The Broadwater Camping Area, Sundown National Park, QLD.

Sundown National Park

Sundown National Park is an outstanding birdwatching area offering good opportunities to see Turquoise Parrots. A 4WD is not necessary to enter the south-western section of Sundown National Park, however, parts of the road to The Broadwater Camping Area are narrow and not suitable for long or wide vehicles. 

Entry to the south-western section of Sundown National Park.

Road to The Broadwater Camping Area.

Take a container and collect some water at the Park Headquarters which is 1 km before the campground.

Water station on the way to The Broadwater Camping Area.

As an added bonus, we saw some nice birds as we filled up our water container. 

Diamond Firetail

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

The main area of the campground has a row of sites quite close together. Each site is defined with wooden barriers that could make it hard to manoeuvre a long vehicle. 

The Broadwater Campground

You can no longer self-register at The Broadwater Camping Area and it is necessary to choose a site number when booking; always a challenge if you haven't seen the sites. 

Site 10 showing the wooden barriers enclosing the campsites.

Sites 13 to 16 are grassy open areas listed as group camping sites. 

Jacky Winter at Site 15.

Amenities at the campground include non-flush toilets and a donkey shower . Wood is not provided.

Donkey Shower and Shower Cubicles.

Eastern Grey Kangaroos graze around the campground in the late afternoon. 

Eastern Grey Kangaroos watching me watching them.

In the early evening we could see Nightjars chasing micro-bats. As the campground is reasonably remote, the stars were particularly bright at night.


Details for The Broadwater Camping Area:
Where: In the south-western section of Sundown National Park. 300 km south-west of Brisbane. Turn off Glenlyon Dam Road into Permanents Road and follow the road for 4 km until arriving at the campground. 
Access: 2WD access. 4 km narrow unsealed road. National Parks QLD state that "caravans longer than 4 meters are not recommended due to narrow sections along the campground access track." also "Access not suitable for vehicles over 5 tonne." 
Fees & Booking: All sites must be booked online or by phone. You used to be able to self-register sites 8 - 15 but this is no longer the case despite outdated information on the internet and on signs near the park headquarters. Maximum length of stay 29 days.

Sites: 15 numbered sites. Sites listed as suitable for tent camping beside vehicle, caravans less than 4 meters, small motorhomes, camper trailers and large groups. Sites 1 - 12 are individual sites defined by barriers. Note that the entrance width to these sites varies from 4 to 7 meters and may be difficult to access in long/wide rigs. Sites 13 - 15 are open grassy areas for large groups and are a long way from the amenities.

Facilities: Non-flush toilets, fire pits, donkey shower with shower cubicle, BYO wood. We had 1 bar Telstra phone reception. There is drinking and non-drinking water available at the park headquarters 1 km before the campground. BYO water container.

Prohibitions: No generators. No pets. Do not collect wood from the bush. Do not dump ashes in the park.
Caution: Ticks.

Wildlife List: Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby, Feral Goat, Lace Monitor, Copper-tailed Skink, Eastern Water Dragon, Micro Bats (type unknown). Joseph Coat Moth. Butterflies: Common Brown, Common Crow, Common Grass-blue, Common Plane, Monarch, Orchard Swallowtail. 
Birds: Apostlebird, Grey-crowned Babbler, White-browed Babbler, Whistling Kite, Pacific Bazza, Grey Butcherbird, White-winged Chough, Little Corella, Pallid Cuckoo, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Torresian Crow, Pied Currawong, Pacific Black Duck, Bar-shouldered Dove, Spangled Drongo, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, Diamond Firetail, Restless Flycatcher, Little Friarbird, White-faced Heron, Striped Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, White-plumed Honeyeater, Jacky Winter, Common Koel, Laughing Kookaburra, Australian Magpie, Magpie-lark, Noisy Miner, Mistletoebird, Nightjar (unsure of type), Olive-backed Oriole, Australian King Parrot, Red-rumped Parrot, Pheasant Coucal, Red-capped Robin, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Rosella, Pale-headed Rosella, Hybrid: Eastern Rosella x Pale-headed Rosella, White-browed Scrubwren, Silvereye, Welcome Swallow, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Brown Treecreeper, White-throated Treecreeper, Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Willie Wagtail.

Girraween National Park, QLD: Walking in the Rain.

