We kept saying that as soon as restrictions were lifted and we were able to go camping again, we were doing it, that very first weekend. We were going back to Foxbar Falls which is where we were the weekend that toilet paper started selling out at shops and it felt like life was never normal again after that.

Well restrictions were planned to be lifted in the middle of June, which means winter camping. Then we were slow to book and all the powered campsites at Foxbar Falls booked out. I didn’t want to be camping near Stanthorpe in winter without a heater. We ordered a diesel heater, but it looked like it wasn’t going to arrive in time for us to have it installed before the weekend.

Then unexpectedly, the restrictions on camping were lifted a week earlier than normal. We could go camping the very next weekend. We quickly booked a powered site. The last time we went to Foxbar Falls we camped in the Lakeside Trees section which we absolutely loved. This time we were in the Rock View section for the power access.

We had an amazing time again. They were harvesting the carrots that they’d planted just before our last trip. We picked a carrot each, and saw how the harvester worked. We went on a long walk around the farm, saw the dams that we hadn’t seen last time, explored to the bottom of the falls, and checked out the big machinery that was being used to dig a new dam. We also tried cooking over the campfire with mixed success.

Things I like about the campsite:

• It is so quiet, especially at night.
• It’s as scenic and beautiful as a national park, but with hot showers, and less people.
• Minimal car traffic and a really wide main road (it doubles as a light aircraft runway) means it is safe for the kids to ride bikes around.
• Amenities are close to the campsites – no long treks to the toilets.
• Lots to explore and discover.
• MANY marshmallow sticks – finding the perfect marshmallow stick can keep our kids busy for ages. At some campgrounds, it can be hard to find a single stick on the ground. At Foxbar Falls we had a pile of sticks to choose from.
• There is phone reception but no internet (this gives me an enforced break, so that’s why it goes under good).
• They were managing the COVID-19 restrictions really well – there are plenty of showers and toilets to go around, and campsites were allocated which ones they should use and asked to stick to those to limit interactions between campers.
• Although we didn’t think we’d like any area better than Lakeside Trees (pick of sites would be LT1), we liked Rock View even better. We stayed in R16 which was a pretty good site – spacious and we could see the lake from where the firepit was. I think R18 would be good for water views. If you want something tucked away, R12 was in a little spot off on its own.

The downsides:

• The drive – Google maps says it is 2.5 hours from Brisbane but with a stop for lunch and burning off some energy, and then the general traffic delays that happen along the way, it seems to take us nearly four hours to get out there. Same for the trip home.
• The toilets are drop toilets and were starting to get smelly on our weekend out there. They weren’t smelly at all on our first trip, so I’m thinking it had to do with them being unused for over three months during the COVID shutdown. We were the closest site to them and couldn’t smell them from the site, and we have definitely used worse.

We have plans to go back again. This was a quick trip, just two nights, so we want to stay longer next time especially if it’s warmer and we can use the dams for kayaking and swimming!