The Watagans National Park

Gap Creek Camping area

23rd-25th of April 2016

On our first journey we went to Gap Creek a campsite at the Watagans.

The weather was not ideal while heading up on Saturday Morning but nothing was going to deter the 2 excited little girls that were expecting to go on their first camping trip in our new camper. We drove past Bangalow camp ground first, it looked like a great place to stay it had Electric BBQ, Pit toilets, little fireplaces and plenty of flat camping area to utilize. We only traveled another 100m to get to the Gap Creek camping area there was only one caravan that was occupying the camp area and a steep bumpy dirt track to get up to another part of the camping area but there was no way I was taking Vinnie up there. I talked to the people with the caravan they were a older couple from Adelaide. I pulled into a suitable little nook near the entrance to the camping area. 

    

We set up our shelter in our chosen location that was close to the pit toilets the rubbish bin and the BBQ. Once we were set up we decided to go for a little bush walk we wandered through beautiful rainforest with the whip birds making their unique call. The girls did well they trudged along in there gum boots along a winding hilly track for a good half an hour before we decided to turn back I took a couple of photos on our walk.

We followed a bush turkey along the track on our way back, it scurried along on the path in front of us. Other wildlife we encountered on our trip to the Watagans were the Brushtail possums that would come hunting for food at night. When I drove past the Bangalow camp area I noticed a joey had become game enough to enter into the camping area for an easy feed. 

That night a lot more campers arrived. A guy turned up in a van with his nephew who were just camping the night we had a chat as we sat around the campfire I'd made. I bought all my firewood from home, as they are the rules outlined on the national parks website.

 I had plenty of room under the seats of the camper to store firewood, and have been slowly getting rid of the tree that fell down in my backyard over a year ago.

Other people that turned up that night were a couple from Sydney, guy on a motorbike with a swag and a few 4WDs that camped up on the higher camp ground, early in the morning a group of young people arrived that had been at the groove in the moo festival in Maitland. So I think it was a busy weekend for the Watagans even still it didn't feel crowded.

I'd been walking around in thongs the whole day and managed to pick up a few slimy blood sucking friends. If you are freaked out by leeches you best stay away from this campsite. When one of the
girls got a leech on them they did freak out for a moment but when she calmed down I just covered it in salt and the leech soon dropped off .

On the Sunday we had some friends turn up so we decided to go on the walk down to the waterfall.

The friends that joined us had three young girls so with 5 girls they were giggling and playing through the remainder of the weekend. We started heading along the track that had a sign that read 400m to the waterfall, it felt like a kilometer. The last section of the track was pretty sketchy so if you do decide to take on the trek be prepared to climb down some slippery rocks and steep embankments but the atmosphere at the bottom is quite spectacular.

the waterfall was not very active at the time we were there but I could imagine it would be even more impressive with a big flow of water. 
Pippa the youngest girl on the trip was fascinated by the the leeches she was quite proud to announce that the leeches liked her and she liked the leeches.
A lot of people seemed to turn up in the Gap creek car park just to hike down to the water fall, I'd imagine it would make a good day trip for those not keen on camping.
That night I cooked a big stew in my cast iron Camp oven a good 5 hours cook time hanging over the edge of the fire meant the chuck steak I'd thrown in was tender as could be. The girls had a great time roasting Marshmallows and playing in the Campervan. 
On the Sunday morning we hiked from the campsite up to Monkey Face a popular cliff face for climbing and Abseiling, I'd been there before on training days with NHVSS the caving club I'm a member of. It was sad to see a dead echidna at the base of the cliff. After the Monkey face hike we ducked down into a riverbed near the Gap creek car park many years ago I remember going there with the caving club into some small boulder caves that had the ceiling covered in glow worms. We didn't enter the cave I think I previously visited instead found a smaller one that only contained 1 single glow worm. The girls seemed to be more fascinated by a huge pile a human faeces we found.  

The good thing about camping here was how close it was to home, less time travelling meant more time enjoying tranquil laid back atmosphere.
Overall I was very happy with our first camping trip and would recommend this spot to others.