To what extent the economies of small country towns are impacted by the closure of free camps is a matter of fierce debate … but not amongst the grey nomad community.
There is a widespread conviction that communities that discourage budget campers pay a price when it comes to the amount of cash travellers spend in local shops, cafes and fuel outlets.
Veteran adventurers, Syd and Christine Greenham, are among those who say the recent decision by Ravensthorpe Shire to plan to shut the current free camp at Hopetoun on WA’s south coast and re-locate it will come back to haunt them.
The pair say they used to travel out of their way to the site, and would wash their caravan and car at the car wash, support the local shops – especially Simon’s Café – and go to the Port Hotel for their evening meal.
Free campers Syd and Christine doing their bit to support the local Hopetoun economy.
Now, they say they are more likely to head to Esperance and spend their money there.
“Hopetoun is a small town that is really struggling with the mine closures and will be greatly affected by this decision,” said Christine. “And, yes, we have also stayed and paid at the caravan park in Hopey when we wanted to spend more than one night there.”
She says that they have found those that stay in these free camps are more likely to support the local businesses.
“Hopetoun is not on the main highway but the Fitzgerald National Park to the west and the beaches to the east are spectacular,” she said. “They have good camping spots but are out of town a few kilometres and, while these attract visitors, they may not actually go in to the township of Hopetoun.”
The Greenhams, who are from NSW south coast, travel with their beloved Australian Terriers – Billie and Curlie – in their 18’ self-contained caravan.
Their trips all last six months or more, and the couple loves the quieter, less populated areas of Australia … either red dirt or sandy beaches.
“We just love the life on the road and we love picking up a bit of farm work to top up our fuel account,” said Christine. “But, travelling for months at a time, we need free camps as we physically can’t afford to pay caravan park prices every night.”
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We love towns that cater for free camping.
With the money that we save on fees we can buy plenty of alcohol to keep us lubricated on our travels. Hick!
We live in our van and are loath to pay rediculous prices for a piece of dirt with no power or water or any other facilities, it just isn’t right in our book. We spend our money in places that give a little value and find many like minded people that do the same. Like you we have a limited budget and staying at cv parks all the time isn’t a viable option for us but by the same token we do stay in parks when we are staying longer than 48 hours.
The desision to close any free or low cost camps should be made with careful consideration as you have nicely pointed out in your article. Happy camping and stay safe
Yes, because these small towns need to be supported.
We have a weekly budget. The less we have to spend in a caravan park, the more we can spend on everything else.
You can’t force people into a park. We’ll stay sometimes, but when it suits US, not when it suits council.
Always spend money in towns with free or low cost community camps. Caravan park fees are ridiculous, especially in council owned parks on the Sunshine coast in Queensland. They’re gouging.
We spend more in towns of free camps than staying in caravan parks.