⛺️ Mackenzie Park: Duaringa Rest Area Free Camping QLD |

We saw Mackenzie Park, the Duaringa camping Rest Area at the Information Centre on WikiCamps and thought it would make a good stopover. When we pulled up, it didn’t look like much besides a big dirt patch with toilets and a playground. The town didn’t seem to have much to offer, so we thought we’d probably head straight off the next morning.

As it turns out, the big park was fantastic for the kids and we could camp right up alongside it and watch them play from our ‘home.’ We wandered over to the Information Centre to have a look and got talking to the volunteer who also works at the local Police Station. While we were there, we also bought some local honey – yum!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.

Skip To...

Duaringa Rest Area (Mackenzie Park)

Camp Features

💲 Donation
⏰ 48-hour limit
⛺️ Tents, Camper Trailers, Caravans, RVs, Big Rigs
🐶 Dogs allowed
🚻 Flushing toilets
🚿 Showers
♿️ Wheelchair accessible
💧 Drinking water
🗑 Bins
⬇️ Dump point
♨️ BBQ
🛝 Playground
📺 TV reception
📶 Telstra reception

Duaringa – your typical small Aussie town!

Who says there’s nothing to do in Duaringa? Well we initially did.

Our next day in town, I had to get some photocopying done, so we found the building that housed the tiny Library along with the Council Chambers. We were in luck, the Library was actually open!

I walked in and introduced myself to two ladies who were sitting at a table having some nibblies, it must have been morning tea time… or country time. Anywho, we had a great old chat and ended up getting into a big deep and meaningful in which we all got a bit teary. The people you meet sure are half of the adventure!

It turns out that one of the ladies, who was quite eccentric with bright purple hair, was sisters with the ex-Deputy Mayor… who just so happens to be the very same volunteer that we met at the Information Centre the afternoon before (the one who also works at the Police Station). Talk about multi-tasking!

The Coal Trains

Where ever we went around town, we could hear the super long Coal Trains going by, it sounded like they went on forever. We just had to find them and have a look.

The train track was down by the pub, so we thought we’d get some hot chips for lunch and watch the trains go by. We walked into the empty pub and found a lady behind the bar, “Nah we don’t do lunch today. You’ll have to go back up to the Truck Stop.”

Okay, so we traipsed back up to the BP Truck Stop, which had quite an extensive take-away menu. There, we got some hot chips, then headed back down to the train track to park up with lunch and wait for a coal train to finally go past.

We didn’t have to wait long, they go pretty frequently and we were not disappointed. All up, we counted 100 carriages and the driver even honked for us! It got us to chatting with the kids about where coal comes from, what it’s used for and all of the different types of ways we generate power.

It was a fun, free (well besides the $8 for the chips) educational experience.

Getting the small town runaround

The next day I was on the hunt for a JP to get some forms signed. I went back to the Library, it was shut.

I asked at the Council Chambers and they sent me to the Ambulance Station down the road, next to the Post Office. Oh look, there’s the lady with the purple hair again! The Ambulance Station was empty.

So, we headed for the Police Station, surely someone there will be able to help us out? Nope, the Police Station was shut too. But we could see the Police car a few houses down the road, maybe he’d stopped in for a cuppa with Barry?

That’s small country towns for you!

It was time to head on to Blackwater and Emerald.