Along the Paroo River: A Guide to Camping at Currawinya

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend gear I’ve actually used out on the trails and really loved! Read my full disclaimer.

Currawinya National Park is on Budjiti Country. I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this area and their connection to Country, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

---

Located in the far Southwest, Currawinya National Park is Queensland’s largest national park.

It’s a bird lover’s paradise, rich in pastoral history and one that sees relatively few visitors. And that’s very attractive for people like us who seek solitude and wide open spaces when they’re camping.

The only downside at Currawinya is probably the pesky mosquitoes.

---

CAMPING AT CURRAWINYA NATIONAL PARK

The closest town to Currawinya National Park is Cunnamulla on the Balonne Highway, some 800km west of Brisbane.

Along the way you’ll pass through Eulo, which is big enough to offer fuel and a few basic supplies but not much else.

It’s not hard to get to Currawinya, it’s just a long way. So ideally stay at least two nights, more if you want to take things more leisurely. There’s a lot to explore.

Visiting the park is possibly doable in a conventional vehicle when it’s dry but you don’t see too many out here. A 4WD vehicle will allow you to do the scenic drives around the park.

CURRAWINYA CAMPING AREAS

Out here it’s very basic bush camping, there are almost no facilities. There are five camping areas where you can set up for a few days. Four are along the Paroo River with a another camping area established in a bushy setting in the expanded section of the national park.

Toilet Access: There are two toilets in the park but there are no toilets in any of the camping areas. If you don’t have a self-contained toilet or aren’t able to use the two toilets elsewhere in the park, make sure you practise responsible bush toilet habits.

The main thing to remember is that you need to pre-book your site online. If you only have mobile connectivity, you might get some reception at the park ranger station. Cunnamulla is your last non-dodgy spot for mobile reception though.

We camped in two camping areas at Currawinya, neither of which we absolutely loved. But since we’re curious people, we drove around the entire park and had a look at all of them.

In a nutshell, if Corni Paroo was too busy for my liking, I’d head to Pump Hole or Myninya if coming from the north.

OURIMPEREE WATERHOLE CAMPING AREA

Ourimperee Waterhole is the first camping area when entering the national park from Hungerford, about 25km from the entrance. It’s easy to find but, to be honest, as soon as we arrived, I wanted to leave (Side note: This spot remains one of the worst national park campsite experiences ever.).

There are no marked sites here, which is usually fine but it’s actually hard to make out where exactly you are supposed to camp. The whole area just felt like one giant, uninspiring mud flat almost completely level with the river. You could tell the entire camping area floods during the wet season.

Since we didn’t have our own portable toilet system at the time (shovel + dig a hole method excluded), we’d booked two nights here because it was supposed to be near one of the toilets in the park. But by “near”, I thought it meant within walking distance.

Not only were the toilets nowhere near walking distance but the mozzies were ferocious.

On the map, the flush toilets look just about walkable but you really have to drive. They’re located at the old Currawinya Woolshed site and were completely infested with mozzies—I was almost going insane just trying to use them!

If you have hopes of using the cold showers at the woolshed, don’t expect anything fancy. They’re open–air and look very agricultural. I’m sure there are times on a dusty outback trip when I wouldn’t care but they certainly didn’t temp me this time around.

Although we had booked two nights, we ended up packing up after just one. I simply couldn’t bear it.

Given how quiet the park was, we decided to check out the other camping areas to see if any looked more attractive (and yes, they did).

The mozzie bites themselves weren’t terribly itchy but the relentless buzzing and biting around our heads—even while fully clothed and covered in insect-repellent—was enough to drive us crazy. Not fun. Or even vaguely relaxing.

CORNI PAROO CAMPING AREA

After a day of exploring Currawinya and debating whether we should stay at Myninya, we ended up heading to Corni Paroo camping area for our second night.

On the surface, Corni Paroo might be just like Ourimperee Waterhole—you’re camping along the Paroo with similar vegetation—but we found a lovely spot at the far end that was elevated from the river and even had a picnic table. A picnic table! Out here!

Better still, the mozzie onslaught was nowhere near as ridiculous as the night before.

Sites aren’t marked as such and so you’re relatively spaced out here and can be as far away from any neighbours as you want. We were actually completely on our own at this spot, and would definitely head straight back to this spot.

The real downside, of course, is that there is no toilet within walking distance. While you can drive to the drop toilet at the Caiwarro Ruins, the distance isn’t walkable for a quick toilet trip. You also need to bring a toilet / ensuite tent here as the vegetation is on the sparse side of things and to give you some sense of privacy.

If you have your own toilet system, you’ll love the remoteness and being left to your own devices out here. If you’re a bush toilet user, be responsible and don’t leave toilet paper flying around. It’s disgusting, not to mention it’s terrible for the environment.

CAIWARRO WATERHOLE CAMPING AREA

If you really want to be away from it all, the Caiwarro Waterhole camping area might be great for you. It’s certainly the furthest away from anywhere, and there really isn’t much out there.

To reach Caiwarro Waterhole, you first have to head across the river at a causeway.

We didn’t see any picnic tables or anything, just a few spots that looked like people had camped here at some point.

Like at Corni Paroo, you’re a little bit elevated from the river. The few sites looked pretty uneven and not all that appealing but the ground didn’t appear quite as muddy or cracked as at Ourimperee Waterhole.

PUMP HOLE CAMPING AREA

Like Caiwarro Waterhole, the Pump Hole camping area is across the river but it’s a fair bit closer to the main track.

If you don’t need to worry about having access to a toilet, this would probably be my second choice for a campsite. We found the sites slightly more even and with a few picnic tables strewn about.

Plus there are a few interesting relics from a bygone farming era.

The banks of the river aren’t terribly steep here but you’re also not level with the water as at Ourimperee. There are plenty of trees so this might be a nice shady camping area if it was sunny.

MYNINYA CAMPING AREA

Myninya bush camping area is the newest addition to the campgrounds at Currawinya. This spot is located in the expanded northern section of the park and is the closest site from the northern entrance.

Unlike the other four areas, Myninya isn’t located along any river though there’s a semi-permanent waterhole close by.

The sites are very basic but most seem reasonably spacious so if you have a big setup, this camping area might be a good choice.

The best thing about Myninya though is the open air shower, albeit cold water only. But if you just want to wash some sticky red dust of you—perfect!

As with all the other sites, you’ll need to have your own toilet. There’s a shower but that’s it in terms of facilities. Note: The QPWS website states that there is a flush toilet at Myninya. Unless that’s very new, I couldn’t find it. And a flushing toilet sounds a bit too good to be true out here anyway!

---

WRAPPING UP

Currawinya National Park offers some fascinating insights into a bygone sheep shearing era but the camping didn’t quite hit the spot for us. So whichever camping area you choose at Currawinya, I hope you won’t get too pestered by mozzies and enjoy your camping experience far more than what we did.

In any case, it should be fairly peaceful and quiet.

Happy camping,

---

SAVE TO PINTEREST