Emerald Qld to Townsville Qld

Saturday 13th May, drove into Emerald where we filled two of the water tanks on the van at the Showgrounds (the third water tank had not been touched yet), we refueled, and our next night was at Macrossan Park outside Charters Towers. There were lots of campers and vans there, some down on the sandflats next to the river, which was flowing with quite a bit of water. You could gauge the force of the water when in flood by the angle of the trees. Plenty of space for everyone and not crowded at all. Apparently a very popular free camp.
We have 3 x 95lt water tanks under the van, plus a greywater holding tank. Some campgrounds and National Parks do not want you to drop your greywater (shower and sink water) on the ground and require campers to contain their grey water. We have used the greywater tank a few times, when needed and then drop the water after leaving the campground.
We are very conservative with water usage, having short showers and washing up dishes on a small amount of water. Most towns have taps that will allow you to fill up your water tanks, but on previous trips we have come across a couple of places where we have had to buy water in the outback usually where water is scarce.
The nights are getting warmer, and we are now finding that we are only using our light doona at night.
Sunday 14th May we drove the shortest travel day yet, from Macrossan Park to Townsville, about 130kms.
With no internet to do our research, we headed to Townsville before selecting a site and had to backtrack about 30kms on the road we had just travelled. Reviews were great and it sounded very welcoming. The name was ‘Lazy Acres Mango Farm’, on the Woodstock-Giru Road, on a 40acre mango farm with a creek running at the back of the property. Estelle, the owner said she had been there since 1971 and was originally from Melbourne. She was very welcoming and we had a great chat. It was only $10 a night to camp under her mango trees, and was very quiet. There was one other couple camped there, Phil and Christine and later that night we shared a campfire and had some laughs and drinks with them.
We originally paid for 2 nights, but we did say to Estelle that we may stay longer, which we did, eventually staying for 4 nights. First paid camping for the trip. Cost for 4 nights: $40.Read more