Bigriggen Park, Bigriggan: March, 2015

Bigriggen Park
196 Bigriggan Rd, 
Bigriggan Via Rathdowney
26th March, 2015

Mr. and Mrs. P.

    After a long delay the P's and Grandma were off camping again. We had planned to go camping a whole lot sooner, but with a sore back that took weeks to heal, heavy rains and then a broken collar bone with consequent neck pain that took months to come good, it proved far more difficult to get away than we'd imagined. 

    For this trip we decided to try Bigriggen Park, located in the Scenic Rim, it is not far from Rathdowney, which is not far from Beaudesert. It is a pretty drive from north side Brisbane to the campground, although I think at the limit of how far we want to drive for a camping spot. The difference in the spelling of the town and camping ground is due to a spelling error back in the day, Bigriggen is the correct spelling according to the campground website. 

    When you arrive at Bigriggen you must stop and pay for your booking at the office, you are then given a code that drops a metal rope and you drive on in. The office is also home to the kiosk, here they sell bread, milk, firewood, ice, tinned food etc. When we got there we were happy to see large expanses of green grass and few campers. This will be easy to find a spot we all thought with big smiles on our faces. Until... we drove all over the campground until we found a spot further back by the river,  an area which was flat enough to put our tent. The campground is not suited to large tents. The ground, while mowed and very green, is quite undulating. Not until you are on top of it can you see how much so. Dips in the ground had longer grass growing in them, I think that is why it was harder to see the undulations from a distance. 

 









    The spot we had was lovely as we had no close neighbours. The downside was that it was a good walk to the one amenity block. This block held the showers, toilets and a dump point. The rubbish bins were also here. I do like a camping ground with a dump point and rubbish bins, it makes your time away so much better when you are not having to take rubbish back home with you. There is one very large rain water tank attached to the block, this where you can get drinking water from. The owners advise everyone to boil the water before drinking. It is a very long way to carry a bucket of water though, in the end Mr. P and Red were on water duty and took the car up to get several buckets at a time, this was fine as the grounds were so quiet. 

    

    We never used the showers, well Grandma and Amy decided to have cold showers on a couple of the mornings. Grandma said it was invigorating.... hmmm... that is not what I would have called it. 
The 3 showers have a box outside each door in which you deposit 20c coins for hot water. There are signs telling you how to go about it, 20c buys you 1 minute of hot water, however a couple of the ladies who used the system, said you need to put 4 x 20c coins in before you get any hot water. You also need to pay attention to which box operates which shower, as we also heard about someone who had a really long hot shower and someone else who got a cold one. Clearly he'd been putting his money into the wrong box. You also need to get undressed before you carefully open the door to insert the coins as the hot water comes on immediately. In the ladies block there is a laundry tub and a small bathtub which works for bathing children in. The amenities were always clean and well cared for. There are no laundry facilities available. They do have electricity in the amenities blocks, and lights on all night. 

    The downside for me, Mrs.P, was the frogs. Green tree frogs bring many people great delight, I am just not one of them. We went up late one night and there sitting on the ground in the entrance to the toilets, was the biggest, most enormous frog any of us have ever seen. It was huge. The frog was bigger than my hand, with tiny eyes that didn't look like they'd grown along with the rest of the frog. I'd have liked to take a picture (or rather get someone else to take a picture), but I didn't have my camera with me at the time. We got rain while we were camping and in a coil of rope on top of the trailer's wheel arch was a green frog. How and why amazes me. Bright orange rope does not a tree make. 

    There are fire rings scattered about the grounds and these are emptied when necessary. Despite signs to the contrary people will still try and burn tins and alfoil, it is not nice to see this in your fire pit, because of the weather when we went, we did not bother with a fire this time. 

    Bigriggen has a rather neat BMX track for the kids and even adults to enjoy riding on. It seemed to be quite popular, Amy after getting over her nerves, quite liked it. Bikes are very welcome there and they along with their riders get right of way, the speed for cars is 10kmh within the grounds. 

