A gem in the outback: Mount Surprise's Bedrock Village needs new owners
With a population of just 65 residents, Mount Surprise is about as remote as outback towns in far north Queensland get.
But this tiny settlement is anything but desolate. It’s a thriving destination set among natural wonders – it’s flanked by hot springs, national parks, one of the longest lava-tube cave systems in the world and earth enriched with topaz, quartz and other gemstones.
Located about four hours’ drive south-west of Cairns, a steady flow of travellers pass through each year and Bedrock Village, one of two holiday villages in the area, is bustling.
In peak season, there are 18 staff working at the property, servicing 60 powered sites, 40 tent sites and 35 airconditioned cabins.
The park is the life’s work of married couple Jo and Joe Lockyer, who built the entire holiday village from the ground up.
Joe, 56, grew up just two hours away and had a dream of opening a tourist park when he was still in school. In 1994, while he was working as a tour guide, the Lockyers bought the 3.6-hectare block.
“Originally, it was subdivided off Mount Surprise station and used for milking cows,” Joe says.
The couple had noted how a holiday park in Coorumba, a town a few hours east, was flourishing and “saw the opportunity to provide a service between the east and west coast of Queensland”.
They cleared the land, carried out building work and, in the midst of having a family, opened a tiny caravan park in 1998.
“When we opened, we had eight sites and two extremely rundown units that we bought second-hand and did up to start up,” says Jo, now 58 years old.
Joe adds: “The banks really struggled loaning us money. We’re a low socio-economic shire in Queensland.”
From humble beginnings, the park continued to expand, with the Lockyers ploughing all of their revenue back into the business.
For the first few years, the pair continued working other jobs to make ends meet. They didn’t take a break for six years and would recruit friends and family to pitch in during the busy season.
In addition to expanding their accommodation facilities, the park also grew to operate a successful tour company. It now boasts four buses to take visitors on trips to the lava tubes, gem fields and the popular Savannahlander railway.
The park hosts conferences, school excursions, corporate events and groups of traditional owners. Facilities now include a nine-hole mini-golf course, a salt-water pool, commercial kitchen, pizza oven, retail shop and entertainment area.
“We actually have built everything except one block of units we bought from a mining town,” Jo says. “We have physically built every cabin, every building, every toilet block. There’s a lot of us in there.”
“The vision is realised now,” her husband adds. “We’re just too old.”
After a quarter of a century at the park, the Lockyers are ready for a change of pace and have listed the park for sale.
“We’ve done all the hard work, and the next people can reap the rewards,” Joe says. “It’s getting busier and busier. There are lots of people who haven’t been across the Savannah Way.”
The pandemic has drummed up more business, with tourists from Brisbane and the Gold Coast now showing more interest in exploring remote parts of the state.
The caravan park is listed for sale through CRE Brokers with an asking price of $4.5 million. The couple would love to see a few families band together to run the park, but know that corporate players are more likely to make an offer.
From one tiny town to another, the Lockyers have bought a property on Magnetic Island, with plans to build a new home.
Asked what they will miss about running the holiday park, the Lockyers talk of nights with guests sitting around the campfire.
“That sound when everyone is sitting there eating, talking and singing. We’ve lost a lot of that socialising in our community,” Jo says.
“Seeing people relaxing and little city kids who can cook their marshmallows, parents tell us this is what they want their kids to experience. A lot of people don’t experience that kind of thing.”
