Good morning all,, I am new to the forum, so not sure if I am posting in the right place, just let me know if not and I will move it to the correct area.. My wife and I are looking for some help, advice, from those of you out there that are in the know, have experience or contacts that might be able to help us out. So in a nut shell, we are looking to get a start in the caravan park industry, I am 55 years old and looking for a change of career to take me through to retirement. I was a hydraulic hose fitter working in the mining industry until my osteoarthritis in my hands forced me to give away heavy manual work. Previously I have had my own retail business for 10 years and also owned a trucking business for 10 years before that. My wife is 35 years old and works as a housekeeper for the Accor group here in Mackay QLD. We have two kids 4 and 12 years old, I love talking and helping people out whenever I can, so van park work, assistant manager type roll would be right up my ally.. I am a trade qualified fitter and am undertaking a diploma in Leadership and Management at the moment. My income protection insurance that I am on at the moment runs out in July 2018, so that gives me another year to try and get a foot in the door. Does anyone have some advice for me in how to get a start, I can work for free while I am on income protection to gain experience, but that is proving harder to organise that I thought,, happy to give more information to anyone that would like some, hope to get some great advice for some of you out there,,
If you do some searching you will find that there are Caravan Park Management courses available in various areas that offer all the training needed. You can not beat practical experience as the best trainer but I would imagine that you would know that.
My experience is that a mechanical fitter that has been involved in the transport industry is never far away from a job.
I still have people contacting me to work for them and I do keep telling them that I am retired..
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Thanks for the reply, I did enquire at a Big4 park in NSW that was running a park management course, but they have stopped running them to concentrate on their core business, that is the only one I have come across so far. I can not go back to pulling spanners, due to the extent of the arthritis in my hands, so my trade is not much use to me apart from a bit on lite maintenance. Plus, I'm over it, I really need a change from fighting with tight rusty bolts and being covered in grease and oil everyday.. I hope to have a chat with the manager of one of the parks here next week if she has time, so she might be able to point me in the right direction or know of somewhere doing training. RMS has a YouTube channel, I have had a quick look at one of their training videos and it look straight forward to me, so I think that will be fine.. Thanks again for the reply, have a great day and enjoy your retirement, I'm sure you have earned it .. Cheers Jim.
There are always Motels to consider - they may be an alternative that would be a cheaper outlay than a caravan park and no hassles with Councils over the leased land - I have seen some great ones in Central Qld for sale at different times. Just another way of doing something similar and one with a large paddock nearby could provide a method of stating van park at the ground level. Jus' Thinkin".
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Hi Jim .....further to your original post back in September.....on the similar forum, where plenty of options were placed I gather you have had no joy.
Having been involved in C/P management I would suggest once again you dont need a course you would be able to pick something up as a trainee management couple. And you certainly should not pay for any courses.
But until you are free to work and I think no one will take you until while are receiving payments for injuries.....it scares people. Two children may also be an issue. And if your partner is not working with you it may be even more difficult.
My advice.......wait til July next year and try then.
-- Edited by Bushpie on Friday 9th of June 2017 07:36:34 PM
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Hi Bushpie, yeah I have also updated my post on the other forum, just casting the net a bit wider. My wife will work with me if we can get into a park, but I know the kids could be a red flag for some places. My insurance is not injury insurance, like work cover, it is my own insurance I took out with my super, income protection, they will even subsidise an employer to put me into work in the right conditions to get me of there books. I have a clearance from my doctor to return to work, just not doing what I was doing, heavy manual labour using my hands for strong repetitive gripping. My youngest will start school next year so I will be more proactive in trying to get some hands on training from one of the local parks. Just asking for any advice that might me get my foot in the door.
Tafe NSW was running courses in Caravan Park management at cert III level and that is a nationally recognised qualification, one of the main issues for caravan parks in getting an administrative role is the computer system that most of them use, it may even be worth your while to offer some work in exchange for training rather than dollars, this would also give you the opportunity to see how you would go dealing with the public who are not always that pleasant to deal with.
Good luck hope you get the job you want.
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Hi aussietraveller, the course I am doing at the moment has me tied up for now, our local college, CQ University, did not offer that one. I had retail shops for 8 or so years, plenty of experience dealing with the public there, and yeah , not always good experience lol, but that is what makes life interesting,, yin and yang, no good without bad .. RMS has a YouTube channel with training webinars on it ,, looks easy enough to navigate. When I sold my trucks, ten plus years ago, I looked into buying a van park with the cash I had from the sale.. My accountant talked me out of it and went into retail instead,, thanks to the GFC, that all went to poo.. It is something I have wanted to give a go for a long time.. for better or worse.. The attraction for me is working from home basically, get out of bed and your at work, having the kids around when you are working, as we do not own a house ,, thanks again to the GFC, they offer a house as part of the remuneration package is another attraction.
I hope to have a chat with the manager of one of the parks here next week if she has time, so she might be able to point me in the right direction or know of somewhere doing training. RMS has a YouTube channel, I have had a quick look at one of their training videos and it look straight forward to me, so I think that will be fine.. Thanks again for the reply, have a great day and enjoy your retirement, I'm sure you have earned it .. Cheers Jim. 
