Wallaby Rocks; stunning free camping near Sofala
Amongst the thousands of camp sites in Australia, there are a couple that stand head and shoulders above the pack. Wallaby Rocks near Sofala on the Turon River is one of them, and we spent two stunning nights camped with the most amazing views you’ll see camping.
Where is Wallaby Rocks?
You’ll find this great camping spot right near Sofala, on the Turon River. It’s literally a hundred metres off the road, before you get to the single lane bridge crossing the Turon River.
The camping area starts at near the bridge (but you’d probably want to avoid this side as the bridge is noisy with traffic over it), and goes all the way around, and across the Turon River if you have a 4WD.
The actual rocks themselves are presumably the big ones that you overlook, which are stunning from a distance, and up close.
Amenities at Wallaby Rocks
There are no amenities at Wallaby Rocks. That means you need your own toilet, rubbish bags and you need to leave with no trace. You won’t even find fire pits here, so do the right thing and leave no trace. It’s really not that hard.
Can you have dogs?
Yep, and that makes it pretty popular for those travelling with 4 legged friends. With so many national parks around, finding dog friendly camp sites is a real challenge.
What about fires?
Fires are permitted here, in season. Obey the fire bans and you’re good to go. There is some timber laying around, but you’re better to bring your own if you want to be certain to get some.
What does it cost to camp?
It’s completely free here, which is as good as it gets. We would have happily paid for the stay that we had, but its even better if you don’t have to.
Can you bring caravans here?
There’s two access tracks into Wallaby Rocks. The main one is fairly rocky, and you’d get a caravan in with reasonable clearance. If its an on road caravan, or a low clearance semi off road one, you might do damage on the way down.
The other track is 4WD only, and you’d only drive up it with lockers, low tyre pressures and not towing anything, so its certainly not suitable.
We took our Reconn R2 in and out on the main track with no issues, but you could certainly do damage with anything that had limited clearance.
Road noise
Being so close to the road you do get some traffic coming through, but it’s a pretty quiet, country road with minimal traffic during the day. I reckon in a full day we might have had about 30 vehicles come past, and at night time its basically dead quiet. Being so close to the road makes it very accessible, and without the road noise its virtually irrelevant.
Do you need a 4WD?
I’m going to say yes, purely for the clearance required. You might sneak a soft roader in with a bit of care, but the rocks are pretty unforgiving if you pick a bad line.
Other camping nearby
There’s quite a few other camp sites along the Turon River in this area. Further on is a hectic 4WD only camping area, and heading back towards Sofala is Bathurst point, which looked nice, but was very shady.
Do we recommend Wallaby Rocks?
Wallaby Rocks is our sort of camping. It’s free, 4WD accessible, has stunning views, limited people around and is just a magic place. Our kids had an absolute ball flicking lures and floats around, we cooked good food and just had a very enjoyable stay. If you wanted a great spot to camp, you won’t go wrong with Wallaby Rocks!
