So since we’re all at home and no one is going anywhere for the next while, I’ve been looking back at all the trips we’ve had that I haven’t blogged about. Also it has been so long since I’ve updated that WordPress has done an update so that’s new and interesting. This camping trip also happened the weekend that the toilet paper stockpiling happened, so even though it was only a month ago it’s easy to look back on this wistfully as a simpler time.

Foxbar Falls is a campground located in Queensland’s granite belt near Stanthorpe, Queensland.

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We’d been thinking about visiting for a while before we finally decided to go. Stanthorpe had been in drought and their dam was empty. Then after we picked our weekend to go, it started raining. By the time we visited, two of their dams were full and there was green everywhere.

The main thing that put us off from visiting was the drive – at 2.5 hours from Brisbane, it is a longer drive than we usually do for camping trips but it was absolutely worth it.

The campground is spread out and there’s lots of details on their website. We decided to go with Lakeside Trees and when we arrived, the campground manager Brendon told us that while Lakeside Trees 1 was booked both nights we were there (and honestly this would be my pick of the Lakeside Streets sites too!), we could take our pick from the others. We ended up at Lakeside Trees 2.

This was our view, which was pretty amazing.

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The camp grounds are located on the Harsletts carrot farm, which is still a working farm. We could see diggers and trucks in the distance working on a new dam. To be honest I expected to be handed a map on arrival with areas marked as keep out, but Brendon handed us a map, gave us a run down of the farm, told us we could walk or drive around, and to feel free to explore. He also gave us a run down on where the farm produce was up to (just planted) and pointed out the campground’s kitchen garden and told us to help ourselves. Most of the campground is located on either side of the runway (apparently just long enough for a very lightweight plane to take off from) which doesn’t have farm vehicles travelling on it, so there’s very little traffic going past.

We didn’t explore the Mountain View side of the campground, or get to Archers Dam or Wallaroo Dam, so that’s on our list for next time. We had a great view of the Sow and Pigs Rock, but I’m not great with heights, so decided not tackle that one.

I did make it nearly to the top of Mt Ferguson though, and we did the walk to explore Foxbar Falls. That was an incredible landscape and it is hard to believe that something that beautiful is on private property and not in a national park. We have been waiting for camping to open back up at Girraween so we could go camping there (it has been closed due to the drought) but after this, we’ll just go back to Foxbar Falls.

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The campground was quiet when we were there, with maybe 15 of the 45( campsites occupied. The sites are well spaced out though, and set up for either group camping or having a spot to yourself. It was so quiet at night, except for a chorus of noise from frogs who were enjoying all the water.

The amenities blocks are well spaced out, and we didn’t have any line ups, but there might be line ups if all campsites were booked out. The toilets are composting toilets, and the showers are in a demountable building, very clean and well lit. There was also powerpoints in the showers and toilets but I didn’t try plugging my phone to charge to see if they worked.

We borrowed the campground’s kayaks (take your own life jackets though for under 12s) and explored the dam from the water, swam in the dam, and did a few walks. There was phone reception there, but only just. I could send and receive text messages fine, but making phone calls was a bit random and internet access was spotty. This was probably a good level for getting away from it all. We certainly left quite relaxed, and I’m looking forward to going back and staying for longer next time.