Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory: Four Wineries and Breweries With Caravan Camping

This is the last post in the series, and it covers three states at once for a reason. Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory produced four venues between them. Western Australia, the state everyone assumes is empty, produced nine. We are not padding the count to make three separate posts out of it, so here is everything the last three states have, in one go.

The Short Version

• Four venues: two in Queensland, one in Tasmania, one in the Northern Territory
• The Tasmanian one is free, and the Territory one is ten dollars a head unpowered
• Two of the four want you fully self-contained, and only one has power
• The Territory cafe closes for the wet, so treat it as a May to October proposition

Before the list, a note on why this is short. Tasmania is the surprise. It has the wineries, it has the caravan traffic, and it has an established farm-stay culture, and yet a statewide sweep of the camping platforms, a dedicated campervan wineries guide, a caravan touring guide and the national RV-friendly list turned up a single producer that lets you sleep on the property. The campervan guide is the tell: it covers seven Tasmanian wineries and sends you to a separate campground for every one of them. Queensland is a different problem. There is plenty of farm camping, but most of it is at farms, not producers, and the two that qualify sit six hours apart.

1) Mountview Wines (Glen Aplin), the Granite Belt with a pizza oven

One of the oldest wineries in the Granite Belt, on Emu Swamp Road between Stanthorpe and Ballandean, making its own range including the Bloody Good Red. Two camping sites among the vines at forty five dollars. The listing advertises seven sites, but the other five are cabins.

Why it works:

• An amenity block that runs to two toilets, two showers and a disabled shower and toilet combination, plus two barbecues and a wood-fired pizza oven
• Campfires are allowed and so are pets, which is a rarer combination than it sounds
• The cellar door sits on the Stanthorpe to Ballandean bike trail and hires out pushbikes and e-bikes, so the tasting can be the middle of a ride rather than the end of a drive
• Girraween National Park is a short drive away

No power, and although one site has potable water there is nowhere to fill your tanks, so bring your own. The cellar door runs Friday and Saturday 10 until 5 and Sunday 10 until 3, with Monday to Thursday by appointment.

2) Sublime Farm & Brewery (Kia Ora), sixty sites in a lime orchard

North of Gympie on Priddy Road, a farm with its own small brewery making Sublime beer and apple cider on site. Sixty sites spread through a lime orchard at twenty two dollars, which is the cheapest stay of the whole series outside the free ones. Unpowered and self-contained only, though the pub toilets stay open around the clock. Pets on lead, raised fire pits only, and no pets at all during their bigger events. The venue itself is the draw as much as the camping: rustic Italian style pizzas and share plates, live music Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and again on Sunday afternoon, and gardens rather than a bar room. Open Wednesday and Thursday from 2, Friday and Saturday from 11 until late, Sunday 11 until 6, closed Monday and Tuesday.

3) Iron House Brewery Distillery & Vineyard (Four Mile Creek), free, and the most drinks under one roof

Tasmania's only entry, on the Tasman Highway on the east coast, and it earns the spot several times over. Iron House brews its own beer, distils single malt whisky, gin and brandy, and grows Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, all on the one estate at White Sands. There is no other venue in this series making that many different things in one place. Camping is free, up to three nights, for fully self-contained vehicles only. Sites are not allocated, so check with reception for availability when you arrive. No power, no dump point, and no pets, which is the one real catch. The tasting room is open Wednesday to Sunday, 9:30 to 4:30, with food service until 3, and it is closed Monday and Tuesday. If you are running the east coast between Bicheno and St Helens this is an obvious overnight, and being free and unallocated it is first in first served, so do not turn up at six in the evening in January expecting a spot.

4) The Purple Mango Cafe and Brewery (Marrakai), a craft brewery in the bush

On Stephen Road, reached off the Arnhem Highway and then two point seven kilometres up Marrakai Road, which the venue now says is fully sealed and open. About an hour's drive out of Darwin, and on the way to Kakadu, which makes the location almost too convenient. Camping is ten dollars a head unpowered or thirty five dollars powered, and it is the only venue in this post with power at all. A toilet and shower block with laundry hand washing, shady bush sites, and wood-fired pizzas out of the kitchen. The critical thing to plan around is the season: the cafe is a dry season operation running Friday to Monday, open from the first of May, and it does not publish a closing date. Turning up in February will find the gate shut. Bookings are essential for meals, so ring before you commit to the detour.

If None of These Suit

Some honest notes on what did not make it.

Kingsley Grove Estate near Kingaroy appeared on every Queensland list we checked and would have been a fifth entry. It is closed, and its own website says so in those words. TripAdvisor carries a permanent closure notice and has no review newer than October 2023, and the winery and the freehold have been listed for sale. If you find it recommended somewhere, that recommendation is old.

Anderleigh Winery north of Gympie has camping and calls itself a winery, but its own Hipcamp listing describes its red as produced from McLaren Vale fruit, which puts it in the same category as Whitton Malt House in the New South Wales post. It is a nice stop. It is not making the wine. That Hipcamp listing is also not taking bookings at the moment. The wording is ambiguous enough that it is worth a phone call if you are passing.

Speakeasy Vineyard has vines and a personal training studio and no label or cellar door, so it is a vineyard rather than a producer.

And a broader lead worth passing on: Harvest Inn, the network that lets self-contained travellers stay at farms and producers, lists seventy plus hosts nationally including a Tasmanian winery. The listings themselves are public, but host names and locations sit behind a paid annual membership, so we could not verify individual venues for this post. There are no camp fees, though members are asked to spend at least twenty five dollars with each host. If you tour full time it is probably worth the fee on its own.

The Cheat Code: How to Plan a Trip Around These Four

There is no touring route here. These four are in three states and two of them are six hours apart, so treat each one as a stop on a trip you were already taking rather than a destination in itself. The Queensland pair works that way: Mountview if you are running the New England Highway inland, Sublime if you are on the Bruce Highway up the coast. Iron House slots into any east coast Tasmania run. The Purple Mango slots into a Kakadu trip.

A straightforward approach that works:

• Check the season before the Territory, because the Purple Mango only opens roughly May to October
• Be fully self-contained for Sublime and Iron House, since only Mountview and the Purple Mango have an amenity block, and the Purple Mango is the only one with power
• Leave the dog at home for Tasmania and the Territory, because Iron House and the Purple Mango both refuse pets
• Check your rig length with the venue before you book, because limits vary from site to site

Consider these advantages:

• Two of the four are cheap enough to be an easy yes, at free and twenty two dollars
• Mountview is the only one with a full amenity block, showers and a pizza oven included, so it suits a longer stay than one night
• Iron House pours beer, whisky, gin, brandy and wine from the one estate, so a single stop covers everything

That closes the series. Five posts, six states and a territory, and something like sixty venues checked to find the ones that genuinely let you stay.

Download Jedhi free and turn a wishlist of wineries, breweries and distilleries into a route you can actually drive, van and all.

More in this series: Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.