Beth's 5 favourite campsites in Queensland

"Hodor"

So as I'm sure you already know, Joe and I spent 4 months living in our trusty van, Hodor, and went from campsite to caravan park - sometimes staying in a different place every single day. We found all these using the Wikicamps app, which gave us offline access to prices, reviews, contact information and map. Some spots we stayed in have been particularly notable. Here I'll tell you my 5 favourite ones, the stories behind them and why I loved them so much.

Here I've marked where they all are

5. Bajool Hotel, Bajool, near Rockhampton
Cost: free
Occassionally we found a free spot on wikicamps in the back garden of a pub, which was the case with this one. You can stay free of charge but are encouraged to support the business by buying food or drinks so of course we did, for lunch and dinner. Located between Rockhampton and Gladstone and near the small town of Mount Larcom is an even smaller town called Bajool. This place consisted of this one pub hotel, a small convenience shop and, to be honest I couldn't find much else there. We stayed here because we had a job working at the Mount Larcom show the next day.

Why was this place so great? Well it started out as a normal pub experience though it was very quiet and in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly the place started filling up with truckers as they finished work for the weekend, and the evening entertainment of the night was watching the state of origin series rugby match. This is an annual best-of-3 tournament between the 2 aussie states of New South Wales (Blues) and Queensland (Maroons) and it's HUGE in Australia. The people all wear the colours of where they are from, and get together to watch the games. So, being in Queensland, Joe and I quickly ran back to our van and put on whatever maroon clothes we could find (a venetian flag t-shirt and a "Hodor" t-shirt) and the truckers loved it! The owners were so friendly and welcoming to us both. They could even see that we clearly couldn't afford alcoholic drinks so gave us a couple on the house! It really was a fun and unexpected experience from such a tiny town.

4. Cairns Holiday Park
Cost: $35 per night
Despite all the negative reviews on Wikicamps, our stay at the Cairns Holiday Park was most pleasurable.  One of the more expensive parks we've stayed at ($35 a night) but still one of the cheapest in the city centre. People who complain that the unpowered spots are too cramped have clearly never tried camping at a showground! The park offers a very large and well facilitated camp kitchen, with a "free stuff" shelf which was pretty much my favourite thing ever. I found allsorts here, from a 5kg bag of rice to a pair of tracksuit bottoms that fit me perfectly! There is also a small pool, TV room with free book exchange shelf, laundry facilities and clean toilet/shower block. DVDs can be rented free of charge from reception and there's free limited internet.

One evening had cracking entertainment in the form of a whipcracking show from world record holding whipcracker Nathan Griggs. This was actually one of the best things I've ever seen! The staff at the park were friendly and helpful, especially when it came to booking us a last minute place on a Great Barrier Reef snorkling trip.

The first turtle we saw whilst snorkling the Great Barrier Reef!

3. Murray Falls, TNQ
Cost: $6.15 per person per night (standard for all QLD national parks)
Though we didn't actually camp here, I wish we did because we had 2 days of insane fun. The only reason we didn't stay at the Murray Falls camp site was because all national parks in QLD must be prepaid online or by phone, and we had no phone credit or access to internet at this time as we didn't plan to come here but rather stumbled upon it.

Joe enjoying the natural waterpark at Murray Falls

Murray Falls is a stunning waterfall situated in tropical north queensland near the town of Cardwell. We found it during an awesome road trip from Townsville to Cairns, find out about it here. Now I absolutely love waterfalls, but the most exhilerating part of this place was the swimming hole upstream. We initially came here but had to return the next day once we'd charged the Gopro. There were rocks to slide down and rope swings to jump off in the stunning setting of the rainforest. The water was warm even in winter and it was definitely one of my best experiences of Australia so far.

Murray Falls

2. Scarness Beachfront Tourist Park, Hervey Bay
Cost: $15 per night
This was one of three council-run caravan parks in Hervey Bay, and they are all very similar with the same $15 backpacker rate, but I'd say this was my favourite of the three. Though the cheap price is supposed to be for an unpowered spot, they'll probably give you a powered spot anyway which is a bonus for electrically rigged vans. Otherwise you can charge phones, laptops etc in the camp kitchen.

The parks are all situated on the beachfront, and if you have a front facing spot you will pretty much be ON the beach. It doesn't get much better than waking up to that view!

Sunrise at Hervey Bay, taken from the front of my camp spot

Caravan park resident possum

The kitchen here is well equipped with hobs and barbequeues while some of the other beachfront parks also have a microwave. However, my favourite part of the kitchen in this particular park was the resident possum who was absolutely adorable, especially when Joe fed him a bit of fruit. There was a TV/chillout room with pool table. Wifi is charged at $2 per hour (Pialba beachfront park down the road should but don't charge for wifi!) The staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating, and helped us a book a tour to Fraser Island. You can read more about our adventures in Hervey Bay and Fraser Island here.

1. Mount Nimmel Lodge, Gold Coast
Cost: $10 per person per night

Set up camp at Mount Nimmel Lodge, with roaring fire!

This is my #1 camp spot for the whole of Australia (so far). I loved this place! Situated 20 minutes outside of the Gold Coast city centre at the base of the Springbrook mountain, this is the ultimate bush camping experience. Owner, Tony and caretaker, Cymon are two of the friendliest people I've ever met and will go out of their way to accommodate their guests. Cabins are available to rent but unpowered camping spots are available in the large grassy area in the centre. Campfires are encouraged, and fire pits are there for you to use. If you're nice, Cymon will even give you some free firewood that he'd chopped up earlier in the day. There's a small camp kitchen with stove, oven, microwave etc.


The animals love this place too, as the friendly kookaburras, magpies and possums will eat from your hand. And this handsome little fella pictured below posed for my camera for a good 10 minutes!

Inquisitive Kookaburra

The site is a great base for seeing both the Gold Coast city and the hinterland. From here we took a short drive to Movieworld, Wet 'n' Wild and Seaworld. It's also just 20km up the mountain to Springbrook national park (which is where "I'm a Celebrity..." is filmed) The Springbrook circuit follows waterfalls, creeks and rainforest, as well as picturesque spot "natural bridge" and glow worm cave. Sadly we were here in the daytime so couldn't see the glow worms, but still an awesome place! Cymon tells us it's even better to visit the mountain at night, as completely away from the city you get the most perfect view of the milkyway. Hopefully we'll get to experience that on our next visit to the Gold Coast!

Waterfall in Springbrook National Park

Natural Bridge, Springbrook National Park

I've had an absolute blast camping around Australia so far and these are some of the best spots I've come across. If you've stayed at campsites in Australia and have some awesome stories, leave a comment! Until next time...