Burra Gorge / Worlds End
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Burra Gorge (aka Worlds End) is around 16km SE of Burra, and is a large bush setting area with large trees and no designated sites. Would the name Worlds End be appropriate for this location? Read on to see if we thought it suited!!!
Camping is free but a donation is appreciated.
We travelled there on a Friday, just before a 3 day long weekend begun, and it appeared that many others had already had the same idea, with the area taken up predominantly with caravans, and with a handful of tent based campers like ourselves.
Lesson here: Don't go up on a long weekend unless you get there before the weekend even begins.
Large gum trees provide much needed shade, but they were in demand upon our arrival, and not wanting to camp underneath one, meant that we were a bit limited in our options. Regardless of that, it really is a large paddock, with trees. There are very little options for privacy.
Facilities
There was only 1 pit toilet nearby, which had to service a large amount of people. Queuing was mandatory and I think that toilet was nearing capacity as far as pit toilets go. Far from pleasant. If you were in a hurry to go, you could be in trouble!
There was a small billabong and creek running through it, though it appeared quite polluted, with oil like film on it. Many people used it for getting water for washing up, and I can only imagine that some of the detergents were inadvertently transferred to it. Apart from that, no running water.
Generator Courtesy
As this was not National Park, there were naturally no rules regarding generators. But as everyone is in close proximity to one another, some common courtesy should apply. Eg. Turn off your generator at a reasonable time at night.
Our neighbour over that weekend, did not obviously subscribe to that philosophy, and ran his generator most of the time – so the family could watch TV apparently.
When they weren’t watching TV, it seems they were determining how much wood they could forage from wherever, and creating large piles of wood, that would then eventuate into bonfires that would be started relatively early in the day. As the weather was quite warm during the day, to see bonfires (and they were not small campfires) lit so early, was unusual as they weren't using them for cooking or warmth. These campers seemed to enjoy the actual lighting of the campfire and then lose interest in it shortly thereafter.
Camping Courtesy
Another group of campers further down the gorge from us, decided to have a party that went ALL night. We had noticed a large number of cars coming in to the Gorge during early evening and did not realise that these were all guests of one group of campers. The screaming and yelling was still going on a 3am and with loud music, thumping away. I do pity the families that were closer to this campsite. Our night was bad enough, but to be next door would have been painful.
Next day, the ground around the campsites was strewn with empty bottles and cans (which I hope they picked up before they left).
We have since read glowing reports of this area from other websites and feel like we are talking about 2 different places! From a child's perspective, there is not a lot to do there – they would need to take items such as bikes etc to entertain themselves, especially if there are no other families nearby. We did have 1 child whose family did not ever seem to notice he was missing, so our family grew in size for that weekend. He wouldn't leave us alone EVER. At meal times he just wanted to stay with us (or grab our food). Politely suggesting he went home for his own meal would fall on deaf ears. I think his family hoped others would feed him/entertain him.
Would we visit again? Probably not. Our experience on that weekend was so unpleasant, that we feel that we can't take the risk again. In fact, years later, we still discuss this campsite (so at least its been a talking point). But others love it. As all reviews on this site are our personal opinion, naturally not everyone can agree with us. If you have been here and enjoyed this location, that is great and that is all that counts at the end of the day.
This might be a good spot to stop off for 1 night as a break, on the road to somewhere more interesting and more scenic.
(Note: Apologies for lack of photos of this campsite. A camera malfunction resulted in loss of all images).
Burra Gorge (aka Worlds End) is around 16km SE of Burra, and is a large bush setting area with large trees and no designated sites. Would the name Worlds End be appropriate for this location? Read on to see if we thought it suited!!!
Camping is free but a donation is appreciated.
We travelled there on a Friday, just before a 3 day long weekend begun, and it appeared that many others had already had the same idea, with the area taken up predominantly with caravans, and with a handful of tent based campers like ourselves.
Lesson here: Don't go up on a long weekend unless you get there before the weekend even begins.
Large gum trees provide much needed shade, but they were in demand upon our arrival, and not wanting to camp underneath one, meant that we were a bit limited in our options. Regardless of that, it really is a large paddock, with trees. There are very little options for privacy.
Facilities
There was only 1 pit toilet nearby, which had to service a large amount of people. Queuing was mandatory and I think that toilet was nearing capacity as far as pit toilets go. Far from pleasant. If you were in a hurry to go, you could be in trouble!
There was a small billabong and creek running through it, though it appeared quite polluted, with oil like film on it. Many people used it for getting water for washing up, and I can only imagine that some of the detergents were inadvertently transferred to it. Apart from that, no running water.
Generator Courtesy
As this was not National Park, there were naturally no rules regarding generators. But as everyone is in close proximity to one another, some common courtesy should apply. Eg. Turn off your generator at a reasonable time at night.
Our neighbour over that weekend, did not obviously subscribe to that philosophy, and ran his generator most of the time – so the family could watch TV apparently.
When they weren’t watching TV, it seems they were determining how much wood they could forage from wherever, and creating large piles of wood, that would then eventuate into bonfires that would be started relatively early in the day. As the weather was quite warm during the day, to see bonfires (and they were not small campfires) lit so early, was unusual as they weren't using them for cooking or warmth. These campers seemed to enjoy the actual lighting of the campfire and then lose interest in it shortly thereafter.
Camping Courtesy
Another group of campers further down the gorge from us, decided to have a party that went ALL night. We had noticed a large number of cars coming in to the Gorge during early evening and did not realise that these were all guests of one group of campers. The screaming and yelling was still going on a 3am and with loud music, thumping away. I do pity the families that were closer to this campsite. Our night was bad enough, but to be next door would have been painful.
Next day, the ground around the campsites was strewn with empty bottles and cans (which I hope they picked up before they left).
We have since read glowing reports of this area from other websites and feel like we are talking about 2 different places! From a child's perspective, there is not a lot to do there – they would need to take items such as bikes etc to entertain themselves, especially if there are no other families nearby. We did have 1 child whose family did not ever seem to notice he was missing, so our family grew in size for that weekend. He wouldn't leave us alone EVER. At meal times he just wanted to stay with us (or grab our food). Politely suggesting he went home for his own meal would fall on deaf ears. I think his family hoped others would feed him/entertain him.
Would we visit again? Probably not. Our experience on that weekend was so unpleasant, that we feel that we can't take the risk again. In fact, years later, we still discuss this campsite (so at least its been a talking point). But others love it. As all reviews on this site are our personal opinion, naturally not everyone can agree with us. If you have been here and enjoyed this location, that is great and that is all that counts at the end of the day.
This might be a good spot to stop off for 1 night as a break, on the road to somewhere more interesting and more scenic.
(Note: Apologies for lack of photos of this campsite. A camera malfunction resulted in loss of all images).