The Ballarat Council has all kinds of trouble in making decisions.(check out the Civic Hall debacle) The latest is where to locate the tourist infomation center on a permanent basis. It has been shifted to various locations, none of them suitable, over the last five or so years. Arguments are raging about whether to have the center in the middle of the city center...limited parking or no parking for vans or further out where there can be room for vans big rigs 5th wheelers etc
We have only been vanning twice, so cant really comment, but when GNs make it to a new town, do they look for the info center straight up, or pull into their caravan park first and then seek out info center?
On our two trips, we go to park first...unhook and then go exploring.
We often look for the Info centre to get information about where we can camp. If it is too hard to get to or has no parking for our fifth wheeler, we will usually keep going and not bother about that town. Info centres need to be accessible and have plenty of parking space,even if it is on the street.
I have always thought information centres should be outside of the town, just on the edge. This way you can find places to park, shop, eat, stay visit before you make that huge mistake of getting stuck driving everywhere to find someplace....and then just giving up and moving through to the next hopeful stop.
Our tiny town has a parking bay at the South end of town, there is a fantastic map and advertising for everything in the town, all put up ingeniously into a frontage of a couple of old stores. It has been done brilliantly. There is an information centre in the centre of town, with plenty of parking for trucks and vans. I think this has been thought out very well and works for everyone entering our lovely little town of just over 500 people.
I reckon Info centres on outskirts of town are better. Then they can usually have bigger venue and better parking. It doesn't really concern us if we have to drive to the other end of town if we enter from the opposite direction.
There are two many variable for me to prefer one over the other. Peterborough in SA has a well located IC in the middle of the main street but there is plenty of allowance for parking RVs of all types but to get there you have pass a free camp. Contrast this with Childers in Q/L where we exited the town, disconnected the van, drove back and then hoofed it - the IC was neither easily accessible nor identifiable.
The criteria to be considered should be (1) space - there needs to be enough room to allow big rigs and coaches to be easily parked and driven off
(2) prominent identification - so many towns promise IC's on placards outside of town but then fail to adequately signpost their
location within the town boundaries
(3) easily accessible - angle parking against a kerb is not much use to RV'ers nor is having a heap of tight turns through the town in
order to access the IC
(4) Friendly and knowledgeable staff _ I don't know how many times I've known more about the attractions of a town than the staff
of the IC (makes you wonder if they even glance at the promotional materials scattered over counters and displayed in racks)
In my opinion, they should be on the edge of town, where there is plenty of parking area for caravaners. Some towns have not thought this out and have them in the centre of town where this is either limited or no parking for vanners.
To me they should be on the road that travels through the town or out on the bypass entrance before you turn off.
If in town they should be out on the outskirts as I wont go through a town if I can bypass.
To attract visitors to the town there should be ample large rig parking within easy walking distance.
I think I have only been in two or three in the 6 years I have been on the road so for me it does not really matter.
Regards
Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
I volunteer at the Capricorn Coast Visitor Info Centre in Yeppoon - on the outskirts of town and next to a boat ramp so has plenty of parking, a 100 metre slip lane where a few big rigs can park and more open space behind. Also has a dump point beside the toilet block. However, a crafts market is held on the first Sunday of the month and parking is at a premium ... as shown in the current Google Earth image.
Joe
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Hino Rainbow motorhome conversion towing a Daihatsu Terios
Port Macquarie use to have their information center close to the centre of town. Not entirely ideal but at least you could go there with a van attached. Some over paid retard decided to move it smack bang in the middle of town, as part of the Glass House. Nowhere to park. As a tourist one can only imagine the nightmare trying to get information now. There is a perfect spot for the information centre. It is at place colloquially known as 'The Doughnut'. It is on the southern entrance to Port Macquarie where a lot of travellers stop to get fuel and food as there is a Subway, Maccas and KFC. Plenty of parking for trucks and therefore caravans.
Larry
