Foxbar Falls & Stanthorpe

Foxbar Falls will always be one of my favourite campsites. Not only was it one the first campsites I ever camped at, but it was also the first time I went camping with Gordon. This little getaway was perfect and here’s why.

We booked our camp site from Sunday night to the Wednesday morning. Leading up to our stay at Foxbar Falls, Gordon and I had decided to ride the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail with a group of our friends over the Saturday and Sunday. So we had a huge few days planned and knew that we had to be super organised.

Gordon showed me how to pack the FJ as this was our first trip together and I needed to have an idea of what gear to pack for a trip like this and where everything belonged. So this is how the FJ was set up with all of our gear in it for that week. All the sleeping gear lives inside the roof top tent, this includes the mattress, pillows, blankets and sleeping bags. We had four large tubs that sat in some shelving in the boot of the FJ. Tub 1 contained all of my personal gear, tub 2 was allocated to Gordon, Tub 3 was kitchen and cooking supplies and tub 4 had general equipment like torches, hiking gear, speakers, tools etc. In the back, where the backseats used to be, we had a collapsible table, the 40L fridge, battery pack and solar panels, the ladder to get into the tent, some recovery gear, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and 20 litres of water. Oh, we also had our bikes hooked onto the back spare wheel too! We were packed! Driving out of our driveaway very early that Saturday morning, I had no idea what to expect over the next week and I had never been so excited and so nervous for a week away. I will never forget that feeling.

Jumping to the BVRT, it was extremely fun but unfortunately on the second day of the bike ride one of our friends had an injury and had to be taken to Ipswich Hospital. I travelled to hopsital with her via ambulance from the trail so we had to leave our bikes and gear with the rest of our friends. Gordon had to finish the ride to get back to the FJ, then had to go back, collect our bikes and then meet us at the hospital that afternoon.

The BVRT blog will be coming out very soon with the story of that adventure so please stay tuned for that!

After collecting me from the hospital we both realised that we had forgotten to put our sleeping gear back in the rooftop tent after washing it earlier in the week 🤦. We drove to Riverlink Shopping Centre, being our closest shopping centre, where we popped into Kmart to grab a couple of warm blankets, pillows and fitted sheets for the bed. Now we didn’t really want to buy these but Stanthorpe is known to get very cold, especially this time of year. The days are usually around 19 degrees and nights can get down to close to freezing! After our purchases at Kmart we popped into Woolworths for a couple of key food essentials. By this point we were starving, I don’t think I had eaten since breakfast so my stomach was basically eating itself. We opted for a feed at Guzman Y Gomez, I got the usual ground Beef Burrito Bowl and Gordon had the Pulled Beef Nachos.

The 2 hour drive to Foxbar went pretty quickly. Although we’d had a huge weekend and we were both so exhausted the excitement of reaching camp had kept us going. I phoned my parents to let them know we were ok and on route to the campsite (old Mama Lee was on the stress train after finding out about the hospital incident, so had to keep her settled!). We both spent a lot of the car ride reflecting on the last two days. The stars were so bright on the drive and I couldn’t wait to see them once we were off the main road and away from all the car and road lights. Driving into camp and following the directions to the check in office was super easy, even in the dark, but finding our camp site took a few goes and some u-turns, we struggled to see our camp site number on the rock. Although we couldn’t see much when we drove in, I had a really good feeling about the scenery we would wake up to in the morning. It didn’t take us long to set up camp. Lucky for us the roof top tent doesn’t require us to do much. Foxbar Falls has awesome facilities with hot showers and flushing toilets, so we both freshened up and called it a night. I can hand on heart say that I think that was the best sleep I had in ages! There is just something about sleeping in a roof top tent under the stars. It’s honestly comfier than our bed at home.

Monday morning we woke up to the most stunning view of the sun rising over the damn with fog skimming the water. The warm colours of the sun rising over the trees was breath taking, the sunburnt colours turning the clouds in the sky pink. The damn was so still, the reflection of the water mirrored the sunburnt sky. Thanks to our Kmart purchases we were all warm and snuggled up in our rooftop tent. Blurry eyed, we sat and watched the sun rise and enjoyed a very slow paced morning. We cooked up breakfast in camp and brewed a delicious cup of coffee made by Mwah! I used the Wacaco Minipresso and the Bellman Stovetop Steamer. Pretty darn good cup of coffee in my opinion!

