if any of our members or friends are travelling up the bruce highway to north queensland.      i would recommend,the small town of "home hill"    a very friendly town.    they have a dump point,  they have set aside a whole street for overnight stops ( have counted 60 odd vans and motorhomes one night in this street ) no charge.    the pub in the main street has a great cheap counter tea.   there is a service road beside the main street ,the people at the info centre are great they know what they are talking about.     all they ask is that you spend a bit of money in there town.          a true light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks Ken, A good one to keep in mind, lets hope it's catching with some other towns! Vic

yes vic.            i see that our webmaster has a feature story,about a similar town.      if i cant free camp,i allways try to stop in a small town,people just seem to be a lot more  friendly.          the motorhome club the "c.c.m.a" has given a lot of support to "home hill".            

The little country towns usually have a bakery where you can sample the local pies and bread (if you don't have a bread maker). My cruiser goes on to auto pilot and wheels into nearly every bakery. These little places depend on passing trade because the population alone will not support them totally. I think it's only the caravan parks and councils who fret about free campers. They miss out on the $25 to $40 per night. If they kept their fees down to a realistic level more people might pull in, and then spend their money in the town to stock up stores and refuel before moving on. It's all relevant. They'd make more money in the long run, rather than the travellers driving past the gate to free camp. Cheers Chris

Bet Dave knows this one , back cnr of the main St, of Crystal Brook, fantastic little bakerey, the locals all know you as a stranger in town and bid you welcome

hi mike and judy.                 i think you must be a bit like my wife and i.   we turn off and go into these small country towns.   all the jet jockeys roar past on the by- pass and where in the bakery in town ( getting fatter ) just love it ?????    a prime example   "burra"    they have a by-pass,  but the place is just a jem.  ( i think it is one of the most beautiful towns in south australia )  margaret and i went in to have a look, and stayed 10 days.

oh jeez now ya done it, my mouth is drooling, we never pass a small town bakery, we keep away from large towns for the very reason that small = freindly = better service and you dont get called "love or dear", crystal brook is a very picturesque little spot Mike I know that bakery well, their pasties are legendary as well as their pastries, the butcher just up from that is another must stop, best country killed lamb in the district and prices are very good Burra is one of my favorite stomping grounds, Burra creek gorge is a regular stopover, we have yet to do the heritage tour but we will "one day" if I try to go past a bakery my left ear gets very sore, the dragon takes a swipe and rarely misses

We are "bakery" followers also, alas here in the west a lot of the small town bakeries have been bought out and closed down, IGA stores have taken over (nothing wrong in that, they do a good service for country residents and travellers) but I prefer the bakery on it's own. Burra, yes been there a few times, but prefer Kapunda, nice little cafe in there (can't recal the bakery now), great little museum etc, and there is a great little caravan park on top of a hill just off a side street (west side of main road). If you stay at the park, just be careful of those pine cones falling off the pine trees, try to get a spot away from them. Similar story with pine trees at Nuriootpa C/Park in the Barossa. If I had to pick another state to live in it would be SA, a lot of things are so close and you can do a lot of things in a day trip around the place. Vic

Here is the Home Hill link for free RV parking if anyone wishes to look it up;

http://www.homehillchamber.com/ComfortStop.php

Vic



-- Edited by Vic41 on Friday 26th of June 2009 02:30:27 PM

hi vic.      what do you think????????             i just hope that anyone,that uses this forum,and there friends,when you do your plan for your trip.         help this town,as they have gone out of there way to help us

I'll certainly be staying there if I am up that way Ken, or Ayr, and doing my bit to support the town that supports RV's. Vic