Christian Camping

Take a fresh look: QCCC Tamborine

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We’re going to start a series on the changes at our three South East Queensland conference and camping sites in recent years.

Gold Coast Queensland Camp Conference
An overhead shot of Tamborine Lodge and the WEC Centre. QCCC Tamborine.

If you haven’t been to a QCCC site for a few years you’ll likely be surprised by the changes and improvements to each site. Take a Fresh Look will guide you through some of the major developments.

QCCC Tamborine is on top of Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland. It is located 35 kilometres from the Gold Coast, with the road there twisting up the mountain to an elevation of 500 metres above sea level.

The Tamborine property is at the end of Beacon Road and consists of over 50 acres of breathtaking open space. The Beacon Road property was originally a farm that was given over to a Convention ministry. Over the years one acre blocks were parceled off and various congregations and ministry organisations developed them into sites to complement the main Convention site.

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Activities on camp at QCCC

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Climbing Wall Sunshine Coast
The climbing wall at QCCC Mapleton

 

Anyone who has visited QCCC Mapleton will know it has an amazing range of outdoor education activities to choose from – a massive climbing wall, abseil tower, canoeing, flying foxes, giant swings and archery, to mention a few. 

Each of our sites cater to different guest needs and event styles.  QCCC Tamborine is a wonderful location for retreats, conferences and has close proximity to the major Gold Coast attractions.  QCCC Brookfield is conveniently located near the heart of Brisbane and is a great destination for schools doing Brisbane camps.  Its up-market facilities also make it highly sought after for conferences and corporate retreats.

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New beginning for an old friend

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Camps Sunshine Coast Conference
Lucky it didn't drop!

Regular camp and conference guests to QCCC Mapleton will know that the property is blessed with an abundance of beautiful trees, particularly in the area around the rainforest walk. 

The front entrance of Latham Lodge (the main building) is highlighted by a number of soar

ing eucalypt trees, and in recent months one of them has proved a little troublesome.  A few years ago a large covered deck area was built at the front entrance, and around this particular tree.

With storm season again approaching, some of the branches of the tree posed a risk to the building and so it became necessary to bring the tree down. 

While there’s sadness about the loss of one of these beautiful trees, there’s also excitement about what comes next.  The remaining stump of the tree will be given a new lease on life as it becomes the centre piece of a proposed water feature. 

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Don’t worry, it’s not real!

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Queensland School Expeditions
It's amazing what you can do with fake blood and tattoos

QCCC Mapleton is catering to an increasing number offsite expeditions. We offer customized trips involving hiking, canoeing down the beautiful Hinterland rivers, sea kayaking and we can throw in abseiling, rock climbing and raft building for good measure.

Taking groups into the breathtaking outdoors, often for days at a time, brings with it a great deal of responsibility. Safety is of the utmost importance in our expedition program, but when dealing with human nature and the elements there’s always the need to contingency plan against worst-case scenarios.

It’s contingency planning that saw several of the QCCC Mapleton staff complete a three day search and rescue course over the past few weeks. It allowed time for two hypothetical scenarios to allow theory and knowledge to be put into practice.

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The Mapleton Giant Swing

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The Giant Swing at QCCC Mapleton is one of the most popular of the high rope activities for school camps and other groups who come to us.

We have two Giant Swings on-site. The larger of the two was significantly raised last year – the pole that people are released from is 16 metres high (around the height of a five story building). The other giant swing is slightly smaller and was installed late last year to cope with demand!

As you’ll see from the video, we put people in a harness and they’re pulled up to a height they determine by communicating with the people on the rope (so you don’t have to go from the very top if you don’t want to). From the top of the pole you can see the ocean on one side and the beautiful Mapleton rainforest on the other.

When ready you let go the release rope and go swinging back and forward into the trees that verge on QCCC Mapleton’s private rainforest walk. This footage is taken from the top of the pole that people are released.

Great fun!

QCCC Tamborine’s chaplaincy dinner

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QCCC camp school chaplain catering
Getting ready to pay tribute to Tamborine Mountain chaplains

Each year QCCC Tamborine sponsors a dinner as a fundraiser for the Scripture Union chaplains on Tamborine Mountain.  The most recent dinner was held on 11 August in the dining hall at the WEC Centre, one of the three complexes that forms QCCC Tamborine. 

There are four chaplains on Tamborine Mountain, spread across three schools.  QCCC pays for and hosts the meal for Scripture Union so fundraising is maximised.  The most recent event drew the largest crowd yet – 140 people showed up for a night of entertainment and food. More than $5,000 was raised to support Mountain chaplaincy through the course of the evening.

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The Great Banquet

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Food camps Queensland
A sample from the QCCC Brookfield love feast

Okay, it may seem like a strange title for a blog about our camp sites, but those two words capture a lot of what our staff and venues are about.

Queensland Conference and Camping Centres (QCCC) is a ministry of the Queensland Baptists.  We’re a team of recreation, outdoor education, catering, cleaning, maintenance and management staff striving to care for our guests with professional competence.

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