I'm sure this has been discussed on this forum, but cant find it on the "Search".

Have recently been told that caravanners were turned away at the crossroads before Broome if they didnt have a booking! Surely that cant be true?

How long ahead is it necessary to book a site for July? Are there any free camps in the area?

Any advice about which C'Park to choose would be appreciated.

Don't know what's it's like now, but.... a couple of years ago there wasn't a vacant spot at any of the parks, so we were in the "overflow" at the PCYC. It was great!!!!! I believe there's another "overflow" at the gun club grounds. We sure did enjoy our stay at the PCYC. I believe you can stay there for any 6 days in one year. There's an info certre just as you come into Broome. They take all bookings for the parks etc. Hope this helps, and hope its still current. cheers Dellie

The one you said was at the crossroads is the Roebuck Plains Roadehouse they have a new caravan park run by them next to the Roadhouse, some people prefer to stay there if they can't get into Broome and drive in when they need to, see this link;

http://www.caravanningnews.com/roebuck.htm 

Also, this link may give you some info on the others, see;

http://caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10093 

We found nowhere in '08 and stayed at the PCYC in the bottom section and enjoyed our stay as well. Clean ammenities but they only allowed vans to park around the outside as they keep the PCYC activities going as well.

We only passed through last year and there was nothing so we free camped on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, its magnificant there. Quite hard to get into though, van wise, where we ended up. I think it was called Roebuck Bay.

The person who told me that story about people being turned away thought the police or somebody stood on the corner and wouldnt let caravans drive into Broome without a booking! Now that I know theres a "Crossroads" park it makes better sense. Thank you. Our plan was not to book until we had crossed most of the Gibb River Road, because we thought there might be some extra time needed for that. So we might end up in an overflow area... sounds fine!

I stayed at the crossroad one (Roebuck Plains Roadhouse) last year about June, it hadn't been open long. I think it was about $31 per night (compared to the $40 upward mark in Broome itself.

Don't confuse this one with Roebuck Bay Caravan park in Broome which I believe is nice to stay at although I have never stayed there.




-- Edited by Vic on Wednesday 2nd of March 2011 01:52:30 PM

hope your van is an off roader, other wise take it very easy. been a bit of rain along the gibb river, falls and georges will be well worth a visit. Kulumburu is a reaally rough track. we took our number plates and spotties off. seen plenty of people lose them, they vibrate off. also not much mobile coverage.

The Roebuck Turntable Roadhouse has been there for years. They have dongas as well as powered sites, and they also allow dogs. It's had a spruce up recently I believe. Willare Roadhouse has also been renovated lately. The parks in Broome and Cable Beach don't take bookings and they don't allow dogs. There are the annuals who trek up there every year. They've had on-going bookings for many years, and a spot only becomes available when they are too old or unwell or can't be bothered going up there anymore. As far as I'm aware that is really the only bookings for that peak time of the year from June 1st to 30th Sept. You can phone ahead a day or 2 before you arrive, but if you haven't arrived by 4pm they give your site to the next one, unless you make arrangements for a late arrival. Most of the time it's first in best dressed, but you can expect to stay in the overflow for the 3 or 4 days before you get into a park powered site. There are overflows at PCYC, the pistol club and one of the churches, Latter Day Saints I think it's called. The pistol club also allows dogs on leash. I'm not sure about husbands. lol Half the time the tourist info centre doesn't have the latest stats on van parks at that time of the year. It's very hectic and chaotic, especially during the race round. Most of the race people stay in apartments and resorts for the season, but add lots of people to the town, and adds to the chaos of tourist season. Good luck. It's a beautiful place in a beautiful part of the world.

In 2007, I phoned about 3 weeks before we intended to get to Broome and got a booking at Palm Grove CP at Cable Beach. It was a cancellation - late August - the Festival was on - and we had to take a full week, although we'd wanted less. Another possibility is to go to Barn Hill, south of Broome, and do some day trips up to Broome - however, I think you may need to book for there, too, as it is becoming popular. July is probably the hardest time, apart from the Festival time, to get in to Broome, unfortunately.

I think the 'no bookings' policy only applies to powered sites. A couple of years ago we booked an ensuite site at Broome Vacation Village. We booked in January for stay in August - have no idea if that was necessary or how close to stay you could have actually booked.

Nicholstones wrote:

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I think the 'no bookings' policy only applies to powered sites. A couple of years ago we booked an ensuite site at Broome Vacation Village. We booked in January for stay in August - have no idea if that was necessary or how close to stay you could have actually booked.

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When was that? Some of the former managers had their own policy on booking. I lived in that park for 9 years until Aug 2007, and they only held the annual bookings for those specific ensuite sites because they held a deposit for all those years. For some it was 20 years. They didn't take bookings for camp ground powered sites. They don't have to. First in, best dress. If you got an ensuite booking it was because someone cancelled. It might have been my old site 109. The best garden in the park.

Chris, it was in 2009. When we rang in January there was no discussion about whether they'd take the booking or not - we gave them the details, they took a deposit, and when we turned up more than 6 months later we had no problems. Can't remember the site number, but it certainly didn't have a garden, just concrete slab.

Hello
We were in Broome in last year and went to the tourist centre and told to go to the caravan parks and hope for the best. The overflows would not open till all sites full,even tho hundreds of vans were following. The attitude was take it or leave it.
The owner of the Roebuck bay caravan park is the mayor and will not open the overflow till he is full. He also has something to do with the info centre.
On the way in there was a big park being built which we were told that if you did not have a booking you had to park your rig there,unhook and then drive into broome, get your site and then go back and pick up your rig
If that is how they want to treat us then for me   stuff them 

Ken 

you have got barn hill, about 60ks south, over 200 sights and a mini bowling rink. a little bit sandy getting in but if you are doing the gibb river it wont be a problem

There's also Port Smith. If you're only up there for the climate and the fishing rather than the scenery, it won't really matter where you park, but you would want to be comfortable without paying a fortune for a slab of concrete and a dunny. I have to say I'm disappointed to hear about the attitude toward all the great people who leave lots of $'s in the region every year. Maybe the novelty of Broome is wearing off, the locals have become too blase', and people will start giving it a wide berth. It serves the Shire Chairman and his ilk right for their greed and complacency. Customer service is still vital to a successful business. I don't even know if it would do any good to express your detailed disappointment to the shire councillors. The "Take it leave it! That's the way we do it" mentality has got to be detrimental to the town's revenue in the long run. Speak up folks. Tell anyone who will listen. Get the message out there and back to Broome every chance you get. It would be a shame for the minority to bugger it up for everyone.