‘SAD SIGHT’: Mingo Crossing resembles a ghost town
VISITORS were few and far between at the Mingo Crossing Caravan Park during the Christmas-new year break, sparking discussions about what caused travellers to bypass the destination.
Biggenden’s Julie Just visited the recreation park on New Year's Day and said there was only one other family there with a camper trailer.
“In the time we were there we saw at least four caravans and three camper trailers drive in, have a look, then drove straight out again,” Mrs Just said.
“This was a huge tourism spot where you could not get a camping spot out on the holidays.”
Mrs Just has been a regular visitor to Mingo Crossing over the years and said it was a good spot to reunite with family from Brisbane and Miles for holiday breaks and weekends.
“In August they had the fishing comp and there was heaps of people, and even on the school holidays we’d come and visit,” she said.
But she said her visit at new year might be her last.
“For one, you couldn’t take your children down to the water’s edge because the mud was like quicksand and it stunk — it was just too dangerous in my opinion,” she said.
“My husband then went to use the amenities and he said they weren’t very pleasant at all.”
Mrs Just said her husband had come out gagging at the sight of the urinal and facilities, and suggested water hadn’t been pumped to clean them.
“They’ve spent a fair bit of money up here as well with new power sites and another amenities plot, but it looks like no one is going out there,” she said.
“It was a really sad sight to see just one camper trailer in a massive area.”
Mingo Crossing Caravan Park manager Chris Collins said numbers had been down from the year before, but attributed it to the current bushfire crisis.
“It was pretty quiet here,” Mr Collins said.
“Anyone I talk to that was supposed to come and didn’t was because they had fires near them.”
A North Burnett Regional Council spokesperson told The Times they and the caretakers of the park took pride in keeping the area clean and attractive for visitors, and attributed the low visitor numbers to a lack of water.
“This holiday season has been extremely challenging with a greatly reduced water level for recreation users,” they said.
“This comes as we continue to face one of the worst droughts on record, have had excessive summer heat, and water releases from Paradise Dam to ensure the safety of residents downstream.”
Late last year, 105,000ML was released from the dam when the State Government was advised that its structural integrity during extreme weather events was questionable.
In an interview with the NewsMail, Paradise Dam Caravan Park caretaker Amanda Clarke said there had been increase in day visitors due to the political and media attention about the dam, but a reduced number of campers.
“I’ve heard it is quiet everywhere … I’ve had a couple of people here that did book in that were going to stay for a couple of days.
“They did state that it was too hot so they were going ahead.”
