The innovation revolution which is set to slowly change the way travellers experience our national parks is taking hold in Queensland.
After gaining Federal approvals and the backing of two state ministers, a ground-breaking eco-tourism development could now open inside Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland by Christmas.
The project would transform the popular Green Mountains campground which sits next to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, the business which has conditional approval to lease the campsite from the State Government. It would feature floating tents among the trees, ready-made family campsites, a communal fire pit and new cooking facilities. There would be 24 powered sites for campervans, 25 permanent tents with camp beds, and up to 10 suspended tents, as well as car parking facilities and amenities.
The powered tents would have hard floors and feature a double stretcher bed and two singles and be priced between $50 and $100 per night. The suspended Tentsile tents, which are popular in Europe, would be available from about $25 a night and sleep three adults
Shane O’Reilly from O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat is the man behind the push to change the camping experience on the former cattle grazing land, nestled in the midst of World Heritage Gondwanaland rainforest. He insists the current unpowered campsites would remain to ensure no one was priced out of the park.
“It’s about $5.50 per person and we’d look at changing that to a per-site system, but that’s about it,” he told the Gold Coast Bulletin. “It’s always been a basic camping ground for mums, dads and kids and we thought that’s probably how it should stay.”
The Federal approval is an important step forward for an initiative that Mr O’Reilly has been working on for nearly a decade.
“The Federal Government are able to put a controlled action on anything that might impact a National Park — the fact that this is actually in a National Park and they’re still OK with it says a lot for how we’re going about it the right way,” he told the Bulletin. “They feel the work that’s been done and plans we’ve put through means it won’t have any impact on World Heritage values or species.”
The partnership between a private enterprise and the state government would be the first of its kind in the Sunshine State, although there are many examples of it in Tasmania. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the State Government would be relieved of maintaining the site and would take 7% of all revenue.
From what I have just read it seems like a great idea. Especially if I can still bring my small camper trailer on an unpowered site and pay for one person only.