12 Top camper trailer destinations across Australia

Camper trailer destinations across Australia don’t get much better than this. Whether you’re chasing rugged outback tracks or coastal escapes, these 12 top-rated spots are perfect for an epic Aussie adventure with your camper in tow.

Here’s a state-by-state wrap of our favourite places to pull up and unwind, with a mix of iconic camping spots and lesser-known gems.

Quick summary: 12 top camper trailer destinations in Australia

• Mungo Brush, NSW – Lakeside serenity with beach access
• Willandra NP, NSW – Creekside shade in outback NSW
• 1770, QLD – Seaside caravan parks and national park escapes
• Diamantina NP, QLD – Remote red-dirt gorge camping
• Talbotville, VIC – Alpine river campsite in High Country gold country
• McKillops Bridge, VIC – Rugged Snowy River access with epic tracks
• Owen Springs, NT – Red Centre peace with riverside gums
• Davenport Ranges, NT – Remote bushland and waterholes
• Gawler Ranges NP, SA – Organ pipe rock formations and quiet camps
• Rawnsley Park, SA – Basecamp for Flinders Ranges adventures
• Karijini NP, WA – Dramatic gorges and red rock beauty
• Bay of Fires, TAS – Lichen-covered rocks and pristine beach camps

Mungo Brush, NSW: lakeside beauty with ocean access

I had to include this magic spot in this top camper trailer destinations in Australia; after all it was my very first camping spot when I was a teenager. Mungo Brush is found on the narrow heath-covered sand spit between Myall Lakes and the Pacific Ocean just north of Tea Gardens/Hawks Nest.

Avoid the area in school holidays as it’s just too popular, but at off-peak times it is magic. You camp overlooking the mirror-like waters of Myall Lakes. It’s a great base for canoeing or kayaking, swimming and fishing. A short walk leads through the sand dunes to the extensive surf beach, or you can even drop tyre pressures and spend the day driving up the surf beach to your very own secluded fishing spot. A perfect place for an escape with the family.

• Fees: Yes. $17 per night for camping. $8 per vehicle per day to enter Myall Lakes National Park.
• Facilities: Picnic tables, BBQs, boat ramp, toilets, rubbish bins.
• Fires: No.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy 2WD.
• Best time: March to November.

Willandra National Park, NSW: red dirt oasis

Willandra National Park is located in central NSW, just west of Hillston. It is a delightful shady camping area beside the old and restored former sheep station of Willandra. It is an oasis in what appears to be a treeless plain.

The campsite is beside Willandra Creek, which provides the unexpected shade trees. Don’t go there if wet weather is about, but at other times it is a great stopover on your way out west, or even just for a couple of days to escape the rat race. 

• Fees: Yes. $12 per night for camping. $8 per vehicle per day to enter the Willandra National Park.
• Facilities: BBQs, toilets.
• Fires: Yes, in season; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy if dry; closed if wet.
• Best time: May to September.

1770 & Surrounds, QLD: coastal comfort meets bush camping

The town of 1770 is found on the Queensland coast between Rockhampton and Bundaberg. It has two good caravan parks – one on the shores of Bustard Bay and one that is a 10-minute walk to the pristine surf beach.

Eurimbula National Park, just before the town, has two waterside camping opportunities at Middle Beach and Bustard Bay. If you are into boating and fishing, these are the picks of this top camper trailer destination in Australia. A few kilometres south of 1770 is Deepwater National Park with numerous camping opportunities tucked amongst the shade trees, just a 5-minute walk from the surf beach which you will have all to yourself.

• Fees: Yes.
• Facilities: Flush toilets and showers in the caravan parks; drop toilets only in the National Parks.
• Fires: No.
• Pets: No (yes in the Captain Cook Holiday Park).
• Access: Easy (4WD in Eurimbula National Park, 2WD elsewhere).
• Best time: April to November.

Diamantina NP, QLD: remote camping at its finest

You couldn’t get further away from the coast at 1770, but Diamantina National Park (which is found north-east of Birdsville in the heart of the Channel Country) is a fabulous but relatively little-known camper trailer destination. You’ll need a fair dinkum off-road trailer to handle the hundreds of kilometres of dusty trails, and you will need to be self-sufficient for a few days.

However, the camping beside Hunters Gorge is worth all the effort. The 90km Warracoota Circuit drive takes you around the Park, and the trip up to Janet’s Leap rewards you with impressive views. You’ll also see lots of birdlife on the waterhole right in front of your camper. But don’t go there in wet weather or summer. 

• Fees: Yes. $7.25 per night for camping.
• Facilities: Drop toilets only.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: 4WD only. Moderate (closed if wet).
• Best time: May to September.

Talbotville, VIC: high country heaven

Speak of Victoria and we immediately think High Country, a place that is the 4X4 Mecca of Australia. I could fill a book with descriptions of magic camper trailer destinations around this region of Australia. So let’s just drill down to the best one. Talbotville – an abandoned gold mining town north-west of Dargo, best accessible by 4WD only and literally surrounded by endless days of tracks.

The town is long gone, leaving a perfect level green grassed camping area beside the most pristine river, the Crooked River. If there was a campsite in heaven, this would be it!

•  Fees: No.
• Facilities: Drop toilets only.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Moderate.
• Best time: November to May.

