Stinson Park

We'd taken a day trip to the Scenic Rim in January to scope out potential camping areas. We came home with a few choice selections in the hip-pocket and chose Stinson Park as the first one to tick off the list.

Christmas Creek

Stinson Pk has an interesting history - the campsite was used as a base for the rescue party who trekked through the bush look for survivors after a Stinson airliner disappeared on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney. Read more here.

For us, the attraction was Christmas Creek and the wide open spaces with plenty of room for the kids to roam. The road's paved all the way to Stinson Park, yet it was far enough from anywhere to feel away from it all. That feeling of remoteness was assisted by the fact there's no phone signal within 10klms.

A little bit of unfortunate scheduling saw us away for the first round of the NRL, so I was forced to pull out the satellite so we could catch the Broncs Friday night opener. The boys didn't let me down with strong 18-12 victory over the Dogs, so it was a great start to what would be an excellent weekend.

Camping near the oval at Stinson Park

We secured 3 sites along the bank of Christmas Creek but only needed two to fit our three families on. That meant we parked the cars on site 3 and had a nice bit of space between us and the next group of campers.

Day trip area looking back to our campsite

Facilities at the camp are reasonably basic but you're certainly not roughing it. The four loos are flushing and there's all the the non-potable water you need drawn straight from the creek and available on tap.

Most of the sites have a firepit which we took full advantage of. We'd again over compensated with the amount of firewood we dragged along, so flames were kept nice and high throughout the weekend. If you're travelling out this way, there's plenty of fallen trees around the place you could help yourself to, otherwise there is a property about 5k's away that sells a bag for $10.

Loos and water tank kept things civil

The kids kept themselves busy for most of the weekend whilst the older folk did their best to do sweet FA. There were a couple of horses in the paddock next door and the rugrats had fun coercing them to the fence and having them feed from their hand. Some cardboard boxes made excellent toboggans down the creek bank and the creek itself provided hours of entertainment.

Dueling Webers at camp Stinson

I can't remember exactly what the cost for the weekend was, but it was no more than $30 for our brood. As well as the facilities mentioned above there's a concrete cricket pitch in the middle of the oval if you get a burst of energy.

It's dairy land out this way so expect the moo cows to contribute to the ambience of the place.

Milk machines surround the camp ground

Overall Stinson Park was an excellent spot for a weekend away from it all within a couple of hours drive from home. If you're planning a trip I recommend you camp away from the beautiful creek (just in case we want the top sites again!)