CAMP IN STYLE
Eco resort is bringing the glamping experience to locals
A luxury glamping experience and restaurant serving native foods like crocodile, emu and kangaroo will have tourists and locals salivating in Townsville.
Townsville Eco Resort, previously called the Bush Oasis Caravan Park in Nome, has opened its new facilities just south of the city opposite Billabong Sanctuary.
Developed by resort owners Martin and Fiona Lidgett with the support of a state government grant, the expansion includes 10 glamping tents, 13 powered sites and the Black Barra Bar & Cafe event venue overlooking a man-made wetland and lagoon.
Ms Lidgett said the additions were a play into the highend tourism market.
“It’s something different for
Townsville and something not offered in North Queensland. The glamping tents are quite high end, more like high-end hotel rooms. We wanted to offer something new for the region and diversify our current model, looking for that high-end market, but it also cater to the local market,” Ms Lidgett said.
The glamping tents sleep two to four people, are airconditioned and include a small kitchen and luxurious bathroom. One of the tents is wheelchair accessible.
They provide views over the wetland which has a fountain illuminated at night.
“You get to see the wallabies coming in and the whistling ducks and other birds. The wetland is filled with barramundi, hence the name of the cafe. The view over the wetland is just gorgeous,” Ms Lidgett said.
The restaurant menu includes native food dishes like BBQ crocodile tail fillet
with roasted sweet potato, mango chilli chutney and pickled karkalla, grilled emu fillet
with braised red cabbage, bush tomato chutney and macadamia crumble and sous vide kangaroo fillet with saltbush, hasselback potatoes, asparagus and Kakadu plum sauce.
There is also a homemade lemon myrtle fettuccine with king prawns and eye fillet steak with sea urchin butter, potato galette, leek and mountain pepper sauce.
Supported with a $500,000 Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund grant, Ms Lidgett said cost blowouts and delays in materials and equipment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lifted total project costs to about $1.5m.
She said bookings, which start from $299 a night for the tents, were going well.
The experience would appeal to tourists as well as local people looking for a weekend getaway, she said.