bowling green bay national park

Travelling round Oz in our Van we stopped at this NP and though it was great. There are seperate sights to park your van so your not squeezed next to other campers, there are free BBQ's and 2 burner gas stove (the only place in oz we have found free 2 burner stove), power point to charge stuff in the toilets, free cold showers and all for $5.50pp (whihc you can book on the payphone there as there is no phone reception)There is a pretty fresh water creek running just near by, a good spot to chill out, take a dip and cool off.A 7km round trip walk from the campground is worth the effort. It's quite a long walk and you have to cross the river a few times, sometimes waste deep! which is good fun. The last part of the walk through the forest is quite tough but easily do-able for people with general fitness, and the waterfall at the end of the walk is pretty, refreshing and worth the hike. 5 hours return, and it really is 5 hours!We went for 1 night and stayed for 3 nights. WILDLIFE: In the afternoon the wallabies all start hopping about the grounds along with brush turkeys and when we where there there was the most amazing colouful phesant which had started hanging out with the turkeys. The ranger told us it was a European Game Pheasant that had probabaly been a pet that someone had released in the wild! Check our our photoYou get a few day tripper who come here but by the late arvo you get the place to yourself and anyother campers who are staying. It's gravel so not really good for tents but perfect for campervans, small RVs. There are about 8 spots so height of the season or weekends might get booked out.More info on the site through NP services. Alligator Creek Campground in Bowling green Bay NP.

The national park itself is broken into two main sections - the Mt Elliot/Alligator Creek section and the estuarine section near AIMS/Cape Ferguson. Both areas are about half an hour south of Townsville. The alligator creek section is located in dense forest up in the foothills of Mt Elliot, it has a small camping area and picnic area along with walking tracks down to swimming holes. One can also venture further up to the falls (approx a 6km hike) and possibly continue the unestablished trek up to Mt Elliot. It's a nice little getaway close to Townsville.The estuarine section is popular for fishing and getting your 4WD bogged in mud.

Closer than Paluma only 25mins south, a whole 1200m mountain with tropical rainforest, evolving independently of the more northern rainforests due to the arid conditions of Townsville just north. Several beautiful creeks, a 2 day walk to the summit and back. Brilliant find.