Sunday 7 August - Day 7
Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp

Before we left Emerald, we searched on the web for somewhere to camp at Emerald. The camps in town received very poor reviews and were very expensive. So we found this one, Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp, just 20 kms outside of Charters Towers, and it sounded excellent.

Part of the web site

Sounded pretty good.
The ad says .. "....enjoy the comfort of one of our grassy, shady powered sites..."

Hmm ... grassy sites? Now I wonder where they are? There is a blade of grass that can be seen way over there in the corner of the paddock ... but the rest is red dust. Grassy, shady sites .. I think that is a bit of creative writing.

It is certainly spacious, and quiet. (Although during the week I think it would be noisy as the quarry seems to be just next door.) We got a shock - after driving in through a bumpy dirty lane onto the allotment, when we drove onto the property and saw the office and then the toilets!
Darryl's photos will explain what we meant much better than words!

The office

The toilet block - ramshackle but does the job.

Suffice to say ... midnight walks to the loos are something Merril is trying desperately to avoid.
Although, admittedly - the showers are hot, but you have to dance around to try and get the water as it sprays everywhere but down, and try not to touch the dubious shower curtain!

Camp swimming pool - looks ok in the photo ... but in real life? Let's say we don't want to try it out!

Camp kitchen

The chicken coup is an old caravan.

For all it's quirkiness, we have actually enjoyed our stay here.

This morning we wandered around Charters Towers. It was very quiet - everyone seemed to be tourists! All with maps in their hands and walking shoes on. Darryl had a wonderful time photographing the old buildings!

Tomorrow we head north towards Cairns / Atherton. Not sure how far we will get tomorrow as we have to stop at Townsville and get some supplies.

Flood indicator on the Burdekin River.

Stock Exchange arcade