Boulia Caravan Park gets new owners

Maryellen Boyd Blacket, 30, and husband Scott Blacket, 27, can now call Boulia Caravan Park their 'forever home', buying it in January after spending the last three-and-a-half years leasing it.

The pair were working on Scott's parents' property, Alderley Station, 50km from town when they decided to make the leap in 2018.

Their children were reaching school age and they wanted to build something for themselves.

"It just all happened really in a matter of months," Mrs Boyd Blacket said.

Initially, they were just looking for a place to live, and one day while eating lunch at the pub in town, a house came up for sale on Facebook.

They decided to have a look that day, and it was then they realised the sellers also owned the caravan park.

"We thought, 'Maybe I could try and lease the park and we'd have two good wages coming in and we could buy the house'," Mrs Boyd Blacket said.

"In my mind, I was like, 'Oh goodness, I don't know anything about running a caravan park. I wouldn't know the first thing about doing that'."

Nevertheless, they bought the house, and a month later took on the lease of the caravan park.

"There isn't a large array of places for sale around here, so it must've been meant to be," she said.

With Scott still busy with aerial mustering, Maryellen had to educate herself on all things hospitality.

"I pretty much taught myself the whole way along for three-and-a-half years. We figured it out through COVID as well," she said.

"I knew how to clean. Everything like that was no drama at all, but the paperwork side of things was new to me. I would have had a hard time turning on a laptop before then, so I taught myself with a bit of help from my mother-in-law and now I do my own books."

The pair managed comfortably with two children prior to leasing the park, but adding another two in the mix became almost a full time job in itself, according to Mrs Boyd Blacket.

"I had bubbies and was taking bookings while laying in hospital with a new baby, and then came back here to run it.

"I just thought, 'Well, if I can do it through all that, I'm sure I could do it forever'.

"So we knuckled down, made some money, got a good deposit, got the books up and going and made them an offer and they accepted it and we had it all finalised in January."

The duo have an older couple who help out and this year decided to put on two full time staff to take some of the load off.

Making the place theirs, they've created an official office and information centre. Now, they're ready to take on the busy year ahead.

The first big event of the year is the Boulia Easter Rodeo, Races and Campdraft, which starts on April 14.

Then it's on to the Boulia Camel Races on the third weekend of July - something Mrs Boyd Blacket knows all about.

"It's a big show for Boulia and it's something everyone's got to do once I think. I used to be a camel jockey, but I hung the hat up because it was terrifying my husband; meanwhile he flies helicopters."

Mr Blacket said music festivals and horse racing should also draw travellers.

"Hopefully the Big Red Bash goes ahead in July and we've got the Birdsville Races in April as well, so it'll be good for the park," Mr Blacket said.

In between all of this they have to muster their 200 Charolais X breeders, which are on agistment at Alderley Station and at Winton.

"We just take the kids over in the van and we rough it for a week and then we come back and get back into it a bit more," Mrs Boyd Blacket said.

"We'll give it till the end of March for it to dry up a bit more and then it's full steam ahead for us."

Mrs Boyd Blacket said Boulia was a great spot to run a business and raise kids and hoped more young couples would take the leap.

"We're very lucky. It's a good community. It's family spirited. It's the best of both worlds in terms of work and pleasure, that's for sure.

"It'd be nice to encourage more younger couples to come out here and take on these things - it would be lovely."

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