Kenilworth is a beautiful rural town with lots for families to do and opportunities to relax and do nothing too! Situated in the Mary Valley with the Blackall Ranges as its backdrop and the Mary River running through it, this is a charming place for a family day trip or holiday. This South East Queensland town is a 49-minute drive from Noosa or a couple of hours from Brisbane and you are in the heart of the hinterland.
Our family LOVE camping and off-roading so we headed to Kenilworth for a long weekend in the Nissan Patrol Warrior with the Thule Approach L roof tent on top and the Thule Overcast Awning. We were towing our Goldstream Storm camper trailer too, for a chance to give our summer holiday setup a shakedown before heading onto bigger adventures!
The Nissan Patrol Warrior makes a very comfortable towing vehicle, loaded up in the back with our huge fridge/freezer and everything we need for a family for a weekend's camping we all have plenty of personal space. The high riding position means all passengers have great visibility and can watch the changing scenery getting greener and greener as we drive inland from the coast.
It feels very easy towing the camper trailer and with the Thule roof tent on top. The Patrol Warrior seems to do it with ease, taking the extra weight and wind resistance in it's stride and I feel very comfortable and confident driving it with all this gear added on, even on the winding country roads to get there.
Something I'm testing out at the moment when towing is the Elecbrakes EB2 electric trailer brake controller. Because of my work I am always towing with different vehicles and not all of them come fitted with an electric trailer brake controller so it's perfect for me. The Elecbrakes EB2 attaches to the trailer instead of the tow vehicle and works with a phone app so you can set up the braking response.
For most people, I think the advantages are that if your family has more than one tow vehicle you just buy the one brake controller (and it's easy to DIY fit compared to the ones that have to be wired into your car) or if you rent out your camper trailer or caravan using services like Camplify you can make sure everyone who uses the trailer has a brake controller. Also if you keep your trailer longer than your car, the next car doesn't need to have a brake controller fitted.
It was especially exciting to try the Elecbrakes EB2 with the new 2024 Nissan Patrol Warrior which now has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as the Elecbrakes app works with both of those systems so you can safely and easily adjust the trailer brake settings at any time using the media screen. First impressions are that it is a slick product (Australian made too) and I'm going to be putting it through its paces all summer so stay tuned to the BabyDrive Family Adventures section.
Leaving it a little late in the day to arrive, we were driving into the sunset which is never ideal to be driving at ‘Roo Time'.
Kenilworth is lucky to be surrounded by an abundance of greenery and rainforest! It is right at the heart of the Imbil State Forest, which sprawls off to the north and west of the town and the Connondale National Park which spreads south.
If you live in South East Queensland or you are visiting South East Queensland this summer with your family and you are looking to visit a great country town then you cannot beat Kenilworth for its charm and scenery.
1. Charlie Moreland Camp Ground
We camped at the Charlie Moreland camp ground just ten minutes out of Kenilworth, nestled in the Imbil State Forest and along the banks of Little Yabba Creek. The camp grounds are stunning, surrounded by the green of the forest. The bird song is incredible here, surrounded by rainforest, the dawn chorus is spectacular and if you're lucky you get a peek at some of the birds too. I love waking up in the morning and listening to the sounds of all the birds.
You have to book online on the national parks website and get a vehicle permit before you go. The internet connection drops out about five minutes out of Kenilworth so make sure you do any last minute communications while you're in town! If like us you love being off-grid then you'll enjoy the peace and quiet and ability to disconnect for a while and plug into nature instead. The kids can sometimes take a little while to get used to it, our youngest often asks for the iPad to watch Bluey and can't fathom what it means when I say it won't work out here. Oh well, we have to read books instead!
The campsites at Charlie Moreland are first in best dressed but don't panic, there is lots of space so you can choose a spot that suits you, near or away from other campers. There are good, clean toilet facilities here which I appreciate with two children and there are non-potable water taps throughout the campsite.
The Charlie Moreland campsite is accessible by most cars. It's quite a long gravel road to drive in through the forest after you leave the Maleny Kenilworth Road and across a causeway of the Little Yabba Creak, which most of the time is low, although after very heavy rains it may be different.
One tip for families for setting up camp is to either involve your kids in the set up so they are part of it…
…or if they are more of a hinderance than a help, then have an activity for them to do to keep them occupied while you set up. Our girls LOVE crafts so I always have something new ready for them. Whether it's new pens, a little craft cheap kit etc.
We wanted to camp further upstream at the Booloumba Creek Campground but it showed either fully booked or closed on the national park website. Booloumba Creek campground requires a 4WD to access and has some deep creek crossings. There are some amazing off-road trails beyond the Booloumba Creek campground which we didn't have time to visit on this occasion but the Nissan Patrol Warrior would be an amazing vehicle for the job.
