If there is an upside to the well heeled helping business...go to any of the fancy boutique restaurants or even fancy craft shops in these Country Towns and its the well heeled that frequent/support/splurge in them rather than us average Grey Nomads......I'm more likely to be in the $20 park when I need to be, and have my usual outside Bar B Q with sausages and piece of steak...."they" tend to leave much more cash in a Town...go to a place like Daylesford any day/night, see the Mercs/BMW's/Jags/Land Rover 'Sports',even Maseratis all outside the fancy/expensive/exclusive Restaurants.....'they' invariably spend more in one nights eating/drinking than I would cumulative in a week...

If they have it I guess its their way of life...many probably have 'it' because they took all the short cuts most of us don't/can't in our working lives....like Tax ""minimisation""..

I don't envy them one iota.....when they start living longer than the rest of the herd...I will then create a 'stink'.....most of us GN's have outlived Kerry Packer....my case rests....
To each his/her own....I free camp when I can and support country towns when I can.........Hoo Roo

-- Edited by Goldfinger on Tuesday 7th of March 2017 10:58:59 AM

It is not my job to 'help the park'. Caravan parks are a service of which I will avail myself of when I wish, and paying the fee that is charged for. I still need to drop money in these towns to buy food and fuel etc, whether I free camp or stay in a park. Caravan parks are just another business as is the butcher and a baker etc. Are you going to grizzle if I don't buy a steak in that town because I don't need to on any given day?  Not bad mouthing caravan parks, (or butchers)

Cheers, John

Bfirth Comment - I agree with your comments totally. There appears to be an obsession by many Grey Nomads about "getting something for free".  The only free camps I did was in WA because it was sometimes too far to get to the next town. Don't forget, the Caravan Park Bashers are usually the same people as the Bank Bashers, Large Supermarket Bashers, Telco Bashers, Centrelink Bashers, National Park Fee Bashers  and the list goes on. Unfortunately you will find a lot of them on these types of sites. Sit back with me a wait for the screams!!!

bfirth wrote:

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We are getting annoyed with this free camp obsession. Having just returned from 5 nights at a caravan park in Gippsland and paying only $20 a night we were more than happy to pay to keep this park in business. What we were not happy about was giant expensive vans and the expensive tow vehicles looking at free camps in the same area we were staying in while the caravan park was almost empty. We are aged pensioners and some of these very well off caravanners can't afford to help the park owners.

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Get annoyed as you feel necessary, your quite entitled to spend your money when and wherever you choose, as am I.

If there are free camp options available that suit us we will utilise the facility.

Nope! we ain't broke, however staying in cp's whenever we traveled certainly wouldn't improve the bank balance.

We use caravan parks only when necessary or have no alternative.

No screams from this direction, simply don't like being preached to.

I suspect this thread calls for some of the following.

hako wrote:

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We haven't see a $20 caravan park since the last century and plan on spending $35-40 per night off season and that's not in tourist areas. It's all simply about choice - your choice.

Good Luck.

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Gday...

 Interesting observation Hako. 

I guess it really must depend completely on where one travels.

I camp away from towns predominantly, but do stay often in van parks - in small inland towns particularly - that are $20/night .... often there are some that were less than $20.

Unfortunately, some of those I have stayed in previously, below $20, are now upto $20 ... occasionally $22-23/night.

In addition, I have noticed (heard?) that over the past 12 months or so showgrounds in many areas are creeping up toward $25+ per night.

I guess I had better not get too close to that east coast of Straya too often then. 

Cheers - John

the rocket wrote:

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bfirth wrote:

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We are getting annoyed with this free camp obsession. Having just returned from 5 nights at a caravan park in Gippsland and paying only $20 a night we were more than happy to pay to keep this park in business. What we were not happy about was giant expensive vans and the expensive tow vehicles looking at free camps in the same area we were staying in while the caravan park was almost empty. We are aged pensioners and some of these very well off caravanners can't afford to help the park owners.

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 Hello bfirth, some people may well off. No argument there. I do not care.  But u do not  know their circumstances. Some , it may b there home. if u own a home,  i bet your home is worth more than there van. think about that. Lots of people go away for 5 days while lots of people live permanently in their van. Everyone is different. No one is right or wrong. Australia is a free country n if people want to free camp or caravan park camp , well that is there choice n i try not to sit in judgement of others choices.

-- Edited by the rocket on Tuesday 7th of March 2017 01:30:49 PM

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 Well said The Rocket.

bfirth wrote:

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We are getting annoyed with this free camp obsession. Having just returned from 5 nights at a caravan park in Gippsland and paying only $20 a night we were more than happy to pay to keep this park in business. What we were not happy about was giant expensive vans and the expensive tow vehicles looking at free camps in the same area we were staying in while the caravan park was almost empty. We are aged pensioners and some of these very well off caravanners can't afford to help the park owners.

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We are all different, and I hope that my opinion shows no disrespect, to any other opinions

I take a lot of pride in being self sufficient when I travel, and because I am self sufficient for my situation, I actually enjoy free, and low budget camping grounds, which have few to no facilities available

I also support the towns close to the camp I stay in
I recently exchanged a 9 kg gas bottle in Bordertown SA for over $38, knowing that my next stop was going to be the Adelaide area, where Bunnings would have had the same item for just over $20

If you have found, what you believe is a good caravan park, then perhaps you should put it in the following section of the forum

Click here to go to the section where you recommend a caravan park you have stayed at

Then others who like to use caravan parks, will know where it is, as Wikipedia says that Gippsland in Victoria, covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres

As a sidenote, I am sure that a lot of travellers who only use caravan parks, are members or lurkers of this forum

Dick0 wrote:

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Hi bfirth, welcome.

The maths speaks for itself. Many travel or stay at locations for 3-6 or more months throughout the year. Just 90 days at $20.00 per day is $1800.00 just to park the den in a confined c/park. I can stay at free camping sites with toilet and dump point facilities and million dollar views and spread the love of the dollar around many traders in local towns. Of course there will be times when staying at a c/park will be more convenient.

Now for those that like the full time c/park experience, good for you. Perhaps also try free camping and enjoy the experience and comaraderie.

 

Now to get the popcorn out.

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 Yep that adds up to an awful lot of extra money!   $1800.00  per van times many tens of thousands of vans perhaps , every 90 van nights, is tens of millions of dollars, that is freed up to spend on all the other businesses out there, which some are doing it tough too. I am sure the free campers too make more than a huge difference to the local economies as well. Good on you all.

Cheers, John.

Hello bfirth, welcome to the grey nomad playground. Nothin like starting an interesting topic to get us all tapping on our keyboards. Well done n welcome.

bfirth wrote:

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We are getting annoyed with this free camp obsession. 

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 You are perfectly entitled to get annoyed about anything.   I get annoyed when people take it upon themselves to tell me where I should park and how much I should pay for camping.

Iza

gooba53 wrote:

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You know sometimes it's about wanting a bit of space and not so many rules. 

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For some reason I don't understand I suspect, when I come to use them, that most caravan parks will not permit me to sight in the scope on my rifle or do a bit of practice with the shotgun - miserable devils.

Also, I know - from talking to friends - many parks frown at we Amateur Radio operators erecting a 12m mast with 27m wire arms? Why, I have no idea?

In one to two years I'll be on the road permanently and will only use parks when I need to. Apart from anything else... I like my solitude.

Caravan parks are a business and like any business need to make it attractive to the customer to use them.

Woodside Beach caravan park $25 a night book 4 pay for 3,we spent 5 nights there so got 1 night free. Instead of $125 it was $100.