Residents of outback Queensland will now be allowed to camp within 500 kilometres of their homes as coronavirus restrictions continue to ease.
People who live in one of the 23 local government areas in Queensland which are defined as Outback will be able to travel and stay overnight, but they will not be able to venture into regions that are not classed as Outback.
The state government guidelines for stage one of easing restrictions in Queensland were updated this week to clarify that overnight stays would be permitted within the Outback.
Now, campgrounds, tourist parks and accommodation houses can cater for guests, but people must socially distance and gather in groups of no more than 20 people.
Carpentaria Deputy Mayor Bradley Hawkins said he hoped the easing of restrictions would provide a boost for the local economy.
“Our tourism has been hit hard over the past few months and this will provide a much needed boost to local business,” Cr Hawkins told the North Queensland Register.
However, recreational travel to remote communities remains banned. These areas include the Cape local government areas of Aurukun, Cook, Hope Vale, Kowanyama, Lockhart River, Mapoon, Napranum, Northern Peninsula Area, Pormpuraaw, Torres Strait Island, Torres, Wujal Wujal and Weipa.
Will you be able to stay on dams & rivers?
Here we go heray heray
I am a grey nomad. I suffer from chronic depression and only feel Ok when I am out on the road. I understand why the government is cautious about reopening camping. The thing is that we are fully self contained and usually camp in very remote locations. I have installed Covidsafe on my phone and take social distancing seriously. I would love to go on a trip to the Queensland outback via inland NSW. I hope the lockdown ends soon.
I think Queensland is the big problem with travelling, we go to the same place every year and pay the next years deposit as we leave, we have deposits paid everywhere and can’t go anywhere; it’s so damn stupid and ,stupid ,there must be so many businesses about to go broke in NSW and Queensland
mmm, Its certainly not stupid, unfortunately, if you want stupid go to USA.
The Queensland Chief Officer gets my vote for Queenslander, if not Australian of the year…I feel your pain, BUT, to habe otherwise could have made containing the Corona Virus near impossible, and small country towns could have been inundated, think about it, if a grey nomad had come of a cruise ship or out of a hot spot in anoterh state, and ended up having an accident or needing to see the doctor on an unrelated matter even, that’s all it would late to let this virus loose in places least able to cope…its touch either way, very tough, but I wouldn’t like to making these decisions for quids, because someone would always be upset, so support our excellent team here in Queensland, play by the rules that prevail, and we can all hopefully come out the other side asap. I cant wait to go camping, so set up in the backyard to give my grandson an experience, and sort my gear ready for when I’m permitted to travel, patience, obedience, social distancing, clean your hands, stay away from others if sick, and just be tolerant of the very difficult decisions that our health teams have to make…honestly, because a grey nomad is better than a dead nomad…:)