We are heading off on a trip with our eight children in October and need help with cheap caravan spots. We are not set up for free camping, so need a place with hot showers, toilets and electricity - aka showgrounds. At this stage we are hoping to stop at the following places:
Roma, Charleville, Barcaldine, Longreach, Emerald or Rubyvale, Airlie Beach, Rockhampton, and Bundaberg.
If you could tell me of any camping showgrounds that are at or near these places, OR if you could link me to a thread that discusses showgrounds at or near these places, that would be much appreciated.
You definitely won't get anything cheap around Airlie Beach. Camp Kanga - Lions Club campground west of Proserpine may be best bet - Wikicamps has good reviews, but maybe contact them for pricing as website only has prices for rooms.
Bundaberg has some good free camping options, but not powered. Rockhampton has little to no cheap camping, so you may be limited in options there too. As a rule of thumb, most coastal towns don't have camping at their showgrounds. Home Hill near Ayr does, but that may be a little too far north for you.
I notice you are heading west first - Toowoomba has a very nice camp at their showground.
Hope you have a great holiday.
Nev
Ps - how do you manage to fit 8 kids into a caravan and retain your sanity?
-- Edited by Nevd on Tuesday 17th of September 2019 11:19:15 PM
You definitely won't get anything cheap around Airlie Beach. Camp Kanga - Lions Club campground west of Proserpine may be best bet - Wikicamps has good reviews, but maybe contact them for pricing as website only has prices for rooms.
Bundaberg has some good free camping options, but not powered. Rockhampton has little to no cheap camping, so you may be limited in options there too. As a rule of thumb, most coastal towns don't have camping at their showgrounds. Home Hill near Ayr does, but that may be a little too far north for you.
I notice you are heading west first - Toowoomba has a very nice camp at their showground.
Hope you have a great holiday.
Nev
Ps - how do you manage to fit 8 kids into a caravan and retain your sanity?
-- Edited by Nevd on Tuesday 17th of September 2019 11:19:15 PM
Thanks for all that information. I had a look and it seems like Camp Kanga is only about 40 minutes out of Airlie which isn't too bad of a drive in to do a few things. I'll also check out the Toowoomba showground. We meant to stop there on the way home from Roma last time we went up that way, but we were at that point of our travels where we just wanted to get home, so just kept going on through the town. It might be nice to stop there - perhaps the festival of flowers will be on?
Yes, keeping sanity is a problem. I tried to con my husband into getting a second van and taking two cars (we have too many for one car, anyway), but I didn't get far with that idea. Actually, last time we travelled we had six children and that was bad enough. I had a few meltdowns along the way. Who knows what this trip will bring!
You need Wikicamps App - Cost $10.00 for lifetime membership - If you are home-schooling make it an assignment in geography for the kids.
Thanks. Good to know. I'll have a look at that. Yes, we are homeschooling and it will be a wonderful learning experience for the kids. We did roughly the same trip about 12 years ago and there were so many highlights and great things that the kids learned.
