When Dave Stevenson, 53, was medically retired from the fire service back in 2009, he and wife Lee-Ann, 45, wasted no time in answering the call of the open road. The couple seeks out part-time and casual work to finance their adventure, and are currently managing the Parachilna campground at the Flinders Ranges. Here, Lee-Ann explains why it’s so rewarding.
Back at the start of May, we saw the positions advertised in the ‘Help Wanted Classifieds’ for managing the campground, as well as helping with the ‘Overflow accommodation’ at the nearby Prairie Hotel. Since we were in the Flinders Ranges area, we met with Jane and Ross Fargher … and we started the next day.
Home, sweet, home … for a few months at least.
This is our first time managing and maintaining a campground and we wanted the skills and experience. As this is not a full-time job, and many of the travellers don’t come to the campground till late in the afternoon, I also work at nearby Angorichina Village in the mornings, while Dave works at the Prairie Hotel.
Managing and maintaining a campground is quite easy. The campground has been closed during the summer time, so there was a lot of cleaning and fixing the amenities, camp kitchen and barbecue area. I usually do the cleaning of the amenities and
The smile … and the background … says it all!
campground, while Dave fixes things such as leaking taps, and also finds and chops firewood for our fire pit and greets the tourists.
Since Parachilna Campground opened back on May 1, we average 3-4 adults per night … some nights zero, other nights 8-10 adults. We love our jobs meeting different people, talking about their travels especially around a fire in the evening while watching the sun going down.
All the campers here are well behaved and keep our amenities clean. The only problem is some people think that $10.50 per adult for an unpowered site is quite expensive, but they don’t realise that this campground is run by the community which needs to pay for power, bore water that is treated, gas and insurance.
The past few weeks the Flinders Ranges has been experiencing a lot of rain, but this has not deter the travellers, nomads or tourist flocking here. If the roads are closed up north, the nomads or tourists just change their plans and visit nearby attractions or wait for it to open. Once the roads are open, they quickly continue onto their destinations, and that is when our campground can have up to 8 campers here.
During our travels I previously found jobs at Coles in Cairns, IGA at Victor Harbor and, as I used to be a computer trainer, I sometimes offer my computer services at caravan parks. We are originally from south west of Sydney, and have so far completed the eastern and southern states … making our way very slowly to Western Australia.
At the moment, the Flinders Ranges has become very green and the wildlife are out and about which we believe more tourists will come and visit. We are planning to stay here till October as we love the changing of the landscapes, the sunrises, the sunsets and being part of the community.
