About Kingaroy
Kingaroy is known as the ‘Peanut Capital of Australia’. During the 1980s it was one of Australia’s best known country towns because it was the home of the late Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, long time Premier of Queensland, would-be aspirant Prime Minister in the ‘Joh for PM’ campaign, and one of the most controversial, frustrating and entertaining politicians of recent times. Today the town is dominated by peanuts. There are big peanut signs in the street; a peanut selling point known as ‘The Peanut Van’ sells the local product around South East Queensland and as far south as Casino; the huge peanut silos dominate the town; and even the Visitors Centre has peanuts for sale. The district is now one of Australia’s major peanut producers with part of the crop being exported to New Zealand, Britain and Japan. (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).
Getting there
According to our friend Google there’s several ways to get from Cania Gorge to Kingaroy but our “well travelled” Queensland travel buddies said “don’t take the shortest route as it will mean driving through narrow, rough & steep mountain roads. So we went with the longer 341kms route along the A3.
As we passed through Monto, at the beginning of the trip, we stopped to check out the Three Moon Silo Art which is pretty cool. Three Moon Creek was named according to legend where a swag-man, Aboriginal stockman or a Chinese station cook, was boiling his billy on the banks of the creek and noticed three moons – one in the sky, one reflecting on the creek and one reflecting in his billy.
Accommodation
Kingaroy Holiday Park ownership was only taken over in January 2022 by two young couples and you can already see the new life they are breathing into what looks to have been a pretty tired old park. The amenities have been upgraded and while we were a new swimming pool was being installed.
If you’re ever looking for a good caravan park then select this one as it was a great spot to stay and pretty close to town; you can even walk to Bunnings! We stayed here for 3 nights.
Tagalonger’s Dinner
A tradition (started last year) is to have a group dinner where each caravan provides a casserole or salad. It was a total success with heaps of great food and plenty of laughter and enjoyment. That’s exactly what our Tagalong’s are all about!
Return Trip to Bunya Mountains National Park
Back in August I took a solo day-trip up to the Bunya Mountains National Park from Dalby (click here to view the earlier post).
This time it was a trip back to the same spot with a large number of our Tagalong group for lunch in the Bunya Mountains Tavern and then a walk to check out the Festoon Falls (which I missed last time).
The Kingaroy “Peanut Van”
The Peanut Van is a bit of an institution in Kingaroy which draws in the tourists like bears to a honey pot. We took the “mandatory stop” to check it out and buy some peanuts and peanut butter (which we did not like at all). There’s also a new “Big Peanut” in the park over the road – every town needs a “big” something.
Summing up…
- Accommodation – Kingaroy Holiday Park (07) 4162 1808
- Cost per night – $35.10 (@ 12-Sep-2022)
- Stayed for – 4 nights
- Facilities – Recently upgraded and well maintained
- CP Location – 48 Walter Rd, Kingaroy
- Our rating/score – 7/10 – a lot of work being done by new owners
- Was it a nice town to visit? – Yes
- Activities & places of interest – was enough for a 3 day stay
- Tourist info centre? – 128 Haly St, Kingaroy (07) 4189 9555
- Would we return? – probably not
- We rate the town – 6/10
- Overall thoughts – Enjoyed our stay but probably would not stay here again.
