Eungella Dam; great value water front camping
Eungella is a magic part of the world, and after two truly epic nights at the Diggings Camp site, we continued heading West towards Eungella Dam, and spent two nights here enjoying yet another water front camp site in Queensland.
Where is Eungella Dam?
Eungella Dam is west of Eungella, and takes around 1.5 hours to drive in. Eungella itself is up the top of an insanely steep climb, that is not recommended for caravans and worked our Isuzu Dmax harder than virtually anything else we’ve done on bitumen. It’s slow, has lots of big dips and grids and asides from being hard on your car, is obscenely beautiful.
What amenities are there?
Eungella Dam has great amenities, for a bush camping area that is realistically in the middle of nowhere. There are flushing toilets, hot showers, big rubbish bins and even a dump point. You can get water, but its not supposed to be drunk without being boiled first.
What does it cost to camp?
Camping is extremely cheap here, with a site for a couple only $8 per night. We paid $13 per night with one child over 4, but even that is incredibly value. Even the national park sites in Queensland are $22 a night for us, and most don’t have nearly as good amenities as Eungella Dam.
This is jointly managed by a local ranger and Sunwater, and they do a fantastic job of it.
Watch our vlog
Want to see our travels from a different lens? You can watch our vlogs over at Youtube. Here’s the episode with Eungella Dam in it:
What’s the camping really like?
When we arrived, we quickly said Eungella Dam is like a cross between Lake Proserpine and Lake Tinaroo. It’s not as scenic as the sites at Kauri Creek on Lake Tinaroo, but its quieter than the camping at Lake Proserpine, and still a very stunning place to stay.
You can camp in a huge area near the water, but need to leave 5 metres as a minimum distance from the water edge. It’s certainly one of the cheapest places to camp in Queensland with all of the amenities that you need, and that’s awesome.
Watch the wind
Eungella Dam is well known for being very windy, and if you camp on a side that is exposed to the winds from the North East, you’re going to regret it.
In our experience, the best camping was directly in front of the toilet block (down the bottom), or around the corner to the West as far as you can go. This gives adequate protection from the wind that makes it incredibly cold, and even unpleasant at times.
Is Eungella dam dog friendly?
Yep, as long as they’re on a leash, and this makes it very popular for dog owners as there are very few places you can legally camp with a dog these days.
Boating and fishing in Eungella Dam
Eungella Dam has a boat ramp, and we saw a number of people out in little boats and kayaks. You can fish (with a license), or put nets in for red claw (without a license). We didn’t try either, so can’t comment on how good it might be! You can however, catch sooty grunter along with barramundi, sleepy cod, saratoga, and even spangle perch.
What are the access roads like?
All of the roads to Eungella Dam are gravel, and they’re not exactly perfect. We entered from Eungella side, and left heading down Lizzie Creek Road (or the pipeline track). Eungella Dam road is certainly better, but it requires you to be in Eungella to do it, which isn’t always easy if you are towing something big and need to come up the range.
Eungella Road is a reasonable gravel road, with a few washed out sections and corrugations. We did see a few motorbikes and 2WD vehicles come through, and you’d easily get a caravan in here, but you need to take it easy.
Lizzie Creek Road on the other hand is rougher, narrower and has some steeper sections. There were parts that were in great condition, but we took it fairly slowly as there were also humps and holes that would hurt if you hit them hard. You need to be under 4.16 metres tall to take this way too, as you go under the pipeline a number of times. This is a very scenic drive.
When we got to the intersection, we were planning on going to Lake Elphinstone, but the signage is awfully unclear, and we decided to head towards Nebo instead, and spent the night at Mt Britton in the historic village, which was surprisingly good camping.
Would we return?
Yep, absolutely. You won’t find a nicer camp site in Queensland with the amenities that it has, for a better price. We certainly haven’t, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Eungella Dam. If you can couple it in with a few nights at The Diggings Campground, you’re onto a winner for sure.
