Lake Callide Retreat

Lake Callide Retreat is the place to be if you enjoy being just a stone’s throw from beautiful water and even better fishing! The Lake Callide retreat, operated by Banana Shire council, is in one of the Sandstone Wonders’ best camping spots.

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Lake Callide Camping

Situated right on Callide Dam, the retreat made the perfect spot for our Campr team to pull up a chair and take in the journey. Campr Host, Dean Miller says Lake Callide Retreat offers many facilities for all kinds of travellers. “[The] affordable lakeside accommodation options include five self-contained cabins, powered sites for caravans and camping sites,” he says. Lake Callide Retreat has an ideal set up, if you don’t have a caravan, or swag, or a tent there’s still options for magnificent accommodation.

Our partner for Campr’s trip through the Sandstone Wonders region, Frank Smallwood says the retreat is a fantastic place. “The council had fought to make the most of Lake Callide Dam and this is the result it’s beautiful,” Frank says.

Fishing

The Lake Callide Retreat is not the only thing our Campr team was blown away by, Lake Callide fishing also had us as hooked as the barra we were reeling in. Dean’s hot tip for any kind of fishing trip is to make friends with the locals and that is exactly what we did on our Lake Callide visit.

Local Lake Callide fisherman, Nigel Kruger became our idol for the perfect fishing session, showing us where to park our rods on the ‘barra highway’. “The barra just love cruising up and down around here. When you get the sun on these cliff [you] get that water temp[erature] up a little bit. You just throw those lures in nice and slow twitches, you’ll be snapping them all day long,” Nigel says.

Barra isn’t the only thing you’ll catch while Lake Callide fishing. We got lucky and had a whole pot filled with red claw. Nigel says you won’t go hungry with the range of catches around the dam. “I never leave without a feed [at Callide Dam], that’s my motto,” Nigel says. “[Red claws especially make] beautiful eating on the barbie with a little bit of garlic butter and I just sizzle them down on one side and just straight out and in the hatch mate,” he says.

Recreational Activities

If you’re not quite sick of the water but want to hang up the rod for an afternoon, take a break and try out other activities around the retreat. You can hire out a paddle boat, kayak or paddle board from the staff at and around Lake Callide retreat. For some time off the water, there are plenty of bush walks around the national park with many hidden treasures to discover. Be sure to check out Episode 33 of the Campr Series for some more tips for your next trip!