Overpriced or not,what do you think ??

aussietraveller · Guru

Overpriced or not,what do you think ??

goldcoaster · Senior Member

Just spent 2 nights Fri & Sat night Dicky Beach CP great spot lovely park , arrived 1pm and had to be out by 10am Sunday. $48/night out of season. No wonder people want to free camp and not go into CP's. Am I over reacting.The highest we have ever paid was $50/night over the Xmas - New Year period which one would expect.

GaryKelly · Guru

I suppose if they can ask for it and get it, why wouldn't they charge like a wounded bull?

PeterInSa · Guru

Non Powered Site at Kiama south of Sydney, long weekend late Spring, $59 a night for 2, ( 2 years ago) . But the CP had it all, jumping castle etc, would be great for a family with children, ( all other CP's full) gave it a miss and found a great freedom camp, next to a river.

Peter

johnq · Guru

goldcoaster wrote:
Just spent 2 nights Fri & Sat night Dicky Beach CP great spot lovely park , arrived 1pm and had to be out by 10am Sunday. $48/night out of season. No wonder people want to free camp and not go into CP's. Am I over reacting.The highest we have ever paid was $50/night over the Xmas - New Year period which one would expect.

Looking at the $48/night out of season you would be better off renting a three bedroom house or a unit.

RTA Qld median rents for postcode 4551, Dicky Beach,

3B/R house

http://www.rta.qld.gov.au/Resources/Median-rents

Flats and units

http://www.rta.qld.gov.au/Resources/Median-rents

Just saying....

-- Edited by johnq on Monday 9th of September 2013 11:25:24 PM

george57 · Senior Member

Hi, I agree, cp are still in the 70's with their thinking, people no longer are accepting these exhorbitant prices and prefering free camping. It is definately overpriced in my view.
George.

Teddy · Member

Unfortunatly all councils are closing/redeveloping all those wonderful beachside parks for the sake of money.

The inference is that thay don't want "travellers" "campers" and want all those high rise monsters which pay lots of rates.

Dickey Beach is rumoured to be redeveloped in the near future and that is why they did all the development on the shopping centre this could be the reason for the high charges, get it while they can.

Councils forget that they are there to provide services and all they do is chase money at the expense of everything else even the locals who can no longer park in a lot of beachside areas because of the high rise buildings taking all the parking areas

gordon_adl · Senior Member

I beg to differ. People are accepting the price. They willfully paid the price and stayed there. They may have thought it a bit dear, but at the end of the day, they shelled out the cash and decided to stay there.

george57 wrote:
people no longer are accepting these exhorbitant prices

littledick · Senior Member

Well known fact, as soon as you cross the border heading north,prices clime above the$40 plus mark.

Cotton Tree, $46.00 pn.

Evans Head, $30.00 pn.NSW

Just ripping all southeners off. If Victorians stopped staying 2/3 months at a time, prices may drop. biggrin

Dick.

Beth54 · Guru

Geez! I think $30 is outrageous! Particularly when I'm a solo. I paid that at a couple of CP's in Victoria when I had no choice. I couldn't afford to go travelling if I had to pay those prices all the time.

No way would I pay $48! Even if it's on the beach.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Theres plenty of C/P's who charge heaps, and they are usually fairly full... goes to show SOME people think its an affordable price.

Fortunately there's still a choice.

nallingtoon · Senior Member

We stay regular at Golden beach CP $35.00 per night take the dog excellent park great ammeneties

Neil

aussietraveller · Guru

You paid premium price for a very nice park we stayed there around this time last year on a non beachfront site and paid $32 per night seems to have gone up considerably and I drive away at $35 per night

copper1 · Guru

Wow at that price I'd want and en suite site!!! Free camp for me any day, come on January, Tassie here we come biggrin

milo · Guru

its bad enough paying for 2 when its only you biggrin

nomadic1 · Senior Member

But to be fair, not all CPs charge like wounded bulls. I'm currently stayed at Lake Coolmunda (it's sort of south westish of Warwick, Qld). I'm paying $20 a night for a powered site - that's 'cos I'm a solo - couples pay $25. Nice park,beautiful views.

barrie · Guru

People who have kids and only a few weeks holiday a year are willing to pay the prices that why C/P get away with it

herbie · Guru

We had to pay around the $58/70 for the few c/ parks we stayed in along the FNQLD .

Also know of a couple paying $105 per powered site over last new year along the NSW/ QLD coast.

wasn_me · Guru

I have been camping for 45 years & caravaning for 10 years. I've never entered a camp ground or caravan park without knowing their charges. I have never been ripped off. I have often had good deals.

