23/12/2019

Cullendore High Country

Adventures 4x4, Adventure Diaries, Camping, Cullendore, Stories by Shayne 0

Cullendore High Country

We did a camping trip out to Cullendore High Country after attending the Stanthorpe Small Winemakers Festival. This was the second year we went to the wine festival and would highly recommend it. You can camp out in the Stanthorpe showgrounds (this is where they have the festival) so nice and close to get home after the wine tasting (see the blog post about the Stanthorpe Small Winmakers Festival here).

The following Sunday morning we packed up and headed out to Cullendore High Country just across the Queensland border into New South Wales. Heads not too sore this year, must have got a bit excited the first time around.

Cullendore is located on the Great Dividing Range in the Granite Belt and is a beautiful part of the country. The granite rock formations everywhere are just awesome and remind us a lot of Zimbabwe. We had organised to camp on a working cattle property, Cullendore High Country. Beautiful spot with loads of camp sites located across the property. As it is a working farm you have to stop and open and close gates and navigate around the cattle and kangaroos. The property is stunning, rolling hills and beautiful creeks and water holes.

We camped in the camp area they call Overflow and then in the campsite called Water Dragon. This was definitely the best spot we saw, nice and secluded beside a little stream and water hole. We will definitely come out and camp here again. There are mountain bike tracks as well, these were still in development when we visited last time and there were lots of working being done on them so they are probably really good now.

Shayne’s Recount…

We set out for this stunning private property and camping ground following our night at the Stanthorpe Small Winemakers Festival. We’d seen it online and decided it was close enough to Stanthorpe to make a long weekend of it. We’d only camped in NSW once before at a beach side ground, which had been an interesting time in itself (more on this another time!). Anticipating creeks galore we had our paddle boards on the roof of the Jeep which was earning us some odd looks as we trundled through country Queensland and NSW.

The property was set amongst rolling green hills, a little off the beaten track. We noted some bee hives on the neighbouring farm as we drove along. We checked in at a little purpose built wooden shack. The resident cockerel was working overtime, crowing loudly and enthusiastically every few minutes, just to add to the country vibe. The owner was very friendly and made sure we had a property map as well as a good idea of available spots, who else was camping and things to do. She even sold us a big jar of honey from the neighbour’s hives which was delicious.

We headed off for a creek side spot, making sure to close the gates as we went as this was a working property with cows aplenty staring at us as we went. There were several very scenic grassy spots along the creek. A young family was just packing up to leave one of them so we settled down for lunch until they’d gone and nabbed it! It was right beside a peaceful pool. There was no one else at all camping within eyesight or earshot. The water level however was not really high enough to allow for the use of our paddle boards!

That afternoon we chose just to relax creek side (we were still recovering after all). We enjoyed the sunshine and watched the birds bathing in the pool. I napped and then we had a little stroll, taking advantage of the amazing scenery and not seeing another soul. Unfortunately as we walked it clouded over and the temperature dropped. Soon a spitting rain started up. We headed back and the drove up to the closest shower. This was very rustic; a big corrugated steel stall open to the sky. I would have appreciated it a lot more if not for the now quite icy whistling wind! The gas for the hot water was also a little temperamental, adding to the goosebumps! Nevertheless we cleaned up and heads back to camp. We had been looking forward to some flame grilled steaks but the rain was coming down harder and harder. Our set up at the time was not best equipped for this so we huddled down and heated up the remains of the chilli con carne from the night before.

We slept well that night in the absolute darkness of the bush with the rain pattering down. When we woke up we realised there wasn’t too much point rushing as it continued to hose down so we had a lie in. As the hours passed though we began to realise it just wasn’t going to let up. In fact the wind was picking up even more and thunder was rolling around the edges! We made the call to call it a day and started packing up in the deluge – never the best of fun. Eventually we were soggily sitting in the packed Jeep. We decided to drive around a few of the other sites before leaving. There were a few forest spots and a different creek site, all of which looked lovely for future reference. We found the bigger ablution block which was very clean and well maintained and treated ourselves to some hot showers in the chilly weather. We then set out for home, vowing to head back when the weather was a bit more amenable. Turned out we’d made the right call as it was pouring all the way back to the Sunny Coast and continued to rain for the next two days or so… on the plus side at least the boards got wet!