McKillops Bridge, VIC: remote tracks & Snowy River views

Now for one that is not so well-known. McKillops Bridge spans the Snowy River just west of Delegate in the far north-east corner of the State. The McKillops Bridge road is long and very narrow and winding; it’s a great drive requiring only 2WD, but it can’t be rushed and is best suited to off-road trailers towed by a 4X4.

The campsite just past the bridge is small and is on a side slope, but once set up, you have access to one of the best 4WD tracks in the area – the Deddick Fire Trail. 

• Fees: No.
• Facilities: Drop toilets only.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Moderate.
• Best time: November to May (all year round is OK, but the 4WD tracks are closed during winter).

Owen Springs Nature Reserve, NT: Red Centre peace with riverside gums

Found an hour’s drive south of Alice Springs off the Stuart Hwy, this Reserve is quickly becoming the must-do place for camper trailer adventurers looking for a camping destination in Australia. Easily accessible, the campsite at Redbank Waterhole is only 10 minutes off the highway. But venture further into the Reserve, and there are some fabulous camping opportunities under the large river gums beside the usually dry creek at Lawrence Gorge. If you have had enough of the tourist crowds in the Red Centre, this is the place for a couple of days’ respite. 

• Fees: Yes. NT Parks Pass applies.
• Facilities: None.
• Fires: Yes; plenty of wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy.
• Best time: May to September.

Davenport Ranges, NT: Remote bushland and waterholes

The Davenport Ranges may exude remoteness, but the area also has one of the best camper trailer accessible camping sites in the country at the permanent and large Old Police Station Waterhole.

Davenport Ranges is about 100km south of Tennant Creek and then 80km east on a good (by Outback road standards) unsealed road. The last few kilometres into the Old Police Station Waterhole may require high-range 4WD. There are walks to the Old Police Station ruins, yabbies in the waterhole to catch, and the tough Frew River 4X4 track nearby to keep you entertained.

• Fees: Yes. NT Parks Pass + Camping fees of $10 per adult, $5 per child or $25 per family (2 adults + 4 children).
• Facilities: Drop toilet.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Moderate
• Best time: May to September.

Gawler Ranges NP, SA : Organ pipe rock formations and quiet camps

The best thing about the Gawler Ranges National Park in Australia, is that not many people have heard of this camper trailer destination. It is found two hours’ drive west of Port Augusta or just north of Wudinna on the Eyre Highway.

It appears as a rather barren landscape with low hills, like a much older Flinders Ranges landscape. But it has little gems tucked away in its quiet valleys, with large, level and often grassed campsites, meaning you don’t need to camp on top of anyone.

Unusual organ pipe rock formations and the nearby Lake Gairdner mean you can easily spend a few days camped here, sharing the serenity with the many emus, roos and wedge-tail eagles that are common to the region.

• Fees: Yes. $10.90 entry per vehicle. $21.60 camping fee per night.
• Facilities: Drop toilets at some camps.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy
• Best time: May to September.

Rawnsley Park, SA: Basecamp for Flinders Ranges adventures

This has to be one of my favourite camping areas anywhere in Oz. Rawnsley Park is a working sheep station in the southern Flinders Ranges just north of Hawker. It has a formal camping area near the toilets/showers/laundry/TV room, or the informal bush camping a further kay down the track (this is the pick of the campsites).

Conveniently located in the Flinders, you have a smorgasbord of activities to do, from several fantastic off-road tracks to walking and climbing to the top of Rawnsley Bluff or through Wilpena Pound, or even a joy flight over the incredible ABC Range. If you go here, you will need at least a week of recreation leave.

• Fees: Yes.
• Facilities: Yes, everything.
• Fires: Yes; wood can be purchased on-site.
• Pets: Yes.
• Access: Easy.
• Best time: March to October.

Karijini NP, WA: Dramatic gorges and red rock beauty

I am asked all the time what my favourite camper trailer destination is in Australia, and I consistently say Karijini National Park. It’s not difficult driving, just a long way away from the East Coast, but the scenery is the best I have seen.

Deep gorges with clear running rivers, incredibly red rocky cliffs hundreds of feet high, the cobalt-blue sky, the yellow spinifex amongst that red rock and the splashes of ghostly white gums with their twisted trunks all combine to make this place an optic overload. You need to be fit to see the best of it, as the stunning scenery along the walks into the gorges will be your reward for the pain you’ll feel in your legs for the next few days. Dales Gorge campsite is the place to park the trailer.

• Fees: Yes.
• Facilities: Flush toilets.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy.
• Best time: May to September.

Bay of Fires, TAS: Lichen-covered rocks and pristine beach camps

Trying to identify the one best camper trailer site in Tasmania is a little hard, as there are so many great places to visit. But on a recent three-day walk down the coast of the Bay of Fires in north-east Tassie, I must admit I was envious of the people I saw camped behind those beautiful beaches with their red lichen-covered headlands.

The pick of these spots for me was in the Mt William National Park just south of Stumpys Bay at Top Camp and part-way down the coast at Deep Creek campsite just north of Ansons Bay. Both are right on the water and just a 2-minute walk to the pristine beaches and their amazing red rocks.

• Fees: Yes.
• Facilities: Drop toilets.
• Fires: Yes; bring your own wood.
• Pets: No.
• Access: Easy.
• Best time: November to April.

Photos and story by Vic Widman.

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