Best of all it allows you to reconnect with your family or friends and with nature.
The Gympie region has a few great camping sites where you can unwind and enjoy in this increasingly popular Aussie holiday experience.
1. Inskip
Inskip has the best of both worlds with beach camping just a 15 minute drive from Rainbow Beach. Inskip Peninsula Recreation Area is ringed by open ocean beaches and sheltered estuary shores for safer swimming. Beach she-oaks, cypress pine and other coastal trees provide shade so you can pitch your tent out of the sun and the wind and water conditions generally become calmer in areas where the peninsula curves westward towards Great Sandy Strait. Camping permits are required for Inskip and permits need to be booked and paid for in advance.
Fires are permitted at Inskip camping areas, except when QPWS-imposed fire prohibitions or QFRS-imposed fire bans are in place. There are long drop toilets but no showers and you need to bring your own water. Inskip is a dog friendly camp site so you can even bring your pooch.
Want to try the Inskip camping experience but don’t have any camping equipment or camping skills? No worries with Rainbow Beach Ultimate Camping who will set up a camp for you so all you have to do is bring your food and get ready to relax.
Inskip Beach
2. Amamor State Forest
Amamoor State Forest has two camping areas, Cedar Grove and Amamoor Creek. Although they are reached by an unsealed road you don’t need a 4WD to get there and the Amamoor Creek camping site is dog friendly too.
Amamoor camping has grassy campsites in rainforest and open forest settings. Camping permits are required and fees apply so you’ll need to display your camping tag and booking number at your campsite.
There’s a good waterhole for swimming close to Cedar Grove camping area and several walking tracks from 1-5km long.
3. Cooloola Recreation Reserve
Great Sandy National Park is all about the long beaches and big sand dunes. There aren’t any camping facilities here so you need to bring everything including water and toileting facilities.
Camping permits are required before setting up your camp and it’s best to buy these online before you leave home. You’ll need a 4WD car to get to the campsites and a Vehicle Access Permit will be needed for driving on beaches and some inland sand tracks in the Cooloola Recreation Area.
If you want to sit round a camp fire, they are only permitted at the Teewah Beach and Poverty Point camping areas. If you want to get off the beaten track there are many campsites within the Cooloola Recreation Area that have walk in access only for hikers doing some or all of the Cooloola Wilderness Trail.
Although most people stick to the beaches the Cooloola Recreation Area also has tranquil waterways, wildflower heaths and freshwater lakes just inland and is a vital refuge for coastal wildlife.
4. Fraser Island – K’Gari
Although it’s just outside the Gympie region Fraser Island is best accessed from Rainbow Beach and draws camping, nature and outdoor lovers from all over Australia. You can find designated camping spots on both the Western and Eastern beaches as well as walkers camps inland.
Many of the campsites allow you to pick a shady spot in the sand dunes behind the beach and set up your own camp with no facilities but others are more organised and have a dingo fence.
Part of the joy of Fraser Island is the beach driving but you’ll need a 4WD as well as a Vehicle Access Permits and a Camping Permit both of which you need to boy before you get to Fraser Isand.
5. Borumba Dam
Close to the rural town of Imbil, Borumba Dam is popular with local families who bring their children to swim in the dam and feed the deer in the nearby deer park. Borumba Dam has easy creek-side camping on Yabba Creek with BBQ and toilets and good swimming and fishing holes.
The camp site is suitable for tents or caravans and cabins are also available. There’s even a little camp store where you can buy the essentials or get some food to feed the deer.
You can hire a boat or kayak to get out on the lake, play a round of mini golf or just hang out at the playground. Borumba Dam is an easy introduction to family camping.
Borumba Dam