    Red enjoyed swimming in the Logan River. It is a brown river and has fish in it. You are allowed to fish here. There is a set of rapids that he liked going down, but as you get bumped into the rocks it starts to hurt after awhile. The best way to go down them is on an air bed, it seems. Amy had a couple of swims, but the brown water was out of her comfort zone and I can't say as I blame her. 

    There is a lot of wildlife here.During the day it is noisy minors that plague you. If you even look like making food they are all over, make a sound like an esky opening and you are instantly the most popular activity for miles around. Red lifted his water pistol out of a box on our first day, and the birds flew off. Aha! With water pistol filled and at the ready we knew what to do, it didn't hurt them at all. The birds sat there getting wet until they got sick of it and then flew off, it kept the numbers down though. 
It was probably the time of year we were there, but we had trouble with hairy caterpillars, despite not camping anywhere near the trees we were told to avoid, they had no trouble finding us. Another day it was flies. We have never seen so many flies. The only relief we got was by covering us all in Bushman's Repellent and dabbing it around the edges of the table. Fly coils didn't work at all, thankfully that was only one day.  At night it was the possums and brave, fearless little things they are. The possums come into the area where you are sitting and walk straight passed your legs. They will try and get to the rubbish if they can. You have to try and scare them away they are so bold, gets a bit much truth be told. I could hear them outside the tent during the night, no doubt looking to see if we'd left food out for them. As if. 

   

    I discovered the most amazing tree. It went down in the P family annals as the Deer Tree. I have never seen a tree like it. Unlike most things you think you see, and go closer to look at and find they are not what you thought they were, the deer tree stayed a deer tree no matter how close we got. What do you think?

    We had a lovely time camping at Bigriggen, we left the Wednesday before Easter and woke up to pouring rain. Thankfully Mr. P had put a very large tarp over our entire campsite so we were able to pack up in the rain and it did stop when it was time to take down the tarp. That morning the caravans started arriving, then the tent trailers. We were told by another camper that the campground was expecting 1100 people for the Easter weekend. That accounted for all the rent-a-potties that were at the amenities block. How you would manage with a large tent looking for a flat spot if you didn't get there early I do not know. I am glad we got to spend time at Bigriggen and while we had a lovely time, the P family are not in a hurry to return.

Fees:
There are no powered sites here. 

ADULTS (16 years +) $9.00 per adult per night.
CHILDREN (0 - 15 years) $6.00 per child per night.

There are minimum booking period over the long weekends.

Things to know: 

• Bigriggen have rules but they are not difficult to follow. These rules are easily read on their website. 
• Quiet generators are allowed but only within certain hours
• Firewood is available to buy
• Kiosk
• Rubbish bins provided
• Dump point - environmentally friendly chemicals only
• Booking in is to be done online
• No phone reception to speak of. Occasionally you might get a bit of signal but don't count on it. 
• Cold water showers available but hot water costs extra
• No pets

For further details visit the website here. 

Sandy Creek Camping Grounds, Kilcoy: March 2015

Sandy Creek Camping Grounds
Off Cedarvale Rd.
Kilcoy, QLD.
March, 2015

Mr and Mrs M.

Our first camping trip with just us and both children! We were looking forward to seeing how we and the kids went and while we were anticipating a pretty good trip we were well aware that camping with young children can also be unpredictable and stressful.

Well… it was actually a breeze! An absolutely wonderful, relaxing success. Even the drenching of rain we got as we packed up couldn’t dampen the fabulous time we all had.

Sandy Creek Camping Grounds is definitely our favourite spot yet. For many reasons, but the biggest of which is the beautiful creek we camped alongside. It took us an hour and 20mins from northside Brisbane, going through Woodford. The owners recommend you follow the map on their website when you get closer, not your GPS. Access is via an unsealed road, but is fine for conventional vehicles.

We camped directly beside this beauty, but there were some other lovely areas to choose from too. More on that soon.

