The free camping area offered by South Australia’s Kingston District Council is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.
News of the 24-hour RV parking offer has apparently swept the grey nomad and backpacker word like wildfire … and the Maria Creek site is becoming a very busy place.
The Coastal Leader newspaper reports that the issue sparked another lively discussion at a recent council meeting.
“The problem is, the fact we got it, and it’s good and it’s free,” said Councillor Chris England. “Information is around the country that Kingston has a good free park, and everyone is coming here … if we didn’t have such a good one, we wouldn’t have it there – we can’t have it both ways.”
The free RV camping site was created to keep travellers from stopping overnight at the foreshore and has earned rave reviews from travellers.
However, not everyone is happy. The owner of Kingston Caravan Park, Kevin Pascoe, told councillors that people were flouting the 24-hour rule, that free campers weren’t spending enough money in the town, and that non self-contained RVs were staying at the free facility.
“What has happened is that, magazines are published around Australia for all overseas tourists to look at and it has Kingston as a free park,” he said. “Not an RV free park, but a free park which means that any bongo van, any tent or any other person who is not RV friendly is allowed to park in this town’s park.”
CEO Nick Brown admitted that monitoring the park was a problem, and said he went past it every day after work asking people to move on.
“We do have limited resources to police it,” he said. “One of the biggest issues is that we can ask them to move out, but they can just drive 50 metres and park legally.”
Mayor Evan Flint said the issue had been discussed before and nothing had really changed.
“We developed this idea because of the previous problem,” he said. “We’ve been too successful!”
Once again we see a CP owner raising objections. All well and good, however if Council’s Australia wide wish to intervene and offer protection to CP owners then a dangerous precedence is/has ben established.
Council’s can and will be seen as favouring on specific business venture that being CP’s.
It then raises the question what if a person wishes to open a coffee shop or some other type of business venture in a town which already caters for that specific industry. If Councils are seen to be favouring CP owners then the precedence is already established to offer protection to every business venture within its boundaries from opposition.
Maybe the time has arrived for CP owners and some Council’s to consider the ramifications of their continual whinging and providing protection to CP’s and not to other industries.
As for Kingston District Council, yes you may well become victims of your own success however, you will not only be a victim of your own success but also a victim of using your business accumen to its best advantage.
I do note with interest that the CP owner Mr Kevin Pascoe as stated that free campers were not spending enough money in the town.
Mr Pascoe, can you explain the source of your information, have you conducted research of every business venture in the town?
Or are you basing this assumption on the fact that campers are avoiding your CP?
We have been there. We also checked out the CP and guess what. We would never have been able to fit our fifth wheeler and truck in there so where are Rvers like us with bigger rigs to go. We need those free or other parks that can fit us in. When CP put in big sites for the huge number of us now with bigger rigs, we might go there a bit more. Until you can fit all RVs in, stop bloody complaining. We spent money there. Without that park we would not have.
We stayed there in the last 6 months and I emailed the council to congratulate them on the initiative and advised them we had spent over $500 in the town on fuel food wine and laundromat. 4 businesses benefited. Most our age group put back into these smart towns.
We have stayed there several times now. Always spend in the town. Pub meal, fish and chips, op shop, even bought lighthouse book from council chambers. The only problem we encountered was mess left in the park after locals had a children’s birthday party. That is what led us to the council. We reported it as we didn’t want locals blaming the campers. Great work council. Businesses know who are locals, they know the extra $ being spent in town. Maybe a receipt box would help proove it? Leave receipts in for money spent in town. We spent $210
It is appropriate here that I add my thoughts to this argument, that is the objections and arguments CP owners will raise in relation to free or low cost camping. Here in Queensland the mining and gas exploration industry obliterated the availability of caravan (and motel) sites for travellers. In many cases Mining companies either totally or partially occupied parks, often leaving just a few sites for short term use, in some cases I am aware of the site costs were trebled. Faced with either nowhere to stay or having to pay excess fees caravan travellers, typically Grey Nomads, with the knowledge that many Queensland rural shire councils realizing that RV travellers do in fact need to spend money offer good free camping locations, invested in self contained caravans, they no longer needed established caravan parks. Because these established parks were continuing to be supported by the mine/gas industries the free camping fraternity were left alone. The situation is now changing for two main reasons, firstly there has been a decline in mining activity and secondly the huge construction teams required are moving on, the Coal Seam Gas fields for example require less personnel to operate once construction is completed. Now the caravan parks and motel owners are wanting people to come back and they too are making totally unfounded statements such as the Kingston caravan park owner mentioned in the article has. While I am unaware of any particular free or low cost camping location being targeted I suspect it will be just a matter of time. I think if a council does act to stop or reduce the availability of free or low cost RV for Grey Nomads based on non-verified data such as ‘they don’t spend enough money’ it does a disservice to all local business’, grey nomads, like other travellers do need to purchase diesel and petrol, groceries and even casks of wine.
Well done Kingston for providing a wonderful free camping spot. We stayed for 24 hours and also at the 72 hour camp at wyomi. We spent money at the supermarket, butcher, laundramat, dairy, fish and chip shop, fishing store as well as gas fuel etc etc. We would much rather support towns that provide free or low cost parking areas as like many others we dont need the services of a caravan park. We walked past the caravan park and it was at least 3/4 full, so they arent missing out on business. Kingston is a wonderful town and we will be back.
we stayed in kingston vanpark a couple of years ago for a week, it had great service and the owners were friendly, but if i was only staying for a short while i would definitly use the freepark. i agree with julie van maybe a receipt box would help stop the wingers
Our group of 4 vans stayed at the fabulous Kingston free camp spot 2 weeks ago, spending a lot of money in the town. One of our group, travelling alone in a stationwagon with a boat attached read the Council signage and because he did not have an RV and could not sleep in his car at the free camp he did the right thing and went to the Caravan Park. He was charged $35 for a powered site plus $20 deposit for a key, mid-week and he stayed only for a few hours. The CPs need to relook at their fees – one good example is that site fees are for 2 people, each person or child extra is usually another $10 – often families are paying $55 a night, including Grey Nomads who want to take their grandchildren away. Reduce your fees Caravan Parks, make the fees for 4 people, reduce fees for seniors, allow pets and make special offers such as pay for 6 and stay for 7, the CPs will then be better supported instead of half empty and towns will benefit across the board.
I have stayed at the Kingston free camp site approx 5 times for 24 hrs at a time. It is a fantastic spot & the town is great. We have always spent money in the town every time, pub meals, take away meals, fuel & food shopping. We do this to support the town that is supporting us travellers. Caravan parks are just a rip off now, we have travelled around Australia twice & the only way we can afford to do this is to stay in free or low cost stays, whilst we do use some caravan parks the value for money is not there, powered sites usually $32 to $40 per night, for what, a shower & toilet. No thanks I can do this all in the comfort of my caravan for free. Many thanks Kingston, keep up the good work.
Yes we have stayed in free camps I just spent77dollars fuel a bottle whisky at 55$bought a pizza at store and had counter tea at pub 66$ milk bread and morning paper every morning and even dog food for the puppy we stayed 5nights and I think the little town in middle nowhere woul be glad to have us