There is some fantastic caravan parks around. The biggest problem is I don't have enough time to check them all out.

Some people must think caravan parks don't have any running costs.

Cheers Pete

chaslib · Senior Member

I have a good one for you ... recently stayed at Winton behind the pub. Cost was advertised both online and at the pub as "gold coin donation". Well, $1 or $2 - good plan! We arrived and asked fellow traveller where to pay. Told us to be quick and fill out the registration and pay because they just advised about to increase cost to $10 per night! Why you may ask??? apparently the QLD Variety Bash was headed for town with their entourage and families etc. Apparently an influx of travellers were expected in a couple of hours and the Publicans saw $signs instead of hubcaps and caravans! Bit of exploitation if you ask me! Paid for 2 nights at $2 per night and enjoyed our stay! Don't know if they did follow through and actually increase the cost or not ......................

-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 03:40:55 PM

chaslib · Senior Member

Mark wrote:
chaslib wrote:
I have a good one for you ... recently stayed at Winton behind the pub. Cost was advertised both online and at the pub as "gold coin donation". Well, $1 or $2 - good plan! We arrived and asked fellow traveller where to pay. Told us to be quick and fill out the registration and pay because they just advised about to increase cost to $10 per night! Why you may ask??? apparently the QLD Variety Bash was headed for town with their entourage and families etc. Apparently an influx of travellers were expected in a couple of hours and the Publicans saw $signs instead of hubcaps and caravans! Bit of exploitation if you ask me! Paid for 2 nights at $2 per night and enjoyed our stay! Don't know if they did follow through and actually increase the cost or not ......................

-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 03:40:55 P
OR maybe he realised that his overheads were gonna sky rocket overnight because of the additional costs involved with power and water, not to mention the rubbish or the additional hours he and his staff may have to work, or of course the loss of future business from those that couldn't get in as normal because of the Variety bash.
We've just had them here, fresh off of the Gibb River Road, I appreciate that they are doing a charitable thing and I have been busy with a few FREE mechanical repairs,
but "boy oh boy" do they expect everybody to "contribute" to their adventure, "can you just do this or that" ..... " could we just borrow the phone" ....... "we're on an unpowered site but we need to charge our battery and...and...and... & this is my point, you only see it if your on the other side, so good on you for getting in quick with your gold coin donation!!
This morning we took about 50 litres of old engine oil to the tip!!
Happy camping.

Must admit, Mark, I agree that the Variety Clubs in all states do a wonderful job for kids in need! I would have been happy to have paid $10 or more a night for our stay, on condition that what I paid was matched by the Publican and went to Variety ...... wishful thinking, I know!

Libby

-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 04:21:25 PM

gypsy rover · Senior Member

Last year I camped at a CP in Torquay. It just happened to be the day before the Melbourne Cup and was $32 per night. I said I would just stay the one night and paid the $32. Next day (Melbourne Cup Day), I decided another day's rest would be nice, so went to the office to pay. The office told me that would be $74 for the second night. After I picked my self up off the floor, I said thanks but no thanks I would move on. They then very generously decided that I could have the second night for $32 after all. Boy what a rip off. Needless to say, the CP was nowhere near full.

Cheers!

Chris

Mark · Senior Member

wasn_me wrote:
I have been camping for 45 years & caravaning for 10 years. I've never entered a camp ground or caravan park without knowing their charges. I have never been ripped off. I have often had good deals.
There is some fantastic caravan parks around. The biggest problem is I don't have enough time to check them all out.
Some people must think caravan parks don't have any running costs.
Cheers Pete

I'm glad you posted this.

Last night I wrote an essay about costs imposed on C/parks and with new laws coming in regarding the provision of dump points it's only going to get worse, lighting is also on the list of things to be addressed, as is rubbish collection and disposal.
Having looked after several C/parks and had the opportunity to see the outgoings BEFORE opening the doors for business, I personally would not dream of owning one.

Use them or move on........ simple, and yes, the 7 P's comes to mind................ (Prior Planning & Preparation Prevents P155 Poor Performance) hmm

Where we worked we even tried offering a "pay for what you want service" just like so many folk on this forum have suggested.
You have never seen such abuse take place in all your life!!
Two couples come in, one has power the other doesn't, you put couple one on a powered site and the other couple elsewhere....... "we want to be together" (like you can't exist without somebody for one night) nope, it's about linking electricity to the second van or the car for the fridge, mobile phones, laptops..............
We had locked toilets, "we don't need a toilet facility" no because they borrowed their friends key!!
We don't need water, we have full tanks from our last stop.............. we caught them at night pumping water!!
And the worst part, they displayed GREY NOMAD stickers!!! And this example is not an isolated case. We used to find cables running from the camp kitchen to caravans, tents, etc. We found a four way tap going to three non serviced sites, we even found the washing line (not the supports, just the line) removed and strung between tree's because it was inconvenient for the happy camper!!

