A Night at Deep Dime HipCamp near Kingaroy

A Night at Deep Dime HipCamp near Kingaroy

Sometimes the overnight stops on the way home turn out to be some of the more interesting camping spots.

After the Maryvale Winter Solstice Muster, we were making our way home with Tia and stopped for the night at Deep Dime, a HipCamp roughly in the Kingaroy area.

The weather wasn’t exactly putting on its finest Queensland performance. It was grey, overcast, a little chilly and eventually wet. But Deep Dime itself turned out to have plenty of character.

Plenty of room to spread out

The first thing we noticed was just how much space there was.

The main camping area is a huge paddock with plenty of room between campers, making it particularly appealing if you’re travelling with a group. There are fire rings dotted around the property, a bonfire area and a large communal shelter with tables and chairs that campers can move around the site.

The shelter also has power available from an off-grid battery and inverter setup, which we naturally had to poke our noses into.

The Tinkaloo and Thunder Throne

Deep Dime’s facilities are where things get particularly interesting.

There’s a hot-water donkey for heating water, enclosed showers, outdoor showers and even a bathtub for anyone keen enough to have an outdoor soak.

June wasn’t really giving us outdoor-bath weather, unfortunately.

Then there are the toilets.

One is the wonderfully named Ladies Tinkaloo, where you can apparently answer nature’s call while still appreciating nature.

The other?

The Thunder Throne.

Lunch and a wander around Dusty Hill Vineyard

On the way there though, we decided to explore a little more of the South Burnett.

That took us to Dusty Hill Vineyard at Moffatdale, where our first priority was lunch at Prendergast’s Irish Tavern.

And yep. Yum.

After lunch we had a wander around some of the boutique shops at Dusty Hill, including The Chef & Winemakers Pantry.

And given that we were visiting a vineyard, it would have been downright rude not to investigate the cellar door while we were there.

It turned a fairly grey camping day into a very pleasant little South Burnett afternoon. Good food, a bit of browsing and some local wine before heading back to camp.

Learning how to use our new batwing awning

The wet weather also gave us another chance to experiment with the new batwing awning on the Ranger.

We’ve been raising the rear pole to give us enough clearance to comfortably open the tailgate, which works brilliantly when it’s dry.

When it rains? Not quite so brilliantly.

With that end raised, the water was finding its way along the awning and dripping into exactly the area we were trying to keep dry. Lowering the pole should help solve the problem, but also lowers the awning right into Jason-headbutting territory.

Like most new bits of camping gear, it’ll take a few trips before we settle on the setup that works best for us.

And apparently we’ve discovered mochas

The following morning produced perhaps our most important discovery of the trip.

We’ve been carrying coffee when we camp.

We’ve also been carrying hot chocolate.

Yet somehow it had never occurred to us to combine the two until Yolinda suggested it.

Yes. A mocha.

Apparently we have discovered something the rest of civilisation has known about for quite some time.

Still counts.

Deep Dime was only an overnight stop on the journey home, but it’s an interesting little HipCamp with loads of space and some genuinely clever facilities. We’d be particularly tempted to come back with a group – preferably with slightly warmer weather so someone can actually brave that outdoor bathtub.