     

The owners are very friendly, we saw Brian most days out and about and he’d usually stop for a quick chat. As you enter the grounds you’ll see the owners’ house/reception where you must go upon arrival, and some trailers full of wood (You can buy the wood there and Brian will deliver it to your campsite). As you leave their driveway you can turn right, to a small campground called Fig Tree, or left to the larger campground called… hm, I don’t even know if it was called something…

First, Fig Tree.
This one would be perfect for a large family group or kids camp, or you name it. It’s a smaller camp ground with a large tree (Fig, I’m assuming) providing oodles of shade and a couple of swings hanging underneath. There’s also a big flat grass area closer to the amenities block (flushing toilets and hot showers). The creek in this section is very shallow and sandy, making it perfect for toddlers and young children. It does also deepen in a smaller area and further down is full of rocks perfect for the bigger kids to clamber.

 

     
The water in that wide sandy part was about an inch deep during our visit.

Now, the Left-Turn-To-The-Larger-Campground.
There are two sections to this area. The first is as you drive in, a huge expanse of lovely flat grass, on one side is the creek that you’re able to camp quite close to. There are two shaded picnic tables in this area.

 

This was us. That’s the creek you might be able to see just past those tree trunks. We also happened to have a swing in the tree beside our tent.

As you follow the road up a slope you will find the second section. This has another large area of flat grass, with some trees and another two picnic tables, no creek view at all. This is where the amenities block (flushing toilets and hot showers) is. So yes- if you’re camping down beside the creek you do have a long walk up to the amenities and back. We decided it was worth it.

The amenities block sits behind the trees where the road ends and the (far off) green sign is.

 
We found the amenities blocks to be very well kept, very clean and tidy.

In terms of wildlife, there wasn’t a whole lot to be seen. One morning when I was up early I saw a group of grey kangaroos in the top campground, but they disappeared quickly after seeing me. There were plenty of birds around. A lot of kookaburras (one or two would watch us when we ate, but no brave ones flew down to grab food as we’ve experienced elsewhere), and a small flock of king parrots that would gather on the gravel road (I think there was birdseed scattered there). We heard other birds around as well as frogs. The creek only seemed to have some very small native fish. What we didn’t see were any lace monitors (got to watch them around little children), green ants, jumping ants (oh, so nasty) or many spiders. Missy and Boyo often walked around the campground in bare feet with no problems.

 

The website says that there are rainwater tanks for drinking water. We didn’t end up needing to find those as we collected any water we needed from a fast flowing cascade in the creek beside us.

A note on the creek. Yes it is sandy in places, but not beach-sandy. It’s more of the broken-down-rock kind of sandy so it can be rough if you’re paddling in bare feet for long. We use reefies (lycra surf shoes) for the children anytime we go to creeks and they were perfect this trip in keeping their feet safe while they spent hours exploring and playing. The creek is also full of huge rocks just perfect for rock hopping as far as you like. It’s great exercise (just ask my legs) and lots of fun! We spent many hours beside or in the creek during our stay. There were plenty of little cascades, streams and pools to play in, dangle your feet in, or clamber over using the big rocks. We loved this place, and plan to go back very soon!

 

 

 

Fees:

• $65 for two nights. This includes two adults, and all children under 16yrs.
• $30 for each subsequent night.

Things to know:

• Dog-friendly
• No day trippers or one-night camping
• No powered sites
• Generators allowed between 10am-12pm only
• Wood available to buy
• No gas refills
• No ice sold
• Rainwater tanks available for drinking water
• Helmets must be worn with bikes
• No phone reception

Facilities:

• Flushing toilets
• Hot showers
• Campfires permitted in fire rings
• Walking tracks
• FWDing available, 20km of tracks

For further details see the website here.

Bookings are via phone call to the owners, Brian and Narelle.

Cedar Grove Camping Ground: October, 2014

Amamoor Creek Road,

Amamoor

October, 2014 

Oh happy days. The P and M families went camping and they got to take Mrs P's mum with them. Grandma didn't arrive until the day after we'd arrived, she was an absolute boon on the day we packed up. Her calibrated eyeball knew just how big to fold things, all her years of camping held her in good stead. We really enjoyed taking Grandma with us and hope she can come again, it was such a good family time. 

Grandma and my foot working hard at relaxing.

