The joy of winter camping
- Lauretta Stace
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
There are a few ingredients that contribute to the joy of winter camping in cold climate areas of Australia:
No crowds
A red-hot campfire
Lots of birds and animals
Add to that, a serene campsite surrounded by native woodland, a delightful waterway and sunny skies and you have the perfect winter camping experience.
The best parts of the day are early morning and evening.
Morning
Turn off the alarm and let nature wake you up. Either the daylight breaking through the camper window or one of Australia's famously raucous birds will do the trick. You then don the puffer jacket over your pyjamas, put on a beanie and get the billy boiling for a steaming hot cup of tea. This is followed by a delicious camp-cooked hot breakfast before enjoying a leisurely morning stroll.
Perfect winter campsite
We recently camped at Kara Kara National Park, on the banks of the Teddington Reservoir in central Victoria. This lovely National Park contains both forest and open woodland and has one of the largest intact areas of Box-Ironbark vegetation and landscapes in Victoria. It is home to a wide range of flora and fauna, of which we heard and saw quite a few. The campsite is surrounded by beautiful woodland and some easy walking trails.
Forest and Woodland
The forest and woodland surrounding the campsite looked really fresh and lush after a few weeks of winter rain. Central Victoria has been in drought for a couple of years, so it was great to witness the change in the environment after some much-needed rain.
Our campsite
There are many campsites to choose from in the Kara Kara National Park. We chose a site that was surrounded by woodland and that enabled lots of sunlight to hit the solar panels throughout the day so we can remain off-grid for a lengthy period of time. Our Offline Domino camper trailer is perfect for this environment!
Water views
Camping close to water is always a benefit. The reservoir looked beautiful in the winter sunlight and is a popular home for many waterbirds.
Wildlife
It was lovely to watch some white-plumed honeyeaters bathing in the reservoir, as well as seeing a range of favourite bush birds. There were plenty of marsupials around, with large mobs of grey kangaroos and some swamp wallabies who were seen warming up in patches of early morning sunlight.
Friendly neighbours
A few of the campsite birds were very friendly and happy to hop around our campsite and at our feet looking for dropped morsels of food. The yellow robin enjoyed perching on the picnic table to check us out each afternoon. The brown treecreeper and grey shrike thrush were regular visitors and very comfortable with human company.
Evening
This is the other best part of the day. Light the campfire and pull up a chair. Get the cheese and bikkies out and open a nice bottle of wine. Watch the sunset, enjoy a camp-cooked hot meal and watch the moon rise and the stars appearing in the night sky. Listen to the birds squawk as they settle in for the evening and then hear the rustle of little nocturnal animals scurrying through the. bush. Watch out for the tiny bats to appear and hear the owls begin to hoot and hunt. Then curl up in your camper bed and drift off to sleep.
Goodnight!
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