Sundown National Park - QLD

Sundown National Park is situated on the Queensland/New South Wales border and is approximately 16000ha in size. With rough rocky tracks, steep inclines and rutted descents, this rugged park offers some challenging four wheel driving, and some spectacular scenery. Most of the park is an average 600m to 800m above sea level. The two main granite features in the park are Red Rock Gorge and Rats Castle. The Severn River winds its way through the park and and forms river flats, gorges, and larger waterholes. On the Queensland/New South Wales border, Sundown National Park is a rugged wilderness park with spectacular steep-sided gorges, sharp ridges and peaks rising to more than 1000 metres. The vegetation is mainly box-ironbark-cypress woodland with tea trees, river red gums and river oaks along the river, stringybark-yellow box forest in some high eastern areas and pockets of dry vine scrub in sheltered gorges.More than 150 species of birds have been recorded in the park, some seasonal visitors. Grey kangaroos are common. Red-necked wallabies and swamp wallabies and wallaroos also live in the park. The once common brush-tailed rock-wallaby now survives only in the northern end of the park.Sundown has a history of early selection, subdivision in the late 1800s, extensive clearing for grazing and fine wool production, and tin, copper and arsenic mining from the 1870s. Pastoral relics and old surface diggings remain. Sundown is a great place to get away from it all. Visitors must be fairly self-sufficient as few facilities are provided. Camp at The Broadwater, a large waterhole on the Severn River. Individual grassy campsites, pit toilets, fireplaces, firewood, water and donkey boiler showers are provided. Remove all your rubbish except recyclable glass and cans. Secure your supplies and rubbish from goannas and currawongs. The closest supplies are at Glenlyon Dam. Four-wheel-drive campsites are located along the river at Burrows’ Waterhole and Reedy Waterhole. Burrows’ Waterhole has pit toilets. Reedy Waterhole has no facilities. You can also camp closer to the park entrance at Red Rock Gorge. A pit toilet and lookout are located here. You must bag and remove your rubbish from the park. Camping and walking are best between May and September when you can expect cold nights, frosty mornings and warm, clear days. Summer can be hot and humid. Few Walking tracks are provided but you can explore along side gorges at Ooline and McAllister’s Creeks near The Broadwater and Blue Gorge downstream from Rats’ Castle.