A QUICK TOUR OF THE LARGE 'PLAYGROUND' PARK AT LAKE MARABOON (19 AUGUST 2017)

Before we take to the water and begin the hunt for the much lauded freshwater crustacean, the redclaw, a quick tour of the park which makes this (declared pest!) species its logo, and which is home to many who spend weeks and weeks here netting as many out of Lake Maraboon as they can (and on some occasions that can mean huge numbers of them) is in order.

As I have mentioned earlier this is a big park, with infrastructure reflective of two factors which are bound up with its location.....some distance from the nearest town, Emerald, and right on the edge of the aquatic playground which is Lake Maraboon. 

This was more than evident from the first moment of arrival. Whilst I did not take a shot of the interior of the park office, in addition to the normal check-in desk and so on, it houses a cornucopia of holiday related goodies. Bait and fishing tackle (including a pile of redclaw nets, of course) compete for space with a wide range of holiday clothing (all bearing the park logo as you would expect), sun protection products, basis foodstuffs, camping gear and assorted mechanical bits and pieces. And, for the peckish, another counter allows the placement of take-away orders from the cafe.

If dining is is more your style, the Lakeside Restaurant, 

which forms an integral part of the park office complex, is right on hand to meet your needs.

Here the wares on offer, either solid or liquid, can be enjoyed at a table in the Bamboo Bar (with the one proviso.....it closes at 1800 hours, so any evening dining in must be early!)

or alfresco on the outside deck which provides views 

over the excellent park pool.

For those in the right spot (right at the far end of the deck) glimpses of the waters of the lake below can be seen through the trees.

These facilities were pretty well patronised during the week, but on the weekend things became very lively. This vintage car and hot rod club was but one group which descended on the park for a fine lunch and a few beers before rumbling and roaring back to Emerald.

Not too distant from the park pool with its water slide and sheltered area, 

stand one of the two park amenities blocks and the nearby camp kitchen. Our site was but a short hop across the roadway from these. The facilities provided in these heads were excellent 

as is the case with those to be found in the camp kitchen, where in this shot, you will notice two chaps standing at one end, obviously working at something. I'll have more to say about this later.

This 'entrance' end of the park, which is the designated 'doggy' area' is also home to a facility of the kind we had never come across before, a 'Puppy Playpen 'no less, complete with a hooded BBQ. We did understand why it had been put  here (the BBQ that is), but a number of rather quirky alternatives did cross our minds! 

This end of the park is also home to some of the many park cabins and a couple of the odd little statues which we found dotted about the place.

From the puppy playpen, the road stretches away down to the other end of the park, 

past our sites

and off into the distance along the well sealed and well signed roadway.

The camping area was all but deserted during our stay,

but this was not the case elsewhere in the 'non-doggy' areas of the park, where the occupancy rate would have been a joy to behold from an owner's perspective.

This end of the park houses many more cabins (also well tenanted),

the second of the park ablution blocks,

and some sites which deliver a real bonus for those quick, clever or just plain lucky enough to have snared one.....lake views. We rather suspect that only the death of the regular high season occupants of these sites would free them for others...as they say in the real estate game...tightly held!

Apart from all else to be found here, there is one other inescapable item which can be seen throughout, unsurprising given the location and the primary reason many come here. Boats abound, of all different shapes and sizes,

 most on trailers, 

but with others well secured to the top of the varying tow vehicles.

The vessel which was to transport Hens and yours truly to crustacean central fell into the latter category.

Personal boat ownership is not critical for any who arrive here with a penchant to drop a net or two (or three or four....up to eight per person is allowed) or cast a line. The park offers a solution in the form of brightly painted hire craft, but at a cost, a significant cost.....$85 per half day, or if one wants to go the whole hog, a discounted rate of $135 per day. I'd rather cosy up to a neighbour with a boat, and on this occasion I had one on hand!


In my next we take to the water, learn some sharp lessons about redclaw (both catching and cooking) and have a generally jolly good time.

THE DAM WITH TWO NAMES - CAPELLA TO LAKE MARABOON (18 AUGUST 2017)

From one extreme to the other....450 kilometres one day and 85 the next!  Because of our problems with the air conditioning, and the fact that we knew we had to be into Emerald not a second later than 0830 hours, we had chosen to stay as close as possible the night before.

Despite the short hop, we still had to rouse ourselves with the chooks and try to sneak out of camp without too much disruption to the peace of our neighbours (a consideration many fellow travellers ignore....engine warm ups for 15 minutes at 0630 hours is not neighbourly by any means!) In these circumstances we always crawl out of the park and pull up on a nearby roadside to allow the engine to reach operating temperature. 

Once the big V8 was ticking over merrily and the temperature gauge had somewhat reluctantly edged up off 'cold', we again made our way out onto Capella's main street and off past these wonderful bottle trees, where the shadows were lying long across the road.

All was well....our trusty electronic navigator had estimated our arrival into Emerald at 0815 hours, just what we wanted. And then, Murphy's Law came to the party.

We had barely left town when we were confronted by this scene of major road works (a new bridge actually) and a significant delay.  What are these blokes doing at work at this time of the morning, we wondered.  

