On the way to Sapphire we stayed at the beautiful, tranquil Lara Wetlands campground. There are plenty of spots to set up all around the wetlands, many that already have a firepit. (The owner, Jo, is trying to minimise the number of burnt patches around the campgrounds, so if there isn’t an existing fire pit on your spot, look for a patch of ground that has either already been used for a fire, or will have minimal impact.)

Here’s our spot…

Pretty hard to take, eh?

You’ll find Lara Wetlands 28km south of Barcaldine and 78km north of Blackall. It’s signposted, and you have 12 km of dirt road. The road is well maintained, but you’ll get a few short sections with corrugations, so take it slowly. About 8km in you’ll reach the sign telling you that you have only about 4km to go:

We were lucky to be there when Alan, a singer/songwriter, was staying for a while in his bus, so we got royally entertained with one of the prettiest backdrops you can imagine.

You’ll have to provide your own power (we managed just fine with gas and just a dual battery system in the caravan – we could have stayed longer; plenty of juice left in the batteries. We didn’t have solar panels with us this time, and just had a 300w inverter to power our various devices.) BUT there are flushing toilets and hot showers (2 amenities blocks) plus a hot thermal swimming area!

The camp fees: $10 pp per night, $5 for children.

We loved it at Lara – and it’s definitely on our go-back-to list!

For more information go to LARA STATION