And then the theft, where the C/p was located we would get a lot of people coming in at 10:00 especially on a Monday after they had left the Free Camping spot down the road for a shopping/washing/clean up day. The ablution blocks had just been cleaned, new loo rolls, soaps etc, within an hour....... NOT A LOO ROLL left!!, broom's, tap fittings, HOSES, gone!!
People washing cars during low rain season despite asking and being told no, equipment from the tool shed gone, having their friends around for afternoon tea and them using the facilities too..........

Just a few things and I ended up writing the essay, I could write a lot more!!
My view is if it hurts that much, you shouldn't be out there trying to do it and unfortunately as it is politically incorrect to single out folk these days, those of us that are honest and do the right thing get penalised too.

C/Parks are not totally in control of the bills they face too, and before somebody say's "well sell up then".............. there is a web-site (which I am trying to find) where C/parks are listed for sale, some have been there for two years and they are nice parks, when you look at the o/heads, it's not worth it and it becomes a lifestyle operation, then, when you get the above examples happening, is it any wonder they get less friendly as each year goes on, it's like waiting to be robbed!!

That's my opinion for what it's worth.

Sorry for the rant, a subject close to the heart.

Beth54 · Guru

gypsy rover wrote:
Last year I camped at a CP in Torquay. It just happened to be the day before the Melbourne Cup and was $32 per night. I said I would just stay the one night and paid the $32. Next day (Melbourne Cup Day), I decided another day's rest would be nice, so went to the office to pay. The office told me that would be $74 for the second night. After I picked my self up off the floor, I said thanks but no thanks I would move on. They then very generously decided that I could have the second night for $32 after all. Boy what a rip off. Needless to say, the CP was nowhere near full.
Cheers!
Chris

While you were at Torquay Chris, we were at the free camp at Johanna Beach. We were warned that Melbournians tend to make a long weekend of it, so we were best to stay put til after the Tuesday, which we did. But boy oh boy did Johanna Beach fill up! It was absolutely chokkers!

Mark · Senior Member

PeterInSa wrote:
Non Powered Site at Kiama south of Sydney, long weekend late Spring, $59 a night for 2, ( 2 years ago) . But the CP had it all, jumping castle etc, would be great for a family with children, ( all other CP's full) gave it a miss and found a great freedom camp, next to a river.

Peter

That's the way Peter

If it's not what you want, find an alternative.

Beth54 · Guru

Oh Mark, that's terrible. I don't know how these people can live with themselves. It would never enter my head to steal stuff, or misuse the water restrictions or whatever. And to think that person was one of ours!

Mark · Senior Member

Beth54 wrote:
Oh Mark, that's terrible. I don't know how these people can live with themselves. It would never enter my head to steal stuff, or misuse the water restrictions or whatever. And to think that person was one of ours!

Yes Beth VERY sad indeed!!
And unfortunately the more this occurs, the more the costs go up.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Goodonya for raising this Mark... Its sickening, but goes a long way to explain the attitude of some park managers. If you rock up to book in just after they've discovered a whole bunch of stuff has been stolen, they would have to be a saint to remain friendly. That person with the GN sticker brings us all into disrepute. Sorry it happened to you.

GarrynLyn · Senior Member

Thanks for that, Mark. It's a damn shame that some of the caravanners are so rotten, and giving others a bad name.

Garry

Beth54 · Guru

chaslib wrote:
I have a good one for you ... recently stayed at Winton behind the pub. Cost was advertised both online and at the pub as "gold coin donation". Well, $1 or $2 - good plan! We arrived and asked fellow traveller where to pay. Told us to be quick and fill out the registration and pay because they just advised about to increase cost to $10 per night! Why you may ask??? apparently the QLD Variety Bash was headed for town with their entourage and families etc. Apparently an influx of travellers were expected in a couple of hours and the Publicans saw $signs instead of hubcaps and caravans! Bit of exploitation if you ask me! Paid for 2 nights at $2 per night and enjoyed our stay! Don't know if they did follow through and actually increase the cost or not ......................

-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 03:40:55 PM

So I assume they've renovated the amenities since we were there in 2010?

We had planned to stay there, and I took one look at them and left. They looked like they were built at the turn of the last century and hadn't been touched since. We didn't know about the free camp out of town, so stayed at the Waltzing Matildas CP, which was one of the good ones.