Lake Tinaroo - Barrabadeen Campground

It’s a lovely overcast afternoon here at Blue Sky – as close as we are going to get to a rainy day in Mareeba, so perfect blogging weather! Those of you who follow us on instagram and facebook will know that on the ANZAC Day long weekend we had a terrific time camping with all the extended family at Camp Barrabadeen, Lake Tinaroo. Camping at Lake Tinaroo was on our ‘hitlist’ for this year so it is awesome to have ticked another little adventure off. Camp Barrabadeen is owned by the Scout Organisation and we have camped here many times with the kids as part of their scouting activities so we knew it was a top spot. Hot showers, toilets, firepits, pretty level and shady sites right on the water, ability to hire canoes and you can launch your boat from right in front of the campsites – it doesn’t get much better than that! It is a little expensive – $10 per person per night – kids under 6 free, but the money does go to a good cause!

We timed this trip in with my Aunt and Uncle visiting from Albion Park in NSW on their way for a six month trip around Oz! We also had my cousins the Kendall family, my Mum & Dad, Matt’s Dad, my cousin Michael and my Uncle John, plus Andrew and Simon flew up from Albion Park for the weekend too – so a pretty big gang of us! We booked five sites and fitted us all in no problems. Most of us arrived to set up camp at around 3.30pm on the Friday afternoon and just managed to get all set up before it got dark.

Setting up the communal tarp area – the weather forecast was for lots of rain so we wanted to be prepared!

Campsites

Kipp made sure we were all up nice and early the next morning, but we didn’t mind too much as the day that greeted us was spectacular!! Kipp on the other hand was a real grumpy little poo and didn’t snap out of it until I took him for a kayak at about 9am where he promptly fell asleep and I put him to bed where he stayed until 1pm!

Good Morning Camp Barrabadeen – the moon was still up too!

A beautiful morning! Grunda took the kids off for a walk.

The ‘old fellas’ having their morning coffees.

We had the best weekend. The rain held off and there was just so much for everybody to do, with plenty of relaxing as well. Jack and Toby LIVED on the biscuts behind the boat all weekend – a massive thank you to Michael who happily towed everybody all over the lake. There was swimming and fishing, kayaking, reading, crafting, eating and lots of sitting around chatting. I’ll let the pics show you all the fun we had.

Jack and Toby LOVED the biscuting

Lexi got the hang of kayaking

Grunda had a go too!

Time for crafting

Kipp loved floating in the Kayak

Off in the boat for a cruise around the lake and some fishing

Fishing crew

Late afternoon fishing – beautiful!

Grunda and Kipp and Toby fishing

Poppy and Kipp fishing

There was lots of wildlife about to keep us all interested too! A couple of big goanna’s wandered all over the campsites, there were a number of very friendly Kookaburras, Kipp loved the ducks and at night there were noisy curlews and cheeky possums!

Kipp and his duck friends

Big Goanna!

Cheeky Kookaburra

A highlight of the weekend was when all the adults finally bite the bullet and had a go on the biscuts on Saturday afternoon! It was pretty impressive to see the two Grandad’s at 60 and 69 bouncing around the lake! We all had a good laugh and I have to admit that I enjoyed my turn, but it was harder work than the kids made it look!

Time to take the Grandads for a spin!

We put the official family photographer in the boat to capture all of the Grandad biscuting action!

Not bad for a couple of old fellas!

Grunda all tuckered out!

It was Kipp’s birthday on the Monday – ANZAC Day, so we decided to have a small party for him with all the family out at the lake. We unfortunately couldn’t fit an ANZAC march in this year, but got to hear the last post played across the lake by one of the other campers staying there. I made my first cake in the camp oven – a chocolate cake for Kipp and although it burnt a little on the bottom – we chopped that off and thanks to Leanne’s master decorating skills – it turned out just great!

Grammy and Kipp doing some tidying up around the Fealy campsite

Kids blowing bubbles while we wait for the cake to cook.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kipp!

A lovely, lovely weekend with family and we can definitely recommend camping at Camp Barrabadeen. My Aunty Leanne also wrote a great post about our weekend at Tinaroo, head here to check it out! Camp Barrabadeen is open to the public, so if you are looking for a pretty quiet spot at Lake Tinaroo, with great facilities – be sure to head here!