Girraween National Park and Bald Rock Creek Camping Area, QLD.

Granite Arch

Girraween National Park is an outstanding national park and I have lost count of the number of times we have been there. Even if you aren't keen on camping, it is well worth dropping in for a day trip as there are excellent walks in the park. If you are short of time, the walk to Granite Arch is only a 1.6 km circuit. 

Bald Rock Creek Day Use Area

Bald Rock Creek Day Use Area is a well equipped picnic area, with a huge car park, that is an ideal base for exploring.

Girraween National Park Visitor Information Centre

The Girraween National Park Visitor Information Centre is next to the Day Use Area and is a good place to learn about the park. There is free WiFi available at the centre which can be used to check the weather and make camping bookings. There is also a phone booth in the Information Centre Car Park.

The Pyramid. View from near the Information Centre.

Another visit to Girraween National Park hadn't been on our itinerary but we decided to come here due to the wet weather. It seemed like a good idea to spend time in the rain at a place where we had already seen all the sights and we liked the idea of hot showers after wet walks. We knew we wouldn't be climbing The Pyramid this trip though as it is too dangerous in the wet. 

We have always camped at Castle Rock Camping Area so for a change we decided to camp at Bald Rock Camping Area. 

Our site at Bald Rock Creek Camping Area

We choose a site that had a tent pad made of compacted granite. As always, on this type of pad, it took a fair bit of effort to knock in the tent pegs. We were woken during the middle of the night by loud noises and debris hitting the side of our tent. We leapt up to investigate only to discover that an echidna was excavating a hole in the granite pad. It really is amazing how quickly such a small animal can make a hole in such a hard surface. The echidna immediately ran away and tried to hide its head, as they like to do when disturbed, but we did manage to get a photo of it before leaving it alone.

Echidna

While we were investigating the hole that the echidna made, a Brush-tailed Possum came over to us to investigate us. It seemed quite fascinated by the light from our torches.

Brush-tailed Possum

Satin Bowerbirds, Musk Lorikeets and Red Wattlebirds were frequent visitors to our campsite.

Satin Bowerbird

Musk Lorikeet

Details for Bald Rock Creek Camping Area:
Where: Girraween National Park. 39 km north of Tenterfield. 36 km south of Stanthorpe. Turn off the New England Highway onto Pyramids Road. Turn left into the campground after about 9 km. 
Access: Fully sealed roads suitable for all vehicles. (Entry from the north via Eukey is a nice option if you like unsealed back roads.)
Bookings and Fees: Online or by telephone. There is now free WiFi at the rangers office. Rangers do not take bookings. There is a telephone booth in the car park at the rangers station.
Sites: There are areas for tents and a section with 8 sites for camper trailers. (There are non-powered caravan sites at Castle Rock Camping Area). 
Facilities: The amenities block is wheelchair accessible, hot showers, flush toilets, tables, non-potable water taps, fire places (BYO wood). No bins. No powered sites. No phone reception. Outdoor telephone box in the car park at the rangers station.
Prohibitions: No pets. No generators. Do not collect firewood. Do not dump ashes in the campground (damp down and remove to transfer station).


Wildlife: Echidna, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby, Brushtail Possum, Red-bellied Black Snake, Jacky Lizard, Elf Skink, Copper-tailed Skink, Eastern Water Skink. Joseph Coat Moth. Common Brown Butterfly.
Bird List: Satin Bowerbird, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Great Cormorant, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Darter, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, Rufous Fantail, Red-browed Finch, Noisy Friarbird, White-throated Gerygone, White-necked Heron, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, White-eared Honeyeater, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, New Holland Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Musk Lorikeet Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian Magpie, Crested Pigeon, Eastern Yellow Robin, Crimson Rosella, Little Shrike-thrush, Grey Shrike-thrush, Eastern Spinebill, Brown Thornbill, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, White-throated Treecreeper, Red Wattlebird, Golden Whistler, Willie Wagtail.