We had never been to the Murphys Creek Escape, and hadn’t heard of it, so had few expectations. But it proved to be a really interesting bush camping park with lots of activities – kids would absolutely love it. It also proved to be a good location to explore the area. We really enjoyed our stay, but would return when it was not so cold.
Getting There
We live at Kingscliff. We arrived in the area on 13 June 2023, leaving on 16 June to go to Crows Nest. We met up with friends Liz and Barry at the Movie World service centre, before taking the motorway towards Toowoomba. A very easy drive of 220kms. The Escape is just a few kms south of the town.
This was part of a 9 day trip – Murphys Creek Escape for 3 nights, Crows Nest for 3 nights ( to read that post click here) and then Wivenhoe Dam for 3 nights ( to read that post click here). We had great weather for the 9 days except for the very cold nights.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
History
First Nations
I could not find much significant information about the First Nations people of this area. The indigenous story of the area goes back thousands of years and any written history of these times is very sketchy or almost non-existent.
The First Nations people of the Murphys Creek area were the Kitabel people who spoke the Yuggera dialect. First Nations people used to hunt for fish in this creek, which could at times run dry, and at other times transform into a raging torrent during the wet season.
Once a grass fire swept through the area and burned the fishing nets of the local tribe. So from that day they called the place, not surprisingly, “Tamamareen” which means “Place where the fishing nets got burned by a grass fire”.
Colonial
Murphys Creek was named after Peter Murphy who had worked on the Helidon Run since 1841. It developed as a railway town on the line between the regional city of Toowoomba and settlements to the east, including Helidon, Ipswich and Brisbane. A railway station was opened in 1867. Based at the foot of the Great Dividing Range, the station and water tank were intended to provide water and services for steam locomotives about to take the difficult journey up the steep slopes of the Toowoomba range. The station was named for a creek that ran through the area; that was in turn named for a shepherd who had built a hut in the area around 1864.
A small town, originally named Fingal, quickly sprang up around the station. The township had grown to such an extent that the construction of a booking office and passenger platform were completed by 1878. However, in 1887 a fire destroyed the lamp room and the ladies’ waiting room. In 1917 the station ceased to be used as a watering station as watering stations were provided elsewhere. The township was officially renamed from Fingal to Murphys Creek on 17 January 1924.
Steam operations had ceased completely on the line by the mid 1960s, and the station was finally closed in 1992. The station buildings were sold to the local progress association in 1993. In the 2016 census, Murphys Creek had a population of 629 people.
Day 1 – Tuesday 13 June – To Murphy Creek Escape
It was a beautiful day and we were on the road north from Kingscliff by 9:00am. We had the usual hold up on the M1 from the roadworks in the vicinity of Burleigh Heads – will that road ever be finished? The Movie World Service Centre, where we were seeing Liz & Barry, was very crowded – so many truck parked everywhere, we were lucky to find a parking place. We had a tea/coffee before setting off. The roadworks through the Gold Coast are an absolute joke. They are never ending.
The A5 to Toowoomba is an excellent 4 lane highway through the Lockyer Valley. We turned off at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range at Postmans Ridge onto the Murphys Creek Road. It was a short drive then to the Murphys Creek Escape – a few Kms south of the village. There is a high level railway bridge just after the turnoff – 3.6m clearance. But a hairy unexpected moment nonetheless – very narrow too. The road to the Escape is a 4km dirt road with a steep river-crossing before the gate. A steep but short descent leads to a hard left turn to get onto the piped culvert, then a steep drive up the other side. While we had no problems getting in, it could be tricky, as we found later, for a long van.
Murphy’s Creek Escape is described as a bushland camping ground that offers an escape back to nature and the chance to relax, recuperate and refresh. For the active campers there are many adventure activities. The park is a large and true bush camp, with many forms of accomodation/activities – luxury glamping, dogs welcome, open fires, hot showers, flushing toilets. We walked around the park a few times to explore it all – from the river and beach, to the remote sites on top of the hill. It would be a haven for children especially in warmer months.