After what seemed an interminable time, the flagman facing us twirled his sign from 'stop' to 'slow', almost reluctantly it seemed to us, and we were on our way again, this time a shade more quickly than we had left.

Fortunately the highway between Capella and Emerald is user friendly and we were able to make up lost time without having to bounce the van all over the road behind us (and invoke the ire of our little furry friend who takes distinct and very vocal exception to a rough ride).

By the time we entered this quite large town where we had spent some days a few years ago, its citizens were well and truly awake and active and fellow travellers were already on the move.  Traffic lights.....ye gods, it had been a while since I had had to deal with these!

At least we had one advantage...our destination lay on the side of the city we had entered, and in short order I was seeking advice from one of the office lasses at Bill White's Electrical as to where they would like me to pull in.

Back up near the door was the instruction. Done.....without fuss I might add, which was a relief because there were plenty of staff onlookers (and I don't care what anyone says....it is human nature to want to watch an embarrassing parking stuff up....sorry to disappoint, chaps!)

So now it was a case of sitting tight and trying to maintain concentration on what we were reading whilst a little man crawled all over the roof removing the exterior unit covers (which was not easy I noted) and then did the same inside. And the outcome.....one very dirty circuit board, full of grit and other gunk, more than likely the result of so many months spent in humid tropical conditions.

A quick clean up job and everything then went back whence it had come. We left a hour an a half later with the advice that there was nothing further to be done at this stage. If the problem reoccurred a new circuit board would be the only answer.  These units are actually made in Adelaide, so we took off again resolving to run the unit between here and there with the plan to have things fixed once we made it back to our home town.

So considerably less out of pocket than we had imagined we might be, we made our way rejoicing out onto the very secondary road which was to take us the 17 kilometres from Emerald to the Fairbairn Dam, otherwise known as Lake Maraboon.....the dam with two names! Initially the road is lined for some distance by this large stands of pines, 

but eventually all this gives way to the natural bush of this area.

We crossed the grid which heralds the approach to the dam

and soon found ourselves negotiating the approach causeway

 

which took us to the dam wall itself where the speed limit of 40 kph tends to be very well heeded. With the blue waters of the lake to our right

and a significant drop on the 'dry' side, where massive renovation work was underway in one area

beyond which lies the channel which provides water for Emerald, I needed no encouragement to obey the sign

until we reached the far end. In the park above the dam wall road, plaques and other information boards provide visitors with all the information they could possible want about the dam itself (we spent some time there during our previous brief visit). 

This photo, which I took from the park above the dam wall on our last visit (see blog of 19-21 May 2013) shows the entry causeway and the road atop the dam wall which we had just crossed. 









We were now on the last short leg of today's equally short trip, along the narrow road through the bush













past the roadway leading off to the Central Highlands Watersports Club 











and the grassed area (with another old traction engine as an ornament.....how many of these are dotted around Australia is anyone's guess!)










until we came to the park entrance. Here the distinctive park logo makes it abundantly clear to any who may not have known that this is redclaw country. I was itching to finally get amongst them.

A rather 'kitchy' free standing rock waterfall greets visitors on the approach












to the large park office with its adjacent fuel bowsers (and a very well stocked shop).








The way in which this park is run can be summarised in two words....'slick' and 'efficient', which, given the daily turnover we witnessed during our stay, is probably just as well. Staff whizz around this very large park on these little golf buggies, which unfortunately are not driven by quiet electrically. 





We had read of the noise nuisance the constant comings and goings of these park vehicles with their most irritatingly noisy engines, and whilst we happily acknowledge the need for them in the management of the park, it really is high time they were traded in for a much quieter vehicle type.




As it is they were like a horde of mobile chain saws, ripping peace and quiet asunder as staff hurled to and fro. It is high time these vehicles were changed for something more customer friendly.


All arriving vans pull into the large area near the office, where two long parking bays on either side of a central through lane normally makes for an efficient system. But, as is to be expected, we did note several occasions on which selfish idiots plonked themselves right in the middle of the 'through' lane whilst they booked in. Nothing changes in the caravanning world! Things were unusually quiet when I shot this photo, but at any time after 1000 hours on most days this spot is normally a hive of activity.




We did the right thing, and I dutifully pulled into one of the arrival lanes while Liz checked in before a most obliging young fellow led us to our site, in the 'dog section' of course. Fortunately we are not superstitious....ours was site 13.










We had barely set up when the Banninks arrived and took up station (as previously arranged) right next door.






Whilst many of the sites in this park are quite well grassed (although all of this area of the State is very dry at the moment....what a difference from this time last year when much of Queensland was being flooded), ours was not one of them. But we did have a slab, so the only challenge was to set up a dust free walkway between our two vans.






Once again our much valued, well used and marvellously efficient C-Gear flooring (the large one) came to the fore, this time acting as a clean, dust free runway between neighbours. The smaller version took up station on the ground at the front of our slab. 









And so, with domestic comfort now as assured as we could arrange, it was time to settle in for some serious socialising and (hopefully) a bucket of redclaw. More of Lake Maraboon in my next.