The Long Waterhole is a great free camping spot in Winton. There is enough room for about 30 footballs teams (it’s huge!) with lots of prime, waterfront campsites.
Some spots around the waterhole offer nice trees to camp by. There are no amenities on site, so be sure to be full self-contained. Just a few minutes drive up into town will find you at the RV dump point and potable water tap.
The landscape around The Long Waterhole is dry and dusty, which is to be expected in outback Queensland. However, the kids managed to find a spot to jump in the water and have a dip… as long as you don’t mind the mud!
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The Long Waterhole


Camp Features
💲 FREE
⏰ No time limit
⛺️ Tents, Camper Trailers, Caravans, RVs, Big Rigs
🐶 Dogs allowed
🔥 Fire pits
⚡️ Generators allowed
🌳 Some shady spots
🎣 Fishing
🏊♂️ Swimming
📺 TV reception
📶 Telstra reception
🚗 2WD & Big Rig access
❌ NO: amenities, water or power

In the end, we based ourselves at The Long Waterhole for 9 days. We had to hitch up once and go into town (all of 3km up the road) to refill our water tanks. Plus, we emptied our toilet cassette twice at the Dump Point during trips to town.
When we came back the second time, we found a lovely new spot under the trees, which was just beautiful! It was a very safe place to unhitch and go exploring or even just kick back for a few days and chill out.

We met another young Aussie travelling family during our stay at The Long Waterhole, by the name of Not Working Tomorrow. It was great to kick back around the campfire and swap travel tales!

Camp Location
The Long Waterhole camping is in Winton, which is located 180km North-West of Longreach, the gateway to the Outback.
To get to the camp, head south out of town along Winton Jundah Road. You’ll find a dirt driveway a few kilometres down on the left.
Make sure you always pre download all of your digital maps before you leave areas of reception. Although Telstra is the best mobile provider in Australia, there are still scores of land that just aren’t covered.
It’s always smart to carry hardcopy paper maps with you in your vehicle as a back up. Hema provide an extensive range of maps for Australian states and regions, which will cover you.


Free Camping Between Longreach & Winton
Some call us crazy, but it took us a full week to get from Longreach to Winton… a whole 179km down the road!
In our defence we found a couple of cool spots to camp, check them out.
Macsland Rest Area

Macsland Rest Area is about 24 km North-west of Longreach. On site are two long drop toilets and rubbish bins. At first, the camp looks like just a roadside pull-over, but if you explore behind the toilet block you’ll find heaps of great camping spots amongst the shrubby trees.
Camp Features:
💲 FREE (no time limit)
🔥 Fire Pits
📱 Telstra Reception
🚽 Toilets (flushing drop pits)
♿ Wheel Chair access for toilets
🐶 Pet Friendly
🗑 Rubbish Bins
🚗 2WD access & Big Rig
⛺️ Tents, Campers, Caravans, Motorhomes, Buses
✔ Overly friendly flies
❌ No showers or water
Darr River, Morella

This free camp along the Darr River was a cracker of a spot. Al went fishing, the kids climbed trees and we just generally chilled out. There are no facilities here besides some bins up near the highway, so make sure you’re fully self-contained.
Camp Features:
💲 FREE
🐶 Pet-friendly
🗑 Rubbish bins
🔥 Camp fires
📱 Telstra reception
⚡ Generators allowed
🏞 River frontage & Fishing
⛺ Tents, Campers, Caravans, Motorhomes, Buses
🚗 2WD Access (only in the dry due to sloppy mud)
❌ No water, power or amenities


Things To Do In Winton
Australia’s Dinosaur Trail – Winton is home to 2 out of the 4 pieces of the Dinosaur Trail. Here you’ll find ‘Australian Age of Dinosaurs’ and ‘Dinosaur Stampede Trackways.’
There are loads of unique things to check out in Winton!
- Musical Fence
- Royal Open Air Theatre
- Waltzing Matilda Centre
- Arno’s Wall,
- BIG Deckchair
- Main Street

QLD Big Things Checklist
See if you can find all 150+ Big Things as you travel around Queensland!
- 17-page checklist
- Pre-filled with 150+ items
- Categorised into 6 regions
- QLD Regional Map
- Full street addresses
- Record finds & dates
- DIGITAL & PRINTABLE

FREE CAMPING ESSENTIALS

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Great information, plan to head up to
Opalton from Mackay and free camp all the way to realy enjoy the trip,
thanks for the info.
Neville
Sounds like a great trip, enjoy!