Back at Charlie Moreland, Little Yabba Creek is great for swimming! It has a day use area so we had a big group of friends and their kids come and join us for the day! The cool, forest rich water is a lovely way to start the day with a dip first thing. We had the creek to ourselves early the first morning, apart from a couple of ducks and a kingfisher that was darting backwards and forwards just skimming the surface of the water by a couple of inches as it carried fish to its nest.
Charlie Moreland is not a powered campsite so we ran our camper trailer off our solar panels. We are testing the setup for a much bigger family trip we are heading off on, more to come soon!
We spent one night sleeping in our camper trailer and the second night in the Thule Approach L 3-4 person roof tent. It was our first time with the roof tent and we were amazed at how quick it is to open out. Being on top of the Nissan Patrol Warrior it is high up, especially as the Warrior has a 50mm lift.
Our youngest daughter was excited and gung ho to climb up there and enjoy the experience on the roof and our eldest daughter, always more cautious, took a bit of convincing! The Thule Approach L roof tent is comfortable! It takes a little getting used to after the comforts of the camper trailer but I love its simplicity and ease of use.
2. Kenilworth Town and the famous bakery
After an early morning swim, we jump in the Patrol Warrior and head into town. The first store in Kenilworth opened in the main street in 1924 and it has grown a lot since then. Today there is a good variety of shops and eateries so you can get supplies and spend a pleasant few hours perusing the main street. The tourist information building has a lovely selection of local makers' things and our whole family enjoys looking through there as you get a bit of a feel for the people who live in the region.
There is the iconic Kenilworth Hotel for good pub meals and you can follow the crowds at the weekends heading for the Kenilworth Bakery.
Made famous by its 1kg donut and coffee challenge, Kenilworth Bakery has become so popular it has spread across the laneway and now takes up two adjacent shop fronts one selling yummy savouries selection of sausage rolls and pies, for those with a savoury tooth they do have a 1kg sausage roll challenge too.
Grab your choice of sweet or savoury and head up the laneway to the colourful seating area with all the successful challengers' silver plates lining the walls!
If you are heading there at the weekend make sure you visit the market in Kenilworth on a Saturday morning it is full of local produce, clothing, art, toys and good coffee! We bought some nice berries that needed to be kept cool so we could put them in the cooled central console box in the Patrol Warrior to take them back to camp.
3. Kenilworth Playground
While you are in town you will not get your kids past the fantastic playground! With a decent length zip-line that I did not want to share, a double pedal helicopter roundabout and multiple rope pyramids, climbing frames and more, it's great fun. There's also a separate fenced play area for younger kids.
There is some great playground equipment that you don't see in everyday playgrounds that kept my kids (and us parents!) playing for hours! Top tip: it gets very hot in Kenilworth in the early afternoon during summer so we found the playground best to visit in the morning.
4. Fig Tree Walk
Just opposite the turn off for Charlie Moreland campground on the Manely Kenilworth Road is the walkway to the Fig Tree Walk. There is parking if you drive past and across the bridge, over Yabba Creek, then on your left there is a parking area with a big local information sign. You can also get down to the creek from here for a swim if there's any water in it!
The Fig Tree Walk takes you through a well signed boardwalk, with wheelchair access, with lots of information about the rainforest trees, birds and wildlife. It is supposed to be a 45-minute return walk but the main part was closed for restoration during our visit so we could only do the first 15 minutes of the walk, which was still great with the kids. Do watch out for the heart-shaped leaves of the stinging tree and don't touch the fallen ones on the floor they still sting and hurt a lot once they have fallen from the tree.
My kids loved learning about the assassin bugs that eat the leaves and store the stinging tree toxins to make themselves venomous to eat!
And the enormous fig tree with its buttress roots made for great exploration for the kids.
The birdsong in the rainforest is amazing! We were listening to the catbirds and whip birds calling to each other.
5. Kenilworth Dairies
After packing up camp on our last morning and having one last swim in Little Yabba Creek we promised the kids an ice cream at Kenilworth Dairies on the way home as we drive through town!
We drove into town, where there is plenty of parking, even for vehicles and caravans, and opposite the show grounds there is a specific parking area with taps for filling water tanks too. We head straight to the Kenilworth Dairies, the dairy that has been in the Cochrane dairy farmer family for six generations and supports the local surrounding dairy farms of the region.
They have a wide range of cheeses you can choose from and lots of yummy options on the Kenilworth Dairies menu. We enjoyed a rich chocolate mousse, blueberry ice cream, and I had a delicious cream tea! The central console cooler in the Patrol Warrior is also helpful for taking some cheese home!
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