Camping at Giraween

Girraween National Park has always been at my doorstep – growing up nearby typically meant I never visited it. Its only now that I have lived away and rediscovering camping that we have decided to go and visit . We spent three days there and on the first night went to a film night hosted by the rangers finding out a lot about the history and of its allure. Its unique beauty is heightened as many of the plants and animals are endemic to the region and the area serves as a time capsule. Wombats a tiny bat and other small native birds are the furthest northern inhabitant here and are flourishing under the national park rangers care.

We could have chosen between two camp grounds only 500 meters from one another but decided on - Castle Rock as it had shaded treed sites nestled amongst large granite boulders. It was high season during the holidays and the camp ground had been booked out for weeks. Despite this – we only saw a few camper vans or tents at one time and surprisingly it was not particularly noisy either. The namesake of the camp ground – a huge monolith and collection of granite bolders held at any one time at least fifteen monkeys… um kids…, all exploring the caves and crevices. The wonderful comradery of the camp children ensured that even the youngest child was looked after and included in the ever changing games and dynamics of the groups.

Little Miss Bossy Boot Lilly soon had 10 year old girls looking after her and was heard singing nursery rhymes and chanting poems from the highest peaks.

Our campsite has not only flushing loos – a relief to Morgan and Lilly who hate the long drops, but a timed hot water shower – a luxury in most national park camp grounds.

It was within an easy walking distance of the creek a series of water way and billabongs perfect fo a quick dip. The murky slimy green water didn’t entice me – but many campers assured me of the cool delights. Morgan was the only one brave enough to get into the slimy depths and he was icecold when he finally agreed he had had enough.


The walks of Girraween are all one way, with most well graded and maintained. September is the time to visit Girraween with all the wildflowers blooming. The walk to the Junction – where two creeks meet was just the right length for us – we hadn’t gone walking for 2 months and the kids were pretty wingy and tired by the middle of it – the return walk just under 5 kms. The trek out is worth all the whining though. Its truly stunning. I really felt like I had been dropped into one of the Northern Territory gorges a million miles from anywhere. The sheer rock faces and the creeks were stunning ( no crocs though)

Campsites are on relatively flat ground and the rangers are systematically building flattend sites with gravel and backed up with wood. We had a new addition to test out with this camp – a large pergoda totally screened – fantastic – now called our kitchen tent. Freed up lots of space from our own sleeping tent for storage and meant we could keep a table erected with the small stove and other kitchen things out – rather than hide it in the car or stow it into our tent. It was welcome relief too to sit under it in midday and be free from flys and the sun.

We availed ourselves to the chocolate shop only a few kms away and sat in the perfumed gardens sipping iced drinks and savoring the silky chocolate delights.