Now that the sun was up we would get a better view of our campsite. We booked one of the sites right next the dam, which I would highly recommend doing, but if that’s not for you there are plenty of other options away from the water. Each camp site was very spacious, I’d say there was at least 10 meters between us and our neighbours. Each site included it’s own fire pit with two large stones. These stones were a really nice touch, not only did they look good and were great to sit on, they were great benches for when we were cooking and heating things over the fire. The toilets and showers are also within walking distance back towards the entrance into camp. Another great thing about this camp is that there is fresh running water, and firewood available to purchase (with cash) at the check-in kiosk.

After a very chilled an relaxing morning in camp, we jumped into the FJ and drove to the local IGA to grab some groceries as well as go for a bit of a drive around town. After stretching our legs around town, we headed back to camp and decided to spend the rest of the day in camp as it was such a sunny cool day and the dam was stunning. A few board games and card games were played until I’d won too many times and it got a bit boring. We both enjoyed reading and taking in the beautiful surroundings we were so lucky enough to have. That evening we pulled together a very tasty cheese board and enjoyed each others company over some good food and a bottle of red wine over the fire. This was exactly what I had dreamed camping would be, absolutely perfect.

The following morning we woke up to yet another beautiful sunrise. The sounds of the birds, the little splashes as fish jumped from the water, the noises of wildlife greeting another day. The combination of nature sounds and crispy cold morning made it difficult to get moving. We decided to drive into Stanthorpe for an early breakfast at “Lily’s Café”. An early start was necessary as we wanted to spend the day exploring Girraween National Park, located in the Granite Belt in the Darling Down region of Queensland.

It’s about a 30 minute drive from Stanthorpe and is known for its dramatic landscape, large boulders, great walks and unique wildlife. Gordon and I pulled into the Bald Rock Creek day-use area and began our hike from there. On this hike Gordon carried his Osprey 50L pack, which included a water bladder, two full water bottles, snacks, a first aid kit, the drone and some lunch, probably a bit overkill for this length hike, but we definitely recommend a backpack for water and snacks! This was both our first time in the park and the hike we chose to do was a 12km return, out and back trail, which took us to the to the top of Mount Norman for some stunning scenery and views. The trail was quite easy to follow (with little white arrows pointing us in the right direction) along a mixture of terrain. The trail got quite steep in some sections and there were plenty of steps, so would recommend reasonable fitness to get to the top. I couldn’t believe the size of some of the boulders we came across, they were huge! We can’t wait to come back and hit the rest of the trails and an overnight camp is in the works!

To help with our rehydration situation, we decided to try out a couple of the local winery’s in the area (along with it’s epic scenery and walking trails, the Granite Belt is very well known for its fantastic wineries and vineyards). Ridge Mill Estate was the first one we ducked into. They had a range of boutique red and white wines with some complimentary cheese and crackers. Our favourite was the 2021 Joshua’s Pup - Shiraz Grenache. The staff there were super lovely and if you wanted to stay a night, on the vineyard estate, there are some super cute cabins that you can book. Kominos Wines was our second stop. They only had white wines when we went, which were very fruity and would recommend for anyone who enjoys a good white. We both had a lot of fun wine tasting, learning about the history and story behind each of the vineyards and wines we tasted. That evening we enjoyed yet another good campfire, plus I got to whip out the marshmallows, plus yet again beat Gordon at our card games (cheat and snap).

Wednesday morning, our final day at Foxbar Falls (sad face). We enjoyed our morning coffee by the dam and watched and the sun rise, giving us yet another beautiful sunny day. We packed up camp, showered and got ready to make one last stop before heading back to Brisbane. Gordon wanted to head to his favourite Stanthorpe region vineyard - “Balancing Heart” Vineyards. I must say it was definitely worth it and I can see why Gordon put it down as his favourite. It is a must do winery if you are travelling through Stanthorpe, we have already been back since with friends. We called in for lunch where we had their mouth watering wood fire pizzas. We did their wine tasting and I was blown away at how amazing they all tasted. I literally loved every single wine we tasted, both red and white! We ended up purchasing a couple of bottles of their red wine the ‘Campfire & Company’ and their ‘Mineralogy & Surreal’. If we had to suggest one wine we would highly recommend the Campfire Red (so much yum in a glass!). While tasting we sat inside and chatted to the attendant about the winery and then moved to the cozy outdoor seating which was close to the firepit and that overlooked the pond. There’s endless amounts of opportunities to capture some stunning vineyard photos. This was the first winery I really enjoyed and couldn’t compliment the wine enough. It was the perfect way to finish up our trip before heading home.

To sum up the end of our first camping trip, we both had a really good time and plan to come back to Foxbar Falls again. It is still one of the top Campsites we’ve been to together and we couldn’t recommend a better camp site that has everything you need. Located just two and half hours from Brisbane, very accessible and offers so many attractions and activities that there is something for everyone.