Picking up an illness or a stomach bug is one of the things that can really put a dampener on a big trip … which is why travellers along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road say they are furious that they weren’t properly warned of a gastro outbreak at camping sites.
Because of the close proximity of sites and the shared amenities, illness can easily sweep through caravan parks and camping areas.
A number of spots along the busy Surf Coast have been affected, with the Wye River BIG4 Caravan Park, handing out notices to arriving visitors warning them of a stomach bug there. The same thing was also done at Lorne.
However, holidaymaker Melanie Imlach said she should have been contacted by the caravan park about the gastro cases before she arrived … and she is upset that she had to cut her holiday short.
“I myself spent an entire night running to the toilet blocks and that’s really difficult when you’re in a tent and you don’t think you’re going to make it, but the children — they don’t make it to the toilet!” she told the ABC. “I would commend the cleaning staff for very frequently many times a day disinfecting the toilets, but I am concerned there will be a lot of people getting sick and then bringing it back into their homes.”
The Department of Health and Human Services told the ABC it had received a few reports of gastroenteritis cases but the matter was being dealt with by the local council, which was liaising with the park operator on health procedures.
In the leaflet handed to customers, the caravan park operators said staff were “all over disinfecting bathrooms and keeping everything clean”, but urged people to “use good hygiene” and ensure children sanitised their hands after using the bathroom.
Ms Imlach said she would have preferred to have been alerted via email before heading to Wye River, and feared more cases of gastro among unsuspecting holidaymakers over the Australia Day long weekend.
If you think that’s bad, go on a cruise. Unfortunately, that’s life, not really the fault of anyone.
Sorry Jed it is someone’s fault. Try bad personal hygiene for one.
You are completely correct, its lazy/dirty humans that spread bugs with their hands from NOT carrying out good hygiene practices, toilet door handles on exiting are absolutely covered in faces !!
I have to agree with Ms Imlach on this. Patrons should be advised prior to entry that there is a potentially life threatening illness at the holiday camp.Further, the camp should be closed until completetey cleaned and sanitised – but the operators would lose some money in doing so so they allow it to continue trading and further infecting people.
It like the operators on expressways they continue to take tolls when the road ahead is blocked, so you have to leave the expressway to find your way through backroads. – operators don’t care as the have your money
This is why we have our own ensuite on board. Amenities blocks, no matter how hard you try, will always harbour some sort of bug.
We also stayed at the Wye river BIG4 this last week and were not informed! We have 3 young kids and we decided to pay to very expensive fee for a nights accomodation so I could do a load of washing and we could all have showers only to discover there was gastro going through the park! We basically shit ourselves in our kombi, slept and took off as soon as we woke! We just watched in horror as all these poor people vomited everywhere, I felt so sorry for the family next to us who spent the whole night vomiting and cleaning up we should have been informed when we booked as it was a last minute booking and they knew about it before we arrived! Yes you may have lost money on getting a full park but seriously people it’s just plain rude!
I know this is a serious matter, but on a lighter note the prices they charge in that area would give you the shits