 1958, having had little satisfaction for his efforts as a pioneer in the industry. He did however get to take many fishing parties out into the Geographe Bay on his 26 foot boat of that era, the Skylark and enjoyed some fantastic fishing experiences with Phil and many park guests. He also got to see Phil launch his beloved 35 foot boat Siesta II that he built on the shores of the property from 1954 to 1958 and with which he then professionally fished and chartered for about 7 years before reluctantly selling her to concentrate more on the holiday park.

Phil and his mother Dulcie carried on with Siesta and Phil married Margaret, who had a nursing background, in 1960 and she soon got into the swing of helping manage the park.  In 1992 Phil’s mother Dulcie passed away suddenly at the age of 86 after many many years of being our pleasant and popular ‘bookings lady’.

The property catered for caravans and camping in an informal setting up until this was closed in 1980 and this was extremely popular in its time and guests booked their same sites each year and renewed friendships made with fellow caravaners over the years.

Later in 1988 Phil and Marg’s son Greg returned from study to help in running the park. This led to a major surge in the development of the property included the renovation of the older chalets and the building of the villas in various stages.

In 1996 Greg married Jane and she joined the family management team and took on the responsibility for reservations. Around 2020 and Greg and Jane’s sons Blake and Kyle also returned from study to work full time and help run the park plus Jane’s daughter Naandi also assists with social media and other tasks.

Over the years there has been a succession of small jetties, each an improvement on the previous one. The adventure playground equipment, mainly crafted by Phil, seems to be a never-ending source of fun for the kids and the young at heart, including the flying fox and tarzan swing. Unfortunately procuring public liability insurance provides an ongoing challenge in the modern era and in 2022 the flying fox and some other items were reluctantly removed to allow us to maintain our policy. The jarrah furnishings in all the units were also crafted by Phil and reflect his shared passion and appreciation for our local native Jarrah, Marri, Sheoak and Blackbutt hardwood timbers.

Interestingly the 3km coastal strip spanning our holiday park now carries Siesta Park as the local locality name following a period up to the mid-1980s when the Siesta Park shop/service station, located at the entry to the park on Caves Road, operated as a postal agency for the local residents .

After a very fortunate, full and rewarding life Phil passed away suddenly in 2015 at 84 years of age. He had thrived in the environment he came to as a 16 year old and was one of the early individuals to catch waves at Yallingup, go spear fishing all around to Augusta and make intrepid forays out into the Bay in various boats. Another of many adventures was to sail around Australia in an S&S 34 yacht, departing and arriving back home to the mooring at Siesta Park, at the age of 65. Encouraged to write an article concerning a particular incident of historical interest, he continued to write short snippets and produced a reasonably sized book titled Stories From the Bay and Beyond less than a year before he passed away.

The property has always maintained a spacious and casual atmosphere in a natural setting and in this sense not much has changed. The family plan to continue to operate Siesta in a similar style into the foreseeable future and in line with our more recent ‘eco’ accreditation. We regard our long established guests and their growing families as our most valued asset and strive to provide a safe and peaceful environment for all to come and enjoy. For our part we consider ourselves fortunate to enjoy the lifestyle that Siesta provides and we do get some satisfaction from the fact that it remains a family-run business of such long standing and by the same family.