Issue 7 - December / January 2017
d n u o r g p m a C g n u b e l Wung Discovered!! NORTH STRADDIE CAMPING The Beach at it s
s w o h S G N I P M CA 7 1 0 2 y r a u r Feb BEST
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Campsites REVEALED
SW N b u P dds
Ru A word or two from Matt
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! We hope that you have all managed to go camping during this festive season and spent as much time as you can with your families in the many amazing campgrounds Australia has to offer. Although 2016 was a massive year for Live2Camp we are very much looking forward to what 2017 holds for us. I can tell you this, we are not going to sit back and relax!! We already have a huge plans pencilled in for this year. We are only a couple of days into the New Year and we have already run one of the most successful competitions to date. A big congratulations to Sam Moore and family who will soon be enjoying two free nights of camping at the beautiful Wunglebung camping area. But don’t panic if you didn’t win, we have many more competitions planned for 2017, so keep an eye out for those. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Later in the year we will see the launch of the Live2Camp online clothing store. We have a whole range of clothing that will be perfect for your next camping trip, ready to go and priced so that even I can afford them!
THE MAGAZINE TEAM Editorial
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Authors Matt Bloomfield
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Lize Bloomfield Joshua Ford
Then, of course we plan to add to what we are all about, our campground directory. The month of May will see us pack up the camper and head off across New South Wales. The plan is to film every campground! This is roughly 250 new campsites, all to be added to the site. But we’re not going to stop there! August will see us head off again. This time we’re heading to the most northern point of Australia, Cape York! And of course we are going to film every campsite on the way! What a year! Lize and I would like to thank you all for your support of Live2Camp over 2016 and look forward to building it into the best camping directory in Australia over 2017. Matt Bloomfield
Bush Camping at its Best
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e are quite often contacted by owners of private campgrounds here at Live2Camp and asked if we will come out and film their campgrounds. When I received a message from Katrina, the owner of the new Wunglebung Campground, I was pretty excited! This campground sounded fantastic and you can take, not just your dog but also your horse along with you as well! I immediately asked Lize to make sure that she put Wunglebung on our next filming itinerary. As we drove out of Tenterfield towards Wunglebung, not only did Katrina send us the most detailed directions for getting there I had ever seen but she also personally
met us on the roadside just to make sure we didn’t get lost. You’ve got to love county hospitality! The drive out to Wunglebung from Tenterfield was nothing short of spectacular! It’s a drive I could have done all day and neither Lize nor I felt that usual rush to get to camp you so often feel at the end of a driving day. Then we arrived at Wunglebung! I didn’t know where to look first. The mountains surrounding the valley that it sits in, the river that snakes its way through the campground or the fields that are punctuated by a good old fashioned stockyard! It was love at first sight!
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e soon settled into our grassed campsite right next to the mysterious Rocky River and realised that there was not another camper for as far as you can see. The campsites are massive and you have the whole area to yourself. As Katrina told us, they want you to feel as if you have the whole place to yourself and they have certainly pulled this off. This is bush camping at it’s best. The rest of the afternoon was spent canoeing on the Rocky River spotting Platypus, we saw so many that we lost
count, and taking photographs of all that nature had to offer. The word relaxation took on a whole new meaning as we sat around our fire in the huge fire pit and watched a million stars light up in the sky. It was with a heavy heart that we left the next day but there were other campsites to film and we were on a tight schedule. Wunglebung Campground is definitely a place we will be returning in the future and won’t be leaving in such a hurry!
ick here for Wunglebung campground Facebook page
Rudds Pub Nobby Queensland
Built in 1893 and about halfway between Warwick and Toowoomba, is a pub steeped in history with walls covered in memorabilia and olden day wares, where weary travellers and day trippers alike can relax around the bar and talk about days gone by. Rudd’s Pub, formerly known as
“The Davenporter”, is popular with campers, grey nomads, historians and families that wish to escape the city and unwind in the country, away from the bright lights and busy highways that most of us live in on a day to day basis. Only 2 hours from Brisbane and about 7 kilometres off the New England Highway, Rudd’s Pub at Nobby is easy to miss but should be on every traveller’s must visit list.
Words and Images by Josh Ford
There is free camping available in the old railway grounds directly across the road with tables, bins and barbecues, and the old railway platform at the southern end has been restored to its former glory. the area. Rudd’s Pub is definitely worth a stopover for a night if you get the chance, and the break away from the city lights might just be your ticket to eternal happiness. Or if
The lovely grassed pub grounds also have accommodation and shelters for those who don’t want to camp. You can literally spend hours just walking around and taking in the history of the little town and Rudd’s Pub itself, learning about Steele Rudd and Sister Elizabeth Kenny, both of whom were local to
you are like me, just being out in the bush, under the stars and enjoying the company of good friends is more than enough to help me unwind and forget about life’s struggles even if only for a few hours.
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hrough our work at Live2Camp we travel to a lot of different places and meet lots of different people. As soon as they find out what we do the first question they ask us is ‘out of all the campgrounds you’ve been to, what’s your favourite?’ So, I thought it was time to answer it this question. Now just to qualify first, we don’t have just one favourite campsite. This is way to hard! Every campground you go to is different, so to narrow it down to one is just way to hard. We have put together our top five favourite campsites that we have visited so far. Let’s remember though that Live2Camp.com.au is a work in progress and we haven’t been to every campground in Australia yet. In fact we’re not even close! So this list of five is based solely on the 125 campsites we have visited so far. With that in mind, lets get started!
Our Top
1
Coward Springs Campground – Oodnadatta Track SA
You might think this is a bit if a strange choice as my No. 1 favourite campground. Well, that’s what I love about Coward Springs the most. It is literally in the middle of no where and the journey there is a big part of the camping experience. After hours of driving through flat sandy plains you arrive at what can only be described as an oasis. This is one of the best kept campgrounds we have been too. Full of history, spotlessly clean facilities and not to mention the hot spring! Every time I camp here, I don’t want to leave!
