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Name: Currawinya National Park
City, State: Outback Queensland Australia
What's it like?
Imagine sitting by the campfire as a vivid, red sun sets over a timeless Outback landscape. Parrots chatter in nearby coolibah trees as a purple dusk creeps across a cloudless sky.
This is Currawinya National Park - a stunning contrast of sand dunes, sparse mulga lands and wetlands brimming with birdlife in South West Queensland.
Currawinya offers beautiful, striking landscapes which capture the true essence of the remote Outback wilderness. There are low, sweeping dunes covered with shrubs, sand plains dappled with mulga trees stretching off into the distance while tall, shady eucalypts line remote billabongs.
Two large lakes form the centrepiece of this spectacular area. Freshwater Lake Numalla is a haven for waterbirds. Egrets, herons, cormorants, ibis, plovers and brolgas can commonly be seen foraging for food in the shallows.
The slightly larger saline Lake Wyara is fringed by dunes with low shrubs. Black swans, coots, swamp hens and many species of ducks flock in their thousands to this lake.
While this is truly a bird-watchers' paradise, other animals can often be seen. The most common are emus, red kangaroos and eastern greys. If you're lucky, you'll spot the darker, western grey kangaroo or even a wallaroo.
Currawinya is also home to the bilby, a large-eared desert bandicoot.
An area with a 2m high fence built by public donations, was opened in Currawinya National Park to protect the bilbies from being attacked by predators. More and more bilbies from a captive breeding program in Charleville can now be safely released here.
Meanwhile, visitors will find that channels and floodplains of the Paroo River offer tall, shady river gums and coolibah trees. Seasonal waterholes, lakes and claypans fill with water after good rains.
Formerly a grazing property, Currawinya contains relics dating back to the 1860s. The old Caiwarro Homestead still has the remains of several buildings and old machinery. The national park is also home to ancient Aboriginal sites which must be treated with care.
Currawinya National Park is very remote. To reach the park office you must drive 170km southwest of Cunnamulla, first along the Adventure Way and then turn towards Hungerford at Eulo. This is four-wheel-drive recommended country as roads are unsealed. Watch for wandering stock and leave access gates as you found them as they belong to local property owners.
Camping is allowed at ten-mile bore and basic amenities include a pit-toilet and picnic tables. Campers must bring all provisions, including water, fuel and firewood. There is also shearers' quarters accommodation for organised groups.
Permits and fees are required when camping at Currawinya.
- By Shaun O'Dowd
If you know of a great destination we're missing,
review it for us!!
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