Murphy’s Creek Escape

Its rare to get a spare weekend with no commitments, but last weekend that is exactly what we had.  So we decided to go camping for just one night.  The requirements were that it had to be close, have amenities and just be easy!  When your camping for one night its not worth the full camp setup. So after some searching we found Murphy’s Creek Escape (MCE).  Located just 90 minutes from Brisbane just outside Gatton, MCE is like a caravan park meets nature reserve meets outdoor adventure land. Unfortunately last weekends weather wasn’t great, so we ended up postponing to this weekend and MCE was kind enough to let us postpone our booking.

On the drive we stopped in at Gatton and picked up some supplies.  For this trip we had the single room dome tent, the Waeco and general camping accessories.  We left the shower tent and non essentials at home as it wasn’t worth taking them for the single night.

Getting to Murphy’s Creek is pretty easy and after turning off the highway just after Gatton you are almost there.  Going under the train bridge made me wonder how close we would be to the train line, and I found out soon enough that we weren’t far. More on the trains later.

Driving into Murphy’s Creek Escape is fine for conventional 2 wheel drive.  Its a little rough and parts of the drive down to reception are washed out. We were excited to shift into 4wd for the first time in Pumba.  Probably not necessary, but it was honestly the first time we actually tested that the 4wd so it was a good excuse and everything worked just fine.

MCE has a pretty awesome setup.  There are permanent sites, powered van sites, both powered and unpowered tent sites, some nice looking permanent “glamping” style tents and army tents which looked like they were used for school camps or team building activities.  In the middle of it all there are some rope courses and even a flying fox.  MCE allows pets on a lead although you pay a little extra for your pets to stay there with you ($2.50 per dog up to two per site which is very reasonable).  Down the back there is a beach leading into the water hole, and up stream there are a number of smaller water holes for the dogs to have a splash around which Bailey & Mozart just loved (dogs aren’t allowed in the main water hole).

As it was just a normal weekend between Australia Day and Easter we were one group of only three groups camping that night (aside from the permanent residents).  MCE has two amenities blocks one up the top with private room showers and a more traditional amenities block down close to reception. A shower will cost you 20 cents for each 2 minutes so make sure you take some 20 cent coins to last your stay. For those of you taking your dogs, there is a great off leash area for the dogs to have a run around and for the non-fur babies a great kids park in the middle of the camp ground.

Now back to the trains….  So you need to remember we were only one group of three staying and you could hear a pin drop once it hit 8pm.  In fact the group right next to us went to bed at 8pm so it was not only quiet but also pretty dark.  The silence meant we heard every train pass with the last one being around midnight.  I don’t think we would have even noticed the trains if there had been more people and things didn’t quieten down so early but the trains did keep us awake. The other issue we had was the heat.  Camping in summer can be tough especially if your used to sleeping with the A/C on at home. Camping with two dogs in summer is also hard.  Our two labs are used to the A/C as much as we are so trying to sleep with two labs panting all night is not fun.  We had some pretty good weather so had all the windows and doors open with just the fly screens, but it was still hot so we didn’t get much sleep.  It didn’t help that we went to bed around 9pm thanks to our “early to bed” neighbours.  Our dogs get up at least twice during the night and we were a little worried the constant zipper noise of our tent was annoying them throughout the night as we were literally side by side in an empty camp ground.

Waking up we realised our “early to bed” neighbours were also early rises as they were gone when we got up at 8am. With the sun beating down on the tent it was just too hot to sleep any longer so we got up got packed and headed home. I don’t like sticking around on our last day even if its just an overnight camp as there is always so much to do when you get home.

All in all, Murphy’s Creek Escape is a great place to getaway for a single night from either Brisbane or Toowoomba or anywhere in between.  I suspect its even better if you get to stay a little longer.  Its a nice setting overlooking the creek, is clean and well maintained.  Its a little pricy for a non powered site at $28 per night but considering the activities and amenities available probably makes it worth it.  If your looking for something quick and easy this place is definitely worth a look.  I suspect that during school holidays and long weekends this place would be packed as it really is a kids haven of activity.