Fort Grey Campground – Sturt National Park

On our way back from Cameron Corner, we stayed at Fort Grey Campground in the Sturt National Park. Because we had left Chunky Bum (caravan) in Tibooburra, we had our first “camp out” with Big Ears (Ford Ranger) on this trip. Now, Big Ears is fully set up for off grid camping, including water, food, tent, stretchers, mattresses, etc but the weather was so pleasant we decided sleep under the stars. Peter on his lay-back chair, me on my hammock.

This is a great place to stay. NSW National Parks Services provide very good amenities, and you can see where the fee you pay goes. It is a picturesque park, with lots of flora, but what really blew me away was the amount of water in Lake Pinaroo. I should imagine it is not often as full as it was when we visited.  

There were quite a lot of birds here too. Still not as many as I would have thought, considering the amount of water, but I was thrilled to see a few new birds. New for me anyway. An Australian Hobby and a Black-Breasted Buzzard. There were also a couple that I wasn’t sure about. Feel free to let me know what they are.

We had planned to stay there for three nights, but we had a little rain on the second night, and it looked like there would be a lot more the next, so we headed back to Tibooburra. We drove back via the Jump-Up Loop Road, and it was simply delightful. The drive took us through sandy desert vistas, and dry gibber plains, before reaching the top of the Jump-ups to the north. From there we continued south toward Tibooburra, passing majestic granite tors. Now if you’re like me, you won’t have a clue what a Jump-Up or a granite tor is. I looked them up, so now I can tell you.

A Tor is generally a landform of granite rock. Either a single large rock formation, or a series of smaller rocks, formed as the granite boulders split and break apart over millions of years. The Tibooburra Tors are estimated to be 410 million years old.

A jump-up is a land mass that rises abruptly from and otherwise flat landscape and generally has a flat top.

I hope I got it right.

There were only two other lots of travellers at Fort Grey while we were there. We spent a very pleasant evening chatting with a lovely young couple, who like us and many others on the road, are making the most of the restrictions and exploring the areas we are allowed to. We mentioned that we were heading back to Tibooburra and they they highly recommended an alternate camp spot.

So, next Stop, Dead Horse Gully. Lets see if our young friends were right.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!