There is also a new Eco Billabong people can swim in. This is great now but will improve over time as plants grow and animals increase. There are plenty of frogs there already.
We had neighbouring large powered and watered sites – we could choose any we liked. Heaps of room, especially as there were very few other non-permanent campers, if any. There are a few permanent sites in one area, and other areas set out for the various accomodation options. We paid $108 for the 3 nights.
After setting up we walked down to the river and beach to have a look around. The river has some good water holes but is a bit murky after so little rain, but it was far roo cold to swim anyway.
The Eco Billabong looks great – crystal clear – and will provide a great swimming hole in time.
Day 2 – Wednesday 14 June – Dad & Dave pub
My morning walk was a further exploration of the park. Back along the river then along some of the bike riding trails. I then came to the 4WD ascent to the top of the hill. This is steep and has many stones jutting out of the surface. It would be a really rugged ascent, not one I would try even if the Pajero had been upgraded for a serious 4WD and even if it had 4WD tyres mounted.
At the top are 4 remote camping sites. Site 4 had what looks like a permanent setup there with a yurt, other covered areas and a rugged looking 4WD ute.
After looking around that area I walked down to the river and walked on a track up river from the culvert. It led to a farm house so I returned to get pictures of the culvert.
The sharp bend onto the culvert.
Back to the Park and river.
Later we went to the Dad & Daves pub – or the Rudd Pub – in the small village of Nobby. This was about 60km away. As we did not want to go through the very busy Toowoomba, we drove via Helidon. It was a nice drive through some pretty country. Cabbage seems to be a major crop – we passed some harvesting activities.
Rudd’s Pub was built in 1893 and was originally called the “Davenporter” hotel. The name was changed to Rudd’s Pub in the 1980’s in recognition of the author Steele Rudd. Rudd (real name Arthur Hoey Davis) lived in Nobby for a period of time and folklore says that he used to sit in front of the fire place in our Heritage room and pen some of his famous “Dad & Dave” stories. This became a very popular radio series – likely only in Australia, probably back in the 1950s.
Nobby is also the home of Sister Elizabeth Kenny who pioneered the treatment of infantile paralysis. The hotel has a wall devoted to her wonderful work and she is buried in the Nobby cemetery.
We had an excellent lunch at the pub – I had the lamb cutlets.
Back at the park we went down to watch the bird feeding frenzy. We also had a visit from some horses.
Later we got the fire going – we were allowed put a fire pit on the ground but not the grass. The office sells the fire wood. My knee high UGG boots came in handy as soon as the sun departed I have to say. Very cold in the nights.
Day 3 – Thursday 15 June – German restaurant
We stayed pretty much at the van park on another lovely day. Kerry and I repeated the walk I had done on one of my morning walks – to the 4WD track and up to the remote camping sites. From there we walked some of the mountain bicycling tracks.
For lunch we went down to Helidon to the German Bake and Wurst House. The black and white German style cafe is found on the front part of the property and the gardens have colourful bougainvillea flowers growing. We were greeted by two lovely ladies and ordered lunch. We really enjoyed the knackwurst meals. Lovely fresh bread. It was simple flavours and brought back memories of German holidays. There’s clean public toilets and a covered patio area to eat and relax. Well worth a visit. Unfortunately we could not buy any of the sausages – they can only serve meals.
Friday 16 June – Leaving the Escape
We were ready to roll at about 10:00am – it’s a short drive to Crows Nest. I wanted to take a video of the vans going over the culvert and then doing a hard right to get up the hill. I thought it may be tricky.
All went well getting the vans down to the culvert, although it was steep. But going around the sharp bend to go up the hill Barry’s van caught a rock at the inside edge of the bend and came down with a thud. I kept well behind Barry coming down the hill and saw a bit puff of dust and a lurch as he went over the top of the rock… I think he and Liz got a bit of a fright. Unfortunately I was staring into the sun trying to see it all through my camera, and missed that specific piece of action. Kerry, towing a shorter van, had no problems. This can be seen on the video for this post below.
To see photos of this post, click here.
To see the video of this post click here.