Our First Week Travelling - Northern NSW

So, our first week of travelling is over. It’s been incredibly busy, but we’ve got a lot of ground to cover to make it to the Spirit of Tasmania by the end of the month.

Here’s a recap.

If you haven’t heard of HipCamp it’s a great website, like AirBnB but for camping. People allow you to caravan or camp on their properties, prices vary based on whether they provide power, water, and the location. Hubby scoped out some great places along the way to stay.

HipCamp – Speakeasy Vineyard, Fletcher QLD – 2 nights

This was an amazing spot, with a muddy dam for kayaking and lots of guppies and yabbies to catch. Not far from Stanthorpe. Super quiet camp spot. No power or water. Lovely star gazing of an evening – plenty dark enough! The owners even gave us a bottle of their own 2014 red wine, some local strawberry jam and garlic salt. What a legend!

Here’s the link.

Girraween National Park, Ballandean QLD

It was only a small drive from our HipCamp spot to Girraween National Park – which was amazing! We did a 4km round loop with the kids, (Granite Arch, and Bald Rock Creek circuits). We even had to do an epic river crossing at Bald Rock Creek, as the track was flooded. It was a very cool adventure and the kids loved it and didn’t even whinge! I know, right, amazing!

Hosanna Farm Stay, Stokers Siding NSW – 3 nights

Where do I even begin with this place!? It brought so much joy to us all to stay here. Each morning the boys would be up, and after breaky they’d be over at the animal feeding and baby chick cuddles. There was a treasure hunt that took us 2.5 hours on a search for ‘The Golden Pig’. It rained the entire time, but we still went out in our rain coats and followed the clues around the farm and everyone enjoyed themselves. The following day was a little warmer, so we swam in the dam, floated on the tubes and went kayaking. The waterslide was epic – even the 4 year old had a blast on it! Everyone had life jackets, even the adults, so it was super safe. Then, there was the bunny cuddles! Get the hell out of here! I NEED to move to NSW. They were amazing. I loved the bunnies so much that I went for two ‘Meet the Bunnies’ sessions – one with all the kids, and one with the husband. Totally worth the money to have this experience.

Of a night time, my sister-in-law and I decided to go adventuring for ghost mushrooms, which we found a couple of in the forest on the grounds. It was a total surprise that we also discovered glow worms on the banks at the top of the road, heading up toward ‘The Ridge’ camping sites. We were stoked to have this adventure, so, we took the kids out the next night to experience this, and it did not disappoint! I would definitely recommend this place for young and old. You have your choice of powered and unpowered sites, and there is water.

Here’s the link.

Making Friends with Ducks – Unsuccessfully!

HipCamp – Anchorage Park, Urunga NSW – 2 nights

It was really sad to say goodbye to Hosanna Farm Stay, but we headed off down the road to Anchorage Park, a HipCamp property that Hubby had located, and it was amazing! The hosts were so accommodating and we parked the van up, literally on the water’s edge, which meant we could check out the fish and other sea creatures first thing each morning. Plenty of opportunities for night time fishing and crab pots. The owners also provided kayaks that we were free to use, just needed to have your own life jackets/vests. We all had a great time here. Would 100% recommend this spot. There was no power and water.

Here’s the link.

Waterfall Way, Coffs Harbor to Armidale NSW

We did a trip out to Waterfall Way, which is a scenic drive that stretches 170km. To be honest, I would have been happy to stay put at our HipCamp this day, do a bit of fishing, and recoup from our travels so far. But Hubby had recently driven this route on the motorbike with some mates and wanted to share it with us. So, we went for a drive, stopping at Dorrigo for a coffee, and Dangar Falls for the kids to play at the park. We made it as far as Ebor Falls, and it was breathtaking scenery and waterfall! This location had lots of walks, and beautiful wildflowers! It would be a lovely spot to explore more, so we’ll plan to come back again one day and stay a bit closer. Worth the drive and we had a lovely lunch and a bevvy at the Ebor Falls Hotel Motel. Everyone (ok, just me!) was less hangry after that.

B-Boys at Ebor Falls (Seriously – this is how they pose!)

Laundry and Groceries Stop – Wauchope NSW

After 3 days with no power, we had to catch up on washing and supplies, so we stopped at Wauchope and it was a great spot to get some laundry done, stock up on groceries and let the kids have a play at the rocket playground.

Overnighter – Upper Lansdowne NSW

We did an overnighter at Upper Lansdowne. It was a very basic HipCamp, so I won’t share the link. It was a bit of a sketchy spot for road access, with a blind corner one way, and a crest the other. There was a beautiful creek, however. We managed to navigate the scrub and barb wire fences to get there, and it was worth a look. Again, no power and water, and we stayed hitched to the car. Just an overnighter.