We spent 4 nights at Cedar Grove, setting up the first day took a lot longer than we thought it would. It was incredibly hot, 35 degrees and choosing a site that was perfect took some time. It was perfect until we discovered the tree roots. Argh. Thankfully Mr. P had bought stronger key head pegs and they were able to go in, the thinner pegs bent (no surprise there). I decided that it would be really handy if someone invented a spear gun that shot the tent pegs into the ground. How to stop them entering the centre of the earth and then getting them out again, would be a job for the experts. Our site continued to be perfect as was our whole camping trip. 

It takes about 2 1/2 hrs or so to get to Cedar Grove from Brisbane. It is a dog free campground with no showers, just taps that bring water from the creek and fire rings. As per other National Parks, bring your own firewood and drinking water. The rangers pop in from time to time and removed a man who decided to come and camp with his 3 dogs. You can camp at Amamoor with dogs, it is only a few minutes further up the road, but not Cedar Grove. 

Looking towards the entrance to Cedar Grove Campground

I was disappointed with how clean or rather neglected the toilets became. When we arrived they were nice and clean but over the course of the 4 days (included in that was a weekend) they were not cleaned once. I caught myself wishing I had packed cleaning products so I could give them all a good clean. I need therapy. Sigh. 

Toilet block, there are two of these

Cedar Grove looked very different before the floods, it has recently undergone an upgrade and while there were once cold showers, there are none now. Not that I can ever imagine having a cold shower, so that part doesn't bother me at all. It is a fenced campground to keep the cattle out, the walks around the campground are nice but you do need to watch where you are stepping and also be on the keen lookout for the stinging tree. I was not happy to see that I had walked past 2 little bushes (they eventually grow into huge trees) growing right by the side of the path without noticing. The mind boggles at how awful it would have been had I touched it or worse had the kids touched it. There are still many, many trees down from the floods and it looks like they'll be left there. On one of the walks we saw this very big tree that once had decking around it over on its side, it must have been just beautiful, but now it just looks sad. It all looks sad with so much flood damage. 

There are no Bellbirds at Cedar Grove and therefore that stops it being the perfect camping area. There are lovely Magpies, Whip birds and the Wompoo Fruit Dove. Possums, Lace Monitors and bush turkeys are plentiful. There were also flies that we took to be  March Flies, that buzzed around but didn't seem terribly interested in biting us, although we didn't give them much chance to. They were more bothersome on that first hot day, than they were on subsequent cooler days. I got bitten by a yellowy-green fly but have no idea what it was and it itched regardless of what cream went on it, for about a week. I still have a round mark the size of a 5c coin on my arm. 

Cedar Grove is wonderful fun for the children, it is mainly small streams with little rocks that are great for building dams, waterfalls and other water features. The kids spent time catching the little fish with their nets and letting them go again. They all liked looking in the Wildlife book and seeing what animals they could identify. There are some deeper spots but mainly it was shallow which was perfect for Missy and Boyo and perfect for letting the creativity flow. Amy and Red took their blow up boat down to cruise the deeper parts on the last day, Missy and Boyo had such fun being towed around, so much so Boyo didn't want to stop. 

Stream showing flood damage

Facilities:

• free choice camping spot
• flushing toilet blocks
• creek water taps throughout the park
• fire rings
• swimming in one deeper part but mostly streams with rocks for building dams
• bush walks

Things to remember:

• bring your own drinking water or boil the creek water
• bring your own firewood and only use the fire rings
• remove all rubbish, there are no bins, what you bring in, you take out
• no showers

Fees: 

There are only unpowered sites, and they are $5.95 for a single person or $22.80 for a family per night. 

               

Island Reach Resort, Imbil: June 2014

Island Reach Resort
5 Island Road
Imbil
June, 2014

Mr and Mrs P.

We knew we wanted to go away for the long weekend in June, but didn't realise so would most other campers. It was beautiful weather with warm days and cold nights and mornings. Perfect weather for enjoying the river and a campfire. Last time we went camping on the long weekend was many years ago in a national park. It was freezing, freezing cold and there were only about 5 other campers there. No surprise really.

