Taking time at Theresa Creek Dam

We've spent four days at Theresa Ck Dam, about 22 kms from Clermont, Qld.  What a delightful place, with emerald green lawns (constantly being watered from the dam), beautiful lake views, lots of space, children's playground, etc, etc.  Even a coffee shop.  In fact, everything you could ask for except power and water.  But at $10 per night, we can manage.  There is water available, and a shower block, but we have big tanks in the van and we filled them in Capella before leaving.

                                  Looking towards the coffee shop and the children's playground

We can manage fine without power because we have solar panels which power our 12v things like the frig, hot water, lights, TV, even a little 12v vacuum cleaner.  Can't use the microwave, the air conditioner or the frypan but we have a gas stove and the weather's perfect.

On Wednesday night we booked in for dinner and a movie.  Dinner was roast beef, a bit how's your father but OK for the price ($12) and the movie was Warhorse, which we saw last year but we enjoyed watching it again.

We came here particularly because it was recommended as a good spot for the red-claws, and we certainly proved that, for three days the fellas put out the nets and got a good catch, so we had 3 feeds of yabby, which taste like a cross between prawns and lobster, really nice.  We tried them several different ways, all delicious.

Theresa Creek Dam was installed with the assistance of Blair Athol coal mine which is nearby.  It's a huge area and although there's a constant stream of vans coming and going, we counted in excess of 50 there each day, but with so much room there's no crowding.  We were really lucky to score two spots together with lake views, though!

                                                Sunset at Theresa Creek Dam

Early morning scene from the caravan

                       Reeling in the catch- they hope!  This trap was empty but the next one had 16 yabbies!

                                         Red claw yabbies.
We've met some lovely people here, and looking forward to seeing some of them again on our travels.  You hear some interesting stories and see some unusual ways of doing things.  One guy has made a good little cooking stove from an old gas bottle, and another has a folding boat, of all things.  It seems to work quite well, but it folds up and is carried on the side of the van- weighs only 26 kilos!

Many of the people have been coming here for years, and many stay for weeks at a time.  It's a cheap way of living, and a lot of the people we meet do actually live in their vans, travelling all the time from one spot to another.  I don't know if I'd like to do that..........

The weather's been perfect.  It can get down to 6 degrees overnight but it's mid-twenties during the day, every day.  Just wonderful.