WINTER CAMPING

I know a lot of my friends hibernate in winter but not me - for it’s the perfect time to go camping and if you think about it may work for you too. There’s rewards waiting when the temperature drops and it also has benefits for your mind and body. Don't be deterred when the temperature drops towards the zero mark, get out there, explore and be a winter camper. 

1…There’s less people. It sounds silly but most of my friends ( and probably yours ) take their annual leave around summer, battle with the heat, the crowds and then there’s the exorbitant cost of summer destinations. But just think, head away in winter to campgrounds with less if any people, you’ll have first dibs on showers, bbqs and the communal toilets wont be overflowing. 

2… Campfires. I mean who has a blazing fire in summer ?. At least in winter you can rug up and as you feel the cool winter air settle in for the night maybe just shuffle your camp chair little closer to the fire, and with the right clothing you’ll be as snug as a bug toasting marshmallows on a stick. A little tip here, go to bed warm and you’ll be toasty all night. Simple things like wear sox and a beanie to bed or sneak a hot water bottle into your sleeping bag.

3… It’s good for the senses.  With cool days and cooler nights nature tends to smell and look better in winter. Wildflowers stand out against dry gums, water in streams and rivers tends to be clearer and there’s less pollution in the air which means you can see better from high vantage points. Use winter to your advantage.

4… A chance to get new gear. It’s nice having the right gear to go away and to be comfy so this is the perfect chance to upgrade. Don't skimp on quality, ask your friends what they recommend, pickup a dedicated camping magazine, check out your local camping store or even head to the net where you’ll find a host of camping blog sites. 

KWIAMBAL NP. NSW

Ever heard of Kwiambal NP ? well it’s 90 km North of Inverell ( via Ashford, northern NSW ) and it’s ruggered, remote yet holds cultural and historic heritage.

Camp options are an easy and scenic 8km drive further along Limestone Caves Road and left into Falls Road. Roads out here are pretty easy to drive with a good base, plenty to see with a few shambled houses and yards along the way for photo opportunities. It’s harsh country out here but the spectacle of seeing a few farms that still work the land had us guessing and just how isolated and remote the area was. Most of the vegetation is dominated by the Cypress Pine, estimates say that Kwiambal contains 15% of the dry rainforest left in NSW.

Most people head to Lemon Tree Flat campground where you can camp without fuss down beside the Severn River. There’s no booking sites and with around 10 acres of camping a lot of other campers can fit in so don't expect a sleep in during holiday or peak time. If this is your thing it’s a great base where there are NPWS walking tracks up the river to the junction of the Macintyre and Severn and with water holes along the way it’s a pretty cool way to spend a few hours exploring. Maybe head down on the Dungeon walk especially after heavy rain where the river water churns around the ancient rocks causing all sorts of noise and swirling action. From camp it’s a 1.5km walk but well worth it. With a pay station, pit toilets, bbqs and a few tables - Lemon Tree campgrounds may appeal to some. 

We got heads up of a brand new camp site just 4 km away called Kookabitta Camping area. Still located on the Severn River, Kookabitta is more for walk in campers with tents or swags but also has 6 bollarded sites for camper trailers. This is becoming pretty typical in National Parks, but the great thing here is that with only a limited number of trailer sites, it’s deadset peaceful and has all new glam features like gas bbqs, clean toilets, fire pits with their own table and chairs, great river access and did I mention it’s quiet ?. You can kayak up and down the river in tranquil pools where Kingfishers sit quietly in the river gums watching you go past, Wallabies and Kangaroo’s stand up with twitching ears and the ever noisy Corella’s and Galah’s can spoil the serenity as they echo down the valley. At either camp just be wary of wearing those holiday thongs that we all seem to wear, this is shoe country as we found out the first 5 minutes of stopping. The Kwiambal Thorn !!. Bloody sharp, needle like thorns. They sting like a hypodermic needle and leaves you in pain for an hour. 

Another attraction in Kwiambal is Macintyre Falls and the surrounding walks. From either camp it’s a 5 min drive to the end of Falls Road where you'll find a selection of information boards, bbq shelters and two viewing platforms to the massive granite gorges below with sign posted walks. A popular walk after looking down to the falls is to Macintyre Falls itself down the 600 metre trail that winds its way to  the bottom, and it’s not till you get down here that you can see and feel the scale of the gorge when you look back up. Can only imagine during peak wet times when Macintyre Falls flows with rage into the pool below what a sight it would be. The massive granite boulder seem to have scars on them from being smashed and pummelled from other rocks as they get pushed and shoved down stream. 