Our destination was to be Island Reach Resort at Imbil, we left early Friday morning, it was a very easy drive taking around 1 hr 40 minutes, the office opens at 8am and we were there about 8.30 am. The camping ground is on the edge of town coming from the south, it is on your right. Look for the red sign, it is easy to miss.

http://www.pradopoint.com/

On entering you need to park, and pay at the office, there are no credit card facilities. We drove in and were surprised by the crowd already there, we found a lovely spot on the river and set up camp. All day people arrived and arrived and arrived. By late Friday we were starting to wonder where they were all going to fit. A few drifted in Saturday morning, and the park ended up very squeezy indeed.

After we set up camp, we went for a walk to look at the campground. There are two clean amenity blocks each for men and women with showers, yes hot showers and flushing toilets. Only one basin though, which seemed to work, despite the hand washing, teeth cleaning and beauty routines of the campers. Even though the campground was very busy, there was plenty of hot water. Close to the shower blocks is a dump point for you if you need to empty your portable toilets and rubbish bins. There is a large cage for cans and both green and yellow wheelie bins. On the side of the older block is the laundry. It costs $4 a load for either the front loading washing machine or dryer. There is a communal clothes line as well.

The newer amenities block

The dump point is in the fenced area, showing bins.

  

Laundry facilities

Island Reach is a dog friendly campground, all dogs must stay on a leash at all times and be cleaned up after. Red became great friends with the dog in the next camp site, she would just lay back there and take all the tummy rubs she could get. For the number of dogs there, they were remarkably well behaved. We'd never camped with dogs before so it was pleasing to see how it can work so well.

There are rules at Island Reach, music has to be kept down, and turned off at 10pm. Oh how I wish someone had enforced that rule. Profanity is not accepted and I wish someone had enforced that rule as well. Had we been in a caravan like the campers next door, I doubt it would have bothered us as much but as we were in a tent you can't really escape it.

The river would have to be one of the loveliest I've seen. It was quite long and there are plenty of camp sites where you can camp alongside it, or higher up the campground where you can see it. Across the river from our campsite in a tree lives an eagle or hawk, there are 2 nests in the tree one is very large. I wished I'd had some binoculars for a better look though.

You can hire (for very reasonable prices) canoes that hold 2 people or kayaks that hold 1 from the office, or you can take your own.  Amy and Red enjoyed their blow up boat that Red found on a throw out rack in Kmart. There is also a large earth slide, you need to swim out to it and then climb up, jump off into the water or slide down the well worn muddy slide that is on it. The river has a large beachy area where you could see parents sitting watching their children swim and play.

Fires are welcome in designated spots, there are no metal surrounds. You can buy split wood from the office, $20 for a wheelbarrow full. We took wood but ended up buying some as well, it was cold at night and in the mornings and the fires were enjoyed by us all. Amy and Red loved eating porridge by the fire in the mornings. I have to agree, porridge tastes much better in the outdoors.

The camp kitchen is really good, although as a National Park camper I have not come across one before, it was very clean and had all you could need. There are picnic style tables, cooking facilities, 2 sinks, a fridge and freezer for campers to use and a microwave oven. The fridge and freezer were both clean and ready for use. We never needed to use the camp kitchen but I am sure it would be a help if you had forgotten your gas stove.

On Sunday mornings from 9.00 there is a little market in the town of Imbil itself. It is an easy walk and there are lovely trees running down the centre of the street. I bought a funky beanie for $2 which I put to good use that very night and the next morning and the next night and so on. There were stalls selling jams, chutneys, books, toys and clothes. 

http://www.maryvalleycountry.com.au/

themaryvalley.com.au

                  

Despite the busyness of a long weekend, we enjoyed our stay at Island Reach Resort. The owners were always smiling, very friendly and helpful despite having six things to do at once. Unless you went up to the office they left you alone to just camp.   We really enjoyed that we could drive around and choose where we'd like to camp. There are a lot of Jacaranda trees there and we have plans to come back when they are flowering, it is very pretty from the pictures I've seen.           

Prices for an unpowered site per night are:

Adult $12

Children $6

They do not have card facilities as yet. Further details may be found on their website .