We had an 'Outback Odyssey' in August and we spent a night in the delightful little outback town of Yaraka. The town has a population of one policeman and about 18 towns people. There is free powered parking near the town hall, with hot and cold showers and a pool. The pub is extremely friendly and does very tasty meals, especially their pizzas on Friday nights. The town is rather isolated, which adds to it's special outback charm. Check www.yaraka.com.au  After having experienced their wonderful hospitality, I can thoroughly recommend this quaint little town and caravan parking as a can do if you happen to be travelling Qld's outback.
Stubby.

Jeff, it probably had a lot more life back in those days when Australia "rode on the sheep's back". The last rail wagon pulled out in about 2005 and the rail started being pulled up in about 2007. They are now starting to rely on the grey nomads to breathe a bit of life back into the outback.
Stubby.

We last visited Yaraka in 1997 when looking at an opal lease.
Met Simon, the local cop who looked like he had just committed a murder! Apart from being the biggest man I had ever seen, he had just come from a session of "nutting calves" a sideline to police duties.
He was also a partner in the "three amigo's" opal mine and showed us some absolutely exquisite opal.
A top bloke, he was moving to 1770 to complete his police career to guess what..... return to Yaraka opal mining. Hope he got to return there.
In those days the rail was still operating. I think referred to as "the end of the line"
Great country out there with the most hospitable people one could wish to meet.
Michael

Yaraka is now a CMCA RV Friendly Destination, so hopefully with more publicity, life will improve for the people in the outback.
Stubby.