The rain brings out the colours of this rock at Underground Creek

We deliberately came to Girraween National Park to wait out some widespread wet weather. Both campgrounds have hot showers and flush toilets; an appreciated bit of luxury on wet days when tent camping.

As we have done all the walks in Girraween National Park in fine weather we decided to redo some of our favourites in the rain. Naturally, this affects our photos as grey sky's are a bit gloomy and we missed some photo opportunities when we had to pack our camera gear away to keep it dry.

The Junction Walk: Class 3, 3.7 km return from the Bald Rock Creek Camping Area, 5.2 km return from the Bald Rock Creek Day Use Area. We combined the walk with the Bald Rock Creek Circuit, Class 3, 2 km and the Granite Arch Circuit, Class 3, 1.6 km. (The Combined Bald Rock Circuit and the Granite Arch Circuit is Class 3, 2.7 km.) By combining the three walks we probably walked a bit under 6 km.

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

Joseph Coat Moth

Flowering Sundew

The sun came out and a few minutes later it bucketed down. We didn't wear jackets because it was too hot but our gear is mostly quick dry. We always carry dry bags to quickly protect our cameras though.

The Junction Walk

Eastern Water Skink

Dr Roberts Waterhole: Class 2, 1.2 km return.

Dr Roberts Waterhole

Underground Creek: Class 2 and 3, 2.8 km.

Underground Creek

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.

Wildlife at Bald Rock National Park, NSW.

Family of Cunningham's Skinks

We were delighted to see a family of Cunningham's Skinks sunning themselves. These skinks vary a lot in their colouration and the ones on Bald Rock have a very colourful palette.

There were quite a few Common Brown butterflies about. We did mange to get a photo of a slightly different brown butterfly that I wasn't familiar with and I was able to get it identified as a Ringed Xenica by a member of The Butterfly and Other Invertebrates Club (BOIC).

Ringed Xenica  Geitoneura acantha

We often encounter wildlife around campgrounds that have become accustomed to people feeding them. Unfortunately, feeding wildlife can lead to undesirable behaviors developing in that wildlife. Aggression is just one of the reasons that national parks often display signs asking people not to feed wildlife. At Blackdown Tablelands National Park, QLD, we encountered unusually large numbers of thieving Pied Currawongs, at Mulligans Campground in the Gibraltar Range National Park, NSW, we even encountered a very aggressive Satin Bowerbird. At Bald Rock Campground there are problems with very pushy Kookaburras. A young man camping there had told us that Kookaburras were "getting in his face", we didn't realize how literal he was being until I was eating a sandwich and a Kookaburra flew right into my face and stole the sandwich while I was biting it. The beak of the Kookaburra, which believe me is very large at close range, actually hit my hand on the way through and left a red swelling and a blood blister on my thumb.

The culprit with the evidence.

Here are a few other bird photos that I liked:

Eastern Spinebill

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Scarlet Honeyeater

Superb Fairy-wren

Wildlife: Red-necked Wallaby, Swamp Wallaby, Cunningham's Skink, Squirrel Glider.
Bird List: Satin Bowerbird, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Pied Currawong, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, Noisy Friarbird, Tawny Frogmouth, Scarlet Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Musk Lorikeet, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian Magpie, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Rosella, Crimson Rosella, White-browed Scrubwren, Eastern Spinebill, Brown Thornbill, Striated Thornbill, Red-browed Treecreeper, White-throated Treecreeper.

Bald Rock National Park, NSW: Climbing Bald Rock and Camping at Bald Rock Campground.

Bald Rock

Bald Rock Walking Track:
There are two ways to get to the top of Bald Rock. Rockface Walk: Follow the white dots, straight up the granite face of Bald Rock. This is a popular option for those who are fit and aren't afraid of heights. Bungoona Walk: a longer option but comfortably achievable for most people. 

Granite Arch, Bungoona Walk.

A good option is to go up the rock face and come down via the Bungoona Walk; roughly 3.2 km total. This is what we planned to do but when we got going early in the morning there was heavy cloud and mist with light rain. We learnt many years ago not to walk on wet granite after a scary experience with slick granite on The Pyramid in Girraween National Park so we made the decision to go up and down the long way; about 5 km in total. The Bungoona Walk is worth doing anyway as it has many interesting granite rock formations and interesting flora.

Rock Lily Orchid Dendrobium speciosum

When we reached the summit the cloud looked like it might lift so we decided to have a snack and wait to see if the weather cleared up. Fortunately the weather did clear for a short while and we finally got some blue sky. (See photo at the top of this blog).

