The housing crisis combined with a boom in domestic travel is really highlighting just how stretched the caravanning and camping infrastructure is in many parts of the country.
In WA, for example, the coastal town of Bremer Bay is struggling to cope with the huge influx of visitors it has been seeing.
The ABC reports that the town’s population swells from 400 to 10,000 during the peak season, and facilities there are being ‘stretched’.
Community Resource and Visitors Centre manager, Troy Treeby, said he would welcome more investment from the state and local governments to ensure demand was met.
“A lot of tourists come in with RVs and they want to know where a dump point is and access to water, and we just don’t have those facilities in town,” he told the ABC.
Some backpackers say they came to work, but there is nowhere for them to stay. PIC: Pexels
Mr Treeby also said the town could benefit from additional bins and parking.
He told the ABC it would be great if all three levels of government and the community united to help the town to cope with the volume of tourists.
“We do want to be able to support tourism and see it develop and continue, but in a way that’s sustainable for the town so that we can protect this precious place into the future,” he said.
Another major issue reportedly stunting the growth of the town is, like many other areas, it simply does not have accommodation to offer workers.
There are similar issues over in Fremantle where overseas backpackers say they have been encouraged to come to Australia because there is a shortage of workers… but then find there is nowhere affordable for them to stay.
And that’s creating other issues,
South Beach resident Natalie Cross told ABC Radio Perth illegal camping in the area was a big problem with campers creating a mess and restricting residents’ access to the beach.
One weekend she counted 42 campervans in the car park at 8pm and locals were ‘frustrated’ about ongoing litter and noise issues.
“It’s really the travellers, the people who are making South Beach their home and treating it like a caravan park,” she told the ABC. “Early evening, through the night, and in the early morning, there’ll be rubbish being dumped, there’ll be people urinating on fences, and near their vans … there’ll be people washing their dishes, throwing their veggies on the ground, pouring boiling hot water on the grass.”
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti told ABC Radio Perth the state government would hand over management of parts of South Beach car park – owned by the Public Transport Authority (PTA) — to the City of Fremantle so rangers could enforce parking regulations.
“That will then allow them to enforce their local parking laws and be able to move on these illegal campers,” she said. “There are other caravan parks and other places around the state where they can set up legally … we want them to enjoy WA, but we also want them to not illegally camp and not disrupt the amenity for everybody else.”
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge told the ABC that the council, with the support of WA Police, had moved on and towed some campervans and vehicles, but she would eventually prefer to implement a four-hour parking limit.
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Some towns seem to deliberately make it difficult to visit and stay, unaware that people in campervans or motorhomes come to spend money or work in a town.
While the town will happily provide parks and toilet facilities and rubbish bins free for picnics or visitors a town beach. They outright refuse to provide similar services to anyone who simply wants to park overnight.
To many towns have sold out their caravan parks to the big national corporate owners with their high fees. So there are no low coast places for a small campervan. To often free-camping spots are closed down because the big caravan owners control or influence the town council.
Dump points should be a standard inclusion as part of public toilets as it is simply a 4inch pipe connected to the sewer main and a tap for washing down, it hardly costs a fortune.
We had a lot of trouble finding affordable camp spot at or near Margaret River
Hubby had scored work on the grape harvest
We eventually got a spot on private land which was awesome
But also had trouble getting drinking water locally as all the taps were locked as was the dump point in Busselton
We are thinking of doing molasses for upcoming cane harvest in Mackay and suspect finding somewhere is going to be a challenge there as well
More needs to be done for seasonal workers in major tourist areas