Chinchilla is a fair sized town located about 290km west of Brisbane in Queensland. About 9km south of town is the Chinchilla Weir, which has a fantastic Free Camping area. There are even 10 powered slots available! That’d have to be the first Free Camp we’ve come across with power.
The local council do ask for a donation for those hooking up to power, which can be made at the Information Centre in town. We didn’t use the power, as it was pretty crowded around the power points and we found a better spot a little further down. However we did still make a donation to help support such a great camping spot.
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Chinchilla Weir Free Camping
Camp Features
💲 FREE (Donation at Info Centre)
⏰ 48 hour limit
⛺️ Tents, Camper Trailers, Caravans, RVs, Big Rigs
→ Pull-through sites
🐶 Dogs allowed
🚻 Flushing toilets
♿️ Wheelchair accessible
🗑 Bins
🔥 Camp fires allowed
♨️ FREE Electric BBQ’s
🎣 Fishing
🚣 Boating & Kayaking
🛝 Playground
📶 Telstra reception (weak)
⚡️ 240 volt power (only for 10 sites)
🚗 2WD & Big Rig access
❌ NO: showers or drinking water
Chinchilla Weir Location
| CHINCHILLA WEIR | |
|---|---|
| Address | Chinchilla Tara Road, Chinchilla QLD 4406 |
Make sure you always download your maps before heading out of mobile reception. It’s also smart to carry a paper map with you in the vehicle for ‘just in case.’ You don’t want to find yourself in a dire situation without a map because your device has died or the map won’t load. And yep, we’ve been there and done that. It’s highly stressful!
The BIG Watermelon
The only thing we knew before arriving was that it’s the town that won the Wotif ‘BIG Things’ competition in recent years. As a result, they now have the BIG Watermelon taking pride of place next to the Information Centre.
The other contending towns were Glen Innes (Big Kilt), Kingaroy (Big Peanut) and Mittagong (Big Tulip). But votes where put to the public and Australia chose Chinchilla.
The significance of the town getting a Big Watermelon is based around Melonfest, the melon festival that’s held there every second year.
MELONFEST ACTIVITIES:
- Melon Farm Tours
- Sporting events (Bowls, Cricket & Golf)
- Melon weigh-in competitions (for kids and adults)
- Beach party at the Club Hotel
- Melon Rodeo
- Festival Feast
- Melon skiing
- Movie nights
- Poetry & storytelling
- Market stalls
- Melon pip-spitting
- Face painting
- Celebrity chef
- Street entertainment & parade
- Melon ‘Dash for cash’
- Car show
- Melon bungy
- Melon slip, dip & pull
- Celebrity melon eating
- Melon chariot races
This is one of over 150 Big Things hidden around Queensland. See how many you can tick off with either the complete Aussie Big Things Checklist or the Queensland checklist below.
QLD Big Things Checklist
See if you can find all 150+ Big Things 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
CAMPING ESSENTIALS
Travel Planning Tools
| TRAVEL PLANNING RESOURCES |
|---|
| ✔️ Checklists → 💲 Budget Spreadsheets → ✏️ Planners & Guides → |
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