Bald Rock in the clouds.

Balancing Rocks, Bald Rock.

We decided to do the Rockface Walk in the afternoon. unfortunately, it looked like an afternoon storm was coming and as we arrived at the base we could hear thunder and lightning. We didn't like the idea of being exposed on the top of a granite dome in a thunder storm, so once again, we made the decision to call off walking the rock face. 

Afternoon thunderstorm coming over the Rockface Walk.

That evening, we checked the weather forecast and heavy rain was predicted over the coming days so we decided to relocate to Girraween National Park to wait out the wet weather. We plan on coming back to conquer the Rockface Walk sometime soon. Our blog on the wildlife we encountered at Bald Rock National Park can be found here.

Bald Rock Picnic Area:

Bald Rock Picnic Area

There is an excellent picnic area next to the campground. $8 per vehicle per day entry fee. Facilities include: tables, gas BBQ's, non-potable water taps, non-flush toilets, information, walk trail-heads, car park.

Details for Bald Rock Campground:

Bald Rock Campground. Self-registration

Site at Bald Rock Campground: table ,fire ring with plates, nearby water tap.

Where: Bald Rock National Park. 34 km north of Tenterfield. Turn off Mount Lindsey Road onto Bald Rock Access Road and follow signs to campground. ( Or 43 km south-east of Stanthorpe , road has unsealed sections.)
Access: Sealed roads if coming from Tenterfield. 2WD, all weather access.
Bookings and Fees: $12 per adult, $6 per child, plus $8 vehicle entry fee per day. No bookings. Self-register and pay on site.
Sites: 14 defined sites, crushed granite surface, designated for tents, camping beside vehicle, camper trailers, caravans.
Facilities: Non-flush toilets, tables in each site, fire rings with cooking plates, wood provided, several non-drinking water taps, information board, walks, camp kitchen shelter with gas BBQ hot plate and table. We had 1 - 2 bar Telstra phone reception. No bins. No showers.
Prohibitions: No pets, no smoking, no generators. 
Caution: Overly pushy Kookaburras steal food.

Wildlife: Red-necked Wallaby, Swamp Wallaby, Cunningham's Skink, Squirrel Glider.
Bird List: Satin Bowerbird, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Pied Currawong, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, Noisy Friarbird, Tawny Frogmouth, Scarlet Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Musk Lorikeet, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian Magpie, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Rosella, Crimson Rosella, White-browed Scrubwren, Eastern Spinebill, Brown Thornbill, Striated Thornbill, Red-browed Treecreeper, White-throated Treecreeper.

Wollomombi Falls Section of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, NSW.

Superb Lyrebird at Edgars Lookout

Edgars Lookout:
When we drove to Edgars Lookout in the Wollomombi section of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park we were excited to observe a Superb Lyrebird quietly foraging between the lookout and the picnic area.

View from Edgars Lookout, Wollomombi Falls.

Wollomombi Falls Picnic Area:
There is a large picnic area at Wollomombi Falls with tables, toilets, a large picnic shelter, information boards and a beautiful vista. The walks start from here.

Wollomombi Picnic Area

Wollomombi Walk: Grade 3, 4 km return.

View from Eagle Lookout, Wollomombi Walk.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Dusky Woodswallows, Wollomombi Walk.

Chandler Walking Track: Grade 5, 3 km return.
We only walked 150 m to the Wollomombi Falls Lookout (300 m return). The falls were barely a trickle but the gorge is still a magnificent sight.

Wollomombi Falls

Wollomombi Falls Campground:
This is a popular campground for quick overnight stays as it is only a short drive off the Waterfall Way and it takes all rig types. 

Wollomombi Falls Campground has clearly defined sites.

Details for Wollomombi Falls Campground:
Where: 42 km east of Armidale or 151 km south-west of Coffs Harbour.
Access: 2WD, all weather roads. Turn off the Waterfall Way onto Wollomombi Falls Road. Turn right into the signposted campground. 
Sites: 10 defined, compacted gravel sites, designated for tents and all rig types.
Fees and Bookings: $6 per adult, $3.50 per child, self-register, no bookings.
Facilities: Non-flush toilets, fire rings, firewood supplied, taps with non-potable water. Walks nearby.
Prohibitions: No pets. No smoking.