Weipa Caravan Park; is actually any good?
Every place in Australia has its own unique history and attractions, and Weipa is no exception. We’d heard mixed opinions on Weipa (as you often do), and decided to check it out to see for ourselves.
Most people stay at the Weipa Caravan Park, and we thought that this was really the only option for camping in the town. As it turns out you can camp elsewhere, which we’ll go into below, but this post covers the Weipa Caravan Park, or as its often referred to, the Weipa Camping Ground.
Where is Weipa?
Weipa is located in Far North Queensland, roughly half way up towards Cape York. It’s 650km North West of Cooktown, driving along the Peninsula Development Road (PDR), which is around 30% bitumen, and 70% gravel.
About Weipa
Weipa is a pretty unique location. It’s founded almost entirely on the Rio Tinto Bauxite Mine, and the entire region is part of a mining lease. There is no town council, with Rio providing absolutely everything, except for the government run side of things (hospital, police, etc).
The town is a stark contrast; the red bauxite against the aqua coloured waters, and if you aren’t working, you’re on holidays enjoying the region. It is hugely popular for fishing, with a ridiculous number of boats around, and is a very popular place to call in on your way up, or down from the tip of Cape York.
Where is the Weipa Caravan Park?
Weipa isn’t a very large town in the scheme of things, and its not hard to find the camping ground. It’s in Nanum, and basically half way between Rocky Point and Evans Landing. The Caravan Park backs onto the beautiful beach, and has some of the most incredible sunsets you’ll ever see.
What’s it like?
We weren’t really sure what to expect when we arrived at the Weipa Caravan Park, but it was a pleasant surprise. The park has a lot of nice, green grass, big sites, amazing views over a beautiful beach, and the amenities were decent, and cleaned often.
The pool was a welcome relief, the staff were great, and all things considered the pricing was pretty good too. It’s worth mentioning that this caravan park is very busy.
By that, I mean that there are always people coming and going, especially towing boats in and out each day. The turn over is high, with a lot of people only visiting for a day or two before moving on, and then there are those who are clearly set up for a long time.
This means that the park isn’t overly quiet, but its certainly not noisy, intrusive or unpleasant to stay at. There’s just a lot going on, a lot of the time.
Weipa Caravan Park costs
To stay here, its $40 a night for two adults unpowered, or $50 if you want power. There is drinking water available at the taps, and even if you take an unpowered site you can fill up on your way out as needed.
Where else can you camp in Weipa?
We rely on Wikicamps for places to camp around Australia, and whilst it does a pretty good job (and we couldn’t travel without it), its not flawless, and you can guarantee that there are a lot of places that you can camp which are not on the app.
As we understood it, if you wanted to stay in Weipa, you had the option of the caravan park, heading north to Pennyfather or New Mapoon, or you could camp at a station that has been kindly left open for $2 a night. All of these options though, are a pretty considerable drive from Weipa, and can’t really be considered Weipa Camping.
However, on our Weipa Mine tour, we were told an interesting fact; the road that goes around Kerr Point (called Kerr Point Road) is actually council property, and does not form part of the Rio Tinto Weipa mining lease.
There’s a couple of places along here where you are legally allowed to pull up and camp, and it won’t cost you a cent. Now, there are no amenities either, and the Weipa Caravan Park is possibly nicer to stay at, but its an option we didn’t know about, and it would save some money!
Watch the vlog
If you’re not following us on YouTube, here’s the vlog of our stay at Weipa Caravan Park:
Did we enjoy the Weipa Caravan Park?
I’m not a big fan of caravan parks, but as far as they go, the one in Weipa is really decent, and we enjoyed our stay here. We considered booking another night to see more of the area, but unless you have a boat, or are going out on a tour, you can cover the main attractions fairly quickly.
We liked the Weipa Camping Ground, and wouldn’t hesitate to go back. Weipa is a pretty stunning town, and if you take it on face value (and don’t go expecting anything unrealistic) its a great place to call into.
Have you stayed at the Weipa Caravan Park? What did you think of it?