The second viewing platform faces more downstream where you get a good sense of just how ruggered the area is. If your fit you can tackle the track down to The Beach and to Slippery Rock. This walking track is hard and rough where there are short steep sections down to the river below, but it’s worth the effort for the magnitude of the gorge and just what water can do over millions of years. Making the effort in the warmer months can be rewarded with secluded swims in many of the water holes and by sitting under the cascades. It’s pretty special down in the base of the river, clambering over sheets of granite not knowing what’s around the next corner or over the next rock. Even the rock formations seemed to look down at you in a peculiar way, or maybe it was just the heat that was getting to us. We lost count of the birds, fish, turtles, wallabies we saw and just maybe a platypus on a quiet morning at camp. Kwiambal is an isolated park with minimal facilities but for the more adventurous it’s pretty darn good. 

ASHFORD CAVES KWIAMBAL NP

Chatting to some locals in Ashford ( northern NSW ) they told us about some Limestone Caves that have been a real draw card to the area for years and we should make the effort to stop. 

Finding the Caves was pretty easy as they are just inside the Kwiambal’s boundary sign. It’s a short 300 metre walk to the cave entrance and a day picnic area where you'll find toilets, day shelters a few tables and plenty of open paddock area where the kids can let of steam. Just near the cave entrance there is plenty of reading available like how Allan Cunningham passed through in 1827 heading north, explains the history of the caves where it has been a tourist attraction for over 100 years, mining of the bat poo ( aka Gauno ) for fertiliser and there was that much Gauno that a small rail track and trolleys were used to cart it out until it all ended in 1959. Limestone is generally a ‘soft’ rock, and because of this fossils were found in and around the caves thus allowing for prehistoric dating. Bones were found from ancestors of the Thylacine, Kangaroo and a Pigmy possum dating back to the Pleistocene Age which is 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago. 

Even before entering the caves you can see fossils that look like big worms that have grooved out lines in the rocks. This is called Rillenkarren where acid rainwater has run down the hard rocks creating little drains or worm like channels. We were expect a 5 minute walk into a cave then out again, but this is far from what anyone could of told us. With good torches we spent nearly 3 hours freely exploring the cave system. There are rooms as big as bus’s, ever forming Stalactites, Stalemites and white crystals, pathways leading to more rooms, little cubby holes and if you stop and listen - you can hear the little bats that were hiding away in the darkness. It’s estimated that there is nearly 2km of cave system that you can freely explore and another 3km where you need specialised gear to belly crawl into different chambers. But for the average punter spending an hour walking around in these magnificent caves is just something else. Just need to be a little cautious thou, there are no walking markers inside the caves so you need to remember where you are and it’s pretty bloody dark and a good torch is needed to enjoy the whole experience.

COPETON DAM

Most people have heard of Copeton Dam just up near Inverell in northern NSW. The facts are pretty impressive - 3 times the size of Sydney Harbour when full, some of the best freshwater Cod fishing around ( monsters up to 1.3 meters are caught regularly ), 104 metres deep and offers an array of water sports on the dam. But to be honest this place is amazing with some of the best water front camping you'll find and with history abound in the area. 

Inverell and the nearby Gwydir Valley just north of the dam needed a new water supply, so back in the 1930’s a proposal was planned to dam the current location for irrigation to the ever increasing agricultural production. WW11 came around and funds dried up but wind the clock to 1966 and the current location was approved with work commencing in 1968. It took 5 years to complete the wall and further additions have been improved the past few years with external spillways and 9 massive gates. 

Prior to the valley being flooded, two small towns - Copeton ( formally Boggy Camp ) and Dasey town were busy suppling workers to the nearby gold mine and along with stockyards, a cemetery and buildings they all now lay deep underwater. It’s not until the dam suffers with a severe drought that relics rise from the deep. Back in 1994 the dam registered a 2% water level and it was possible to see some of the 39 cemetery headstones, the mine tower and old fence lines.