Coward Springs Campground—SA
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MV Beagle – Inskip Point Qld
Every time I think, ‘Let’s go camping’, the first place that pops into my head is Inskip Point. We have camped here so many times and still love heading there now. It is one of the few places you can camp next to beautiful calm water with views of Fraser Island! Lize and I have spent many an afternoon sitting on the beach watching the sunset with a cold beverage. That’s right, it is one of the few places you can see the sun set over water on the east coast of Australia. I know it can be very busy during the weekends and holidays periods but if you can slip away during the week, you’ll have the place to yourself!
MV Beagle—Inskip Point QLD
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Pebbly Beach – Yuraygir NP NSW
If you’ve ever read a camping or 4wd magazine, then you’ve heard of the Pebbly Beach Campground. And I have to say that it is definitely worth the hype of being one of the best campgrounds in Australia. Just to get there is an absolute adventure with beach driving and a river crossing! The campground is located in a sheltered bay that gives you the feeling you are stranded on an island and yet you didn’t catch a barge to get there. This is a camping spot I could easily set up my hammock for a week and not move!
Pebbly Beach - NSW
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Station Creek - Yuraygir NP Qld
Yep, you’re right! This is the second campground in the Yuraygir NP that has made my list. If you live on the east coast of Australia then this is a National Park you have to get to. Especially if you love camping near the beach and Station Creek is one for these beach campsites. Hidden away under beautiful large shady gum trees, it’s only a short walk to the crystal clear waters of Station Creek. Being mostly waist height, it is perfect place to take the kids. Sure, it’s a bit of a walk to the beach but the creek sure makes up for that!
Station Creek - NSW
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Wattle Flat
Most of you have probably never heard of the Wattle Flat Campground. And that’s why it’s such a great campsite site. Nestled in a beautiful valley next to a flowing creek, Wattle Flat is only a small campground but punches well above its weight. Especially if you are lucky enough to be the only campers there, you’ll feel like you are lost in your own magical forest. The drive in is well worth the effort as well, so make sure you add this to your list!
Wattle Flat campground - NSW
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o that’s our top 5 campground’s. I know, there are a lot more campgrounds out there and as we continue to travel this great land filming them, I am sure this list is going to change many, many times! In the meantime, Happy Camping!
A
ustralia’s only camping directory showing you sites and facilities in high definition! Let us show you the way.
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w o h S g n i p Cam
Februar
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Lo Sh
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Ov com late VICTORIA
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MELBOURNE CARAVAN, CAMPING & TOURING SUPERSHOW Location: Melbourne Showgrounds Dates: 22nd - 27th February Great Aussie traditions like barbies and cricket in the caravan park, fishing in your best secret spots and relaxing on holiday with family and friends are more alive than ever, and the Supershow is where these memories begin. http://caravanshow.com.au/Home
Don’t Live to Wor SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Let’s Go Caravan and Cam
Location: Wayville Show
Dates: February 15-19, 2
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ry 2017
UEENSLAND
NEW SOUTH WALES Newcastle Caravan and Camping Holiday Expo Location: Newcastle Entertainment Centre and Showground Dates: 9-12 February 2016 It's a fun day out for all ages with a wide range of activities, including food outlets, cafe and bar, towing demonstrations and children's entertainment.
ORETON BAY’S CARAVAN, AMPING, BOATING & 4x4 EXPO
Newcastle Caravan and Camping
ocation: Redcliffe howgrounds, Queensland.
TASMANIA
ates: 17 -19 February 2017.
ver 180 local and national mpanies displaying the very est products and services .
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rk, Live2Camp!!
mping Lifestyle Show
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Launceston Wheels Outdoor Adventure Leisure Expo Location: Aurora Stadium, Launceston Dates: February 2-5, 2017 www.homeshowexpos.com.au
North Stradbroke Is North Stradbroke Island is often mentioned when people in the South East corner of Queensland get talking about family camping trips and weekends away, and with good reason!
a southerly wind). There are camping spots literally everywhere including at Amity Point,
Leaving from Cleveland, just East of Brisbane and only a 45 minute barge ride across Moreton Bay, North Stradbroke Island has everything you need to make a week away enjoyable. It is a lot more built out and civilised than Moreton and Fraser Islands, which means a lot of bitumen roads, shops and even a few pubs if the need arises. North Stradbroke is the second largest sand island in the world, with Fraser Island being the only one bigger. 38km long and 11km wide, Straddie has plenty of room for everyone and also being remote enough to allow you to escape the crowds of the cities close by. There is a myriad of camping options on the island, from the caravan park on the west at Dunwich, to the spectacular beachside camping to the north at Adder Rocks (great spot if there is
Cylinder Beach (best for surfers), Home Beach, Flinders Beach, Adams and Bradbury’s Beach and a favourite for the fisherman, Main Beach which offers basic beachside camping all the way down the eastern side.
sland
Blue Lake and Brown Lake, If you are into however the Key Holes track which was a favourite of many fishing, 4wders has been closed. It’s such Straddie also a pity that literally 10km of produces the goods with every type of fishing available, including pristine, untouched and spectacular National Park has shark fishing around at the Jumpinpin which can been locked shut because the government deemed the track too be over 14m deep just meters from the dangerous due to "pot holes" and "water across the track". shore. Fortunately you can still walk to the Keyholes via a 250m track from Main Beach. So whatever it is you are after, be it fishing and surfing, exploring and photography, or just lazing around camping by the waves, North Stradbroke Island has you covered
There are plenty of other things to do such as visiting the inland freshwater lakes such as
Words and Images by Josh Ford