Sapphire in the Gem Fields – A Stoney Creek Campers Owners Review

We love hearing from our camping community, this month we are bringing you another great camping spot review, this time from Keith who has hit the road with his family in our SC-WT. If you or anyone you know has a favourite camping spot, fantastic photos from your trips or just a general love for the product then please get in touch with our marketing team through marketing@stoneycreekcampers.com.au

It’s no secret Australia is a vast country full of beautiful and amazing things to see and do; the only problem is it can take a long time to get there. To break up the monotony of long drives, we choose to have overnight stops to rest and refuel before the next long stint on the journey, but what happens when the overnight stop turns out to be one of the highlights of the trip?

The campground I would like to share with you is what I would call a diamond in the rough, or should I say a Sapphire in the Gem fields, to be more exact. A not-so-short drive from Brisbane City (886km via Miles and Rolleston or 936km via Gympie and Biloea to be exact) located on the traditional lands of the Gayiri First Nations People, the Sapphire Caravan and Cabin Park in Sapphire Central, QLD, is just off the Capricorn Highway.

A beautiful campground up on the hill in Sapphire with extensive bush views that are absolutely stunning, and staying here started to feel more like we were at a tranquil retreat than a campground. The owners of the park, Darrell and Victoria, love Animals and wildlife, so if you were wondering, yes, the park is pet friendly and is located on the outskirts of the Sapphire township at 57 Sunrise Cabins Rd, Sapphire QLD.

Getting There

With multiple ways to get to the Sapphire caravan park, the journey is up to you, but as a rough idea, the direct drive from Brisbane to Sapphire is between 9 to 11 hours, depending on the way you go. We made this our second stop on a recent trip driving up from Carnarvon Gorge via Rolleston and Emerald on our way out to Winton, but you can also drive up to Rockhampton from Brisbane and take the Capricorn Highway west from there. Most of the roads to Sapphire are sealed bitumen, but it always pays to do your research before leaving for your trip, as there are still a few unsealed roads depending on what way you come from.

On your travels to Sapphire, you will come across several small towns that make great little rest stops to get out of the car to stretch your legs, and while you’re at it, you may be able to learn a bit about the rich history of these towns. If you’re travelling from the West, Barcaldine would be your best stop to restock before Sapphire, and if you’re coming from the North, East or South, then your best choice to restock would be Emerald.

Booking a Site

Bookings can be made online via their website. The park has multiple allocated powered and unpowered sites starting from (for two people) $30 per night for unpowered and $35 for powered; these sites are quite generous in size and are more targeted to the forward fold/rear fold variety of camper trailers and caravans, but with that being said there was more than enough space for our palace on wheels (SC-WT) and the car at our powered site.

 

 

Facilities

The Sapphire caravan park has it all, two ladies and two men’s amenities blocks with showers & toilets, laundry, designated communal campfires, an onsite shop, a barbecue hut with television for those important sporting events that can’t be missed, a fully equipped camp kitchen with oven, microwave, air fryer, bread maker, pizza oven and more, a coffee window located at the office that’s open from 8 am for your morning caffeine hit and a pool. One thing I found while there is that the facilities were very well kept and maintained, which was good to see.

Things to do

If you find yourself with some free time after taking a dip in the pool or if having a chinwag with your fellow campers at one of the many social huts on the

site doesn’t take your fancy, then you could always try your hand at fossicking and perhaps strike it rich, with virgin spoil available from the onsite shop and a washing station equipped with Willoughby’s a few steps away you can search through your spoil looking for sapphires.

The park also has a wild bird feeding in the afternoons; this is a great opportunity to get up close and personal with wild rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos. The nearby town of Rubyvale is also worth a day trip with walk-in sapphire mine tours at Miners Heritage and Bobby dazzlers mine tours. You get a feel for the conditions that the early miners of the area lived in, you can also take a visit to the Rubyvale Gem Gallery or the Observatory, and no trip to Rubyvale is complete without a trip to Muggachino’s for a slice of Gunter’s and Nola’s famous strudel.

So if your ever in the neighbourhood why don’t you stop on through to this lovely little slice of Queensland and stay for a night or two.

Thanks Keith for this fantastic review – we will definitely be adding this to our list of must visit campsites!

If you have a campsite or product review you’d like to share, then please get in touch email us through: marketing@stoneycreekcampers.com.au