Most people head to Copeton for the magical camping and water sports where you can fish, sail, jet ski or just swim in this vast waterway, and with around 45 square kilometres of water to explore it’s not hard to find a quiet cove. Choices for camping are pretty darn good too with kilometres of free camping to paid sites at the Inland Water Holiday Park. For a small fee head to the northern side of the dam along Auburn Vale Road from Inverell. With waterfront sites, fires and dogs permitted, basic showers and toilets, plenty of boat launching spots with total serenity you'll fall in love here. Free camping can be found on the Eastern side coming in from Howell, with no facilities you need to be totally self sufficient as it’s a long way into town if you forgot the loo paper. 

The Inland Water Holiday Park is nothing short of an amazing place. Here you can camp as hard as you want away from others, camp on the waters edge, have grassy sites, near facilities, fires are allowed and with 24km of water frontage on 1000 acres there is somewhere for everybody. From the moment you arrive you are made at home from one of the many staff that are passionate about their job and the dam. The kids and big kids at heart can be kept busy for days with playgrounds, golf course, canoe hire, walking trails and much much more. Don’t be surprised when you take a stroll around the park and see the vast array of wildlife from Deer, Pelicans, resident Emu’s, plenty of kangaroos, predatory birds to squawking Plovers. It’s not until you drive this mammoth park to realise just how vast it is and the options available. 

This area is also known as part of the fossickers way where you can scratch around for gems and coloured stones. Not people know that diamonds were found in this area. On the eastern side of the dam just near Howell, the Conrad Mine began operation back at the turn of the century when Diamond’s and Tin were found and over the years the mine hit good times and bad with problems with arsenic, water and collapses. Some of the original shafts that were all dug by hand are nearly 250 feet deep. Eventually the good fortune ran out and the mine was shut in the mid 1950’s. Currently safety procedures are in place to clean the site up and to preserve it for historical reasons. While the Conrad mine was operational other areas were explored within the region and smaller mines were opened with some degree of luck with a host of other gems and minerals found. Sapphires were found in the area and by 1970 there were over 100 mining operations in the district all searching for this shiny stone. Inverell is now known as the Sapphire City.

Halfway between Copeton Dam and Inverell on the Copeton Dam Road, the local shire has put aside a large lump of land where you can fossick for free. Sign posted at Staggy Creek it’s only a short drive through several paddocks ( keep the speed down and shut the gates ) to the digging fields. Staggy Creek Reserve is part of an ancient creek bed where it’s been eroded down to what it is today. Even though the ground has been dug over for the past 20 years it’s still pretty exciting to scratch around for an alluvial Diamond, black Tourmaline, Tin or clear Quartz. The best way to explore here is just to walk around and check out the amount of holes ( shafts ) that others have dug. Either dry sieve or if there is any water in the small dam let the water wash the dirt away and hopefully to expose a surprise or two. 

On the eastern side of the dam not far away the hamlet of Tinga holds hidden mining history dating back to 1841 when Tin was discovered and mined. With some 6000 people working in the area the Tin was soon exhausted by 1890 and the boom was over. The Chinese worked and lived amongst the miners and their heritage is still prevalent in town where several buildings and a museum still stands. 

Tingha has a quaint little caravan park where for a few dollars offers honest sites with basic facilities, you’ll also receive local info on where you can scratch for gems and maybe a little secret local knowledge on where the locals and die hard diggers go. For the first timers, head to the Tingha Sands Quarry on the Howell Road. For a measly few dollars you can dig around in their piles of sand and washed dirt for crystals as small as jelly beans up to palm size. The kids will love the easy digging in a safe location.

Weekend fossickers still flock to this area to try their luck in the towns creek and outer bushland. There are old mullock heaps left beside mines in nearby forests where digging is easy to look for Crystals, Jelly Beans, Smokey and clear Quartz and much more. Deep in the forests at Tingha there are relics of an old stone bakers oven and a few baking pits. Even better still the site and unground wine cellar of the Mannix Hotel can be found nearby. The story goes is that the pub burnt down and then shortly after the owners young daughter fell down a mine shaft and died. Unfortunately the owners had enough bad luck in this area and decided not to rebuild the pub and moved away never to be seen again leaving only a stark reminder where their little girl was buried. 

It’s not a trip where you'll experience extreme 4wding, maybe you wont even lock the hubs but wether it be a family weekender to a fossicking trip away the Copeton area has some of the best camping you'll find, history and relics can be found and if your lucky you might even find a gem or two.