For the past two weeks, the population of Jericho has more than doublewith the arrival of caravaners from all over Queensland and New SouthWales.
According to a Barcaldine Regional Council employee, on anymorning at the Jordan River camping area, it is not unusual to have up to 35caravans, with similar numbers at the Jericho Showgrounds.
This consistent influx is added to by the six to eight vans normallyparked behind the Jordon Valley Hotel.
Hotel owners and operators, Bob and Gay Stubbs, offer free camping tothe caravaners on their spare block of land, but this friendlygesture is not completely altruistic. According to the Stubbs, it has boostedtheir business quite significantly.
A similar outcome is being experienced by Kyley Story who said her caféand food store business had “improved fantastically”.
Mick and Ros Cullen, of Hervey Bay, arrived back at the JordanRiver park this week for the fourth time. And the reason for the frequentvisits?
“It is such a beautiful place,” they both agreed. “The air is so freshand clean, people are friendly and the amenities clean. We have travelledextensively but Jericho would have the nicest tasting drinking water ofanywhere in Australia.”
For Kaye and George Crethar, of Lennox Head New South Wales,visiting the Central West for the first time has been a great experience. They planto see as much as possible before they continue to Longreach.
And the reason for their visit to Western Queensland? “It was our bestoption at the moment,” they explained. “With the current border restrictionsand limited overnight parking for caravans from south of Sydney all theway to Mackay in North Queensland, this just made sense.”
Opportunities for their photography interests have been the reason whyJulie and Len McClane have returned to the Jordan River camping areaagain this year.
They are planning to visit the Sculpture Trail,the Lake and Muttaburra while taking full advantage of theglorious sunrise and sunset scenes for their photography.
