Roses Park Camp Area, near Coffs Harbour NSW
On the banks of the Bellinger River in the very small town of Thora you will find Roses Park Camp Area. Thora is located West of Coffs Harbour. After stopping for lunch in Coffs Harbour, it took us less than an hour to arrive at Roses Park Camp Area. It’s a very welcoming, quaint little rest area with big shady trees. It’s located just off the road and seems to be a popular overnight stop over point for caravaners and campers. The maximum allowed stay is two nights, and that’s probably plenty of time to go exploring around the area.
Following the border of the camp grounds is the Bellinger River. There is plenty of water in it at the moment for a dip and for the dogs to play. But you can see that when it floods, a lot of water goes through there. Debris can be seen many metres above the current water level in the trees.
There are a range of facilities here. Two toilets that look like they are cleaned regularly, but no showers. There are quite a few bins conveniently located around the camp area, also tables & chairs and fire places scattered throughout. Right next door there is a convenience store with bottle shop. This worked out brilliantly last night when we decided we wanted to grab a few more beers.
While we were at Coffs Harbour we searched Online and in our Camps Australia Wide book. The camps book said its a “gold coin donation” camp area. But we read some articles and forums saying the council had closed the place down. So we were unsure what to expect. I can 100% confirm that you can camp here at the Roses Park Camp / Rest Area. (This is being written January 2014). I am sitting under the awning of our camper right now in Roses Park!
There are maybe 5 other groups here right now in the middle of the day. But we had a lot that arrived late yesterday, then left early in the morning. As I said earlier, I think a lot of people use this place as an overnight stay while travelling through. I can also confirm that there is a gold coin donation honesty box on the side of the toilets. A notice inside the toilets says that this place is maintained by volunteers. I think it is a wonderful service they are providing, and as a result Jazz and I donated more than our fair share.
To get down to the River there is a pathway with steps right near the road bridge. We can’t find any other way to get down to the water except that one spot. Swimming in the River was very nice, especially because the weather is so hot. It has a rocky, slimy bottom so we still wore thongs in. It’s not very deep in this spot but it is slowly flowing. Our dogs love the water too, especially Harry who would fetch sticks from the water all day if you let him. Several other people here have dogs too and the usual rules apply. It’s definitely a dog friendly spot.
While being here we noticed a lot of people arrive and setup their site, then disconnect their car and leave for the day. We decided to go for a drive for ourselves to find out why. If you head up the mountains from Roses Park you can find several lookouts and waterfalls. In our opinion the most impressive was Dangar Falls. It’s probably only half an hour from the camp area. You drive through the town of Dorrigo to get there. We just followed the signs once we were in Dorrigo.
While a lot of the lookouts and attractions are in national parks (and therefore no dogs allowed) we couldn’t find any signage at Dangar Falls to imply that we were in a national park or that dogs were not allowed. In fact, we saw a couple of other people with dogs there too.
The lookout for the falls is very conveniently located right next to the car park. If you want to go for a swim in the beautiful waters below then there is a marked 20 minute walk you can do to the bottom of the falls. We saw quite a few people swimming there.
Not sure where our next stop is, but we will be heading South or West tomorrow.
