Vasco camping at Girraween National Park 2007

Girraween, ‘meaning place of flowers’, is a park of massive granite outcrops, balancing boulders, clear streams and tumbling cascades. Spectacular wildflower displays are a feature in spring. High on the northern end of the New England Tableland, the 11 700ha park has an average elevation of 900m and is cold in winter, hot in summer. Not far from the Queensland-New South Wales border, it has more in common with cooler southern climes than with most of the Sunshine State.


The park’s eucalypt forests and heathlands support diverse birds, including the rare turquoise parrot and superb lyrebird. Common wombats graze on grassy areas fringing the heath and forest. Just three hours’ drive from Brisbane, Girraween offers great walking and camping, surrounded by the orchards and vineyards of the Granite Belt. It makes an ideal holiday destination or stop-over between Brisbane and Sydney. Bald Rock National Park is next door, just over the New South Wales border.