SHE started married life with a character-building chapter of dust storms and drought in Queensland's far west, and now Jo Wills is calling on every ounce of that experience, along with a naturally bubbly personality, to build her dream tourism venture in the face of life's greatest adversity.
After moving to Lara Station, nearly 30km south of Barcaldine, in 2009 and finding she and husband Michael were the owners of a beautiful wetlands oasis, the idea of sharing their peaceful retreat was always at the back of Jo's mind.
For some years her hours were taken up as a mine worker, travelling six-and-a-half hours to work and back, but she grew to hate it.
"Michael said, 'you always had this idea for tourism - why don't you get into that?'," she said.
The property boasts a wetlands area that has existed for more than 100 years in a clearing among the eucalypts, so Jo set about fencing off a 2 square kilometre area - 70 per cent of it water - constructing an ablution block and clearing unpowered campsites, and opened for business at the start of May this year.
Just days later, as she was at home welcoming her first client, Jo received shattering news.
Her husband Michael had died in a helicopter accident on a nearby property.
It's a testament to Jo's spirit that she closed the property for only three weeks before opening with a renewed determination to make the dream she and Michael shared a reality.
She had been concerned that the distance in from the Landsborough Highway turnoff - 13km - and the grey nomad desire for free bush camps - Jo charges $10 a night - might count against the success of the Lara Wetlands venture.
Happily, though, although she has been relying mostly on word of mouth to spread the news of her attraction, she has been overwhelmed with interest.
"The response has been unbelievable - I've been so happy with it," she said. "You worry you might be creating a lemon, but people have been cancelling other bookings to stay for longer - they tell me they just love it."
Tranquillity is the key - the water setting attracts birds of all sorts, and at night the stars are mirrored in the water's reflection and campfires dot the fringes of the lake.
The water is only knee-deep - suitable for kayaking but not swimming - so Jo has set up a special swimming and fishing hole for enthusiasts.
So far 65 species of birds have been recorded, and the Birdwatchers Association of Queensland has expressed interest in mapping out the full extent of avian inhabitants.
Veterans of all conflicts are especially welcome at Lara; Jo hopes her place will work its magic on troubled souls in the same way it has been helping her.
A camp kitchen has recently been erected, complete with sink and pit for communal camp-oven cooking, but perhaps the crowning glory is a hot artesian pool.
It's been the perfect place for Jo and her friends to end their day after cattle mustering, submerged in warm thermal water with a wine in hand.
It's a long way from the day she moved from her home on the Sunshine Coast to Jundah, convinced by her new husband that the 28,330-hectare (70,000-acre) Fraserburgh Station was their little slice of heaven.
"I was always bush oriented and was so excited by the wide open spaces, but that had all dissipated by the time I'd opened the fifth cockies gate and seen all the carcases everywhere," she said.
That was in 2002, at the start of the millennium drought, and Jo moved into a tin house with no electricity and experienced three dust storms in her first week.
"It was 50 degrees in the shade in summer, but Michael was hell-bent on owning his own little block. Luckily it was only a stepping stone to Lara, but we met some beautiful people there."
The first thing Jo did when she arrived at Barcaldine and found she had plentiful water was create a garden, and she has now gone on to build a memorial garden at the wetlands to remember Michael.
"People contributed plants in his memory it's my special place to go. This is where we wanted to spend the rest of our life."
*Phone (07) 4651 1619 or 0457 661 243, or visit the Lara